COMMENTARY
Rod Watson: Non-Jauron may already be right here
Published: October 15, 2009, 12:30 am
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Finding a new football coach is a lot like what the romantics say about finding love: You stumble across it in the place you least expect to.
With that in mind, Ralph Wilson may not have to launch a national search and pay millions for a high-profile winner such as Bill Cowher, Mike Holmgren or Tony Dungy.
Once Wilson makes up his mind, long-suffering Buffalo Bills fans might find relief right here at home with a nontraditional selection. If Wilson proves to be a bold, outside-the-box owner, this area is flush with bold, outside-the-box leadership that could be just what the 1-4 football team needs.
Granted, our esteemed leaders all come with some baggage. Still, if Mr. Wilson asks nicely, I’m sure he could get:
• Chris Collins. The county executive is on a binge to shed costly poor people, dumping initiatives such as county health clinic services or a program that helps low-income workers find day care.
Collins says nonprofits can pick up the slack while ridding county government of retirement costs. He doesn’t sound too worried about the people being served; he’s all about the bottom line.
The businessman-turned-politician would bring that same balance-sheet approach to the football operation:Dump big-name playmakers for others to pick up, while saving as much money as possible and not fretting over the results.
Downside: Didn’t Wilson already try that?
• Andrew Rudnick. The Buffalo Niagara Partnership president would launch a long-range plan to eliminate mandates such as “Thou shalt not commit false starts” and “Thou shalt not hold.”
The head of the area’s largest business organization, who has crusaded to loosen costly state regulations, would claim that such NFL mandates unfairly target athletically impoverished areas such as Western New York.
Downside: He wouldn’t get any further with the league than he has with Albany.
• James A. Williams. The in-your-face Buffalo school superintendent would be a dramatic departure from the placid, nurturing head coach, Dick Jauron.
Williams, who mused aloud about beating up one adversary and publicly called another one an “ignorant SOB,” would shake up a team too used to the paternalistic coddling that trickled down from the Marv Levy era.
With McKinley High School Principal Crystal Barton as his offensive assistant, any player jumping offside would get an automatic seven-week suspension.
Downside: Bills players might take him up on his offer to fight.
• Byron W.Brown. Besides bringing a dapper, Paul Brown look to the sidelines, the mayor of the third-poorest big city in America would come in with a playbook already prepared.
Taking a page from his anti-poverty plan, Brown would recycle game plans from the Cleveland, Miami and New Orleans debacles and call it a brand-new strategy. After all, look how well that has worked for the city.
Downside: If one of the players broke curfew and crashed the team bus, Brown would be the last to know.
On second thought, maybe an outside search is needed once Wilson figures out where he misplaced his wallet. The local talent pool may not be up to taking on another challenge.
The depressing reality is that much of our civic leadership matches the quality of our gridiron leadership, but without the telltale won-lost record.
By the time the season ends, the rallying cry for both Buffalo and its football team might well be: We’re No. 3!—from the bottom.
rwatson@buffnews.com
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