The Buffalo Bills have turned to a Son of the South; a driven, coaching lifer; and a man

with a track record of running successful offenses to lead them out of pro football

loserville.

In choosing 58-year-old Chan Gailey as their new head coach, the Bills believe they are

getting a proven commodity.

"He's done it everywhere he's been, and there's a good chance he'll do it again," said

Bills General Manager Buddy Nix on Tuesday, introducing Gailey as the team's 16th head coach.

"This guy is the guy to get us back to winning and get us where we want to go."

Gailey, a Georgia native, has been associated mostly with winners in a 35-year coaching

career. In nine seasons as a college head coach, he had a record of 68-44. In 13 seasons as a

National Football League assistant, his teams went 124-82-1. In two seasons as an NFL head

coach — with the Dallas Cowboys — he went 18-14 in the regular season and made the

playoffs twice, only to be fired.

Nevertheless, he was not a "hot" head-coaching candidate, a label usually reserved for

younger NFL assistant coaches currently working with winning teams. Gailey's most recent NFL

gig was as offensive coordinator for the 2-14 Kansas City Chiefs in 2008. He also doesn't meet

the "A List" profile many Buffalo fans coveted in the wake of the Bills' franchise-record 10th

straight non-playoff season.

The Bills were rebuffed in their pursuit of three coaches who have Super Bowl titles to

their resumes — Bill Cowher, Mike Shanahan and Jon Gruden. They also were turned down in

a request to interview the New York Jets' 36-year-old assistant Brian Schottenheimer.

Nix said Gailey was on his initial list of candidates all along and that Gailey was the

only man who actually was offered the job.

"I wouldn't offer a guy without him meeting our owner," Nix said, referring to Ralph C.

Wilson Jr. "That's out of respect for him, and he does own the team. The only guy that was

invited in here to meet the owner is standing up here now."

Gailey wasn't complaining about the A List's lack of interest in Buffalo.

"Shoot, you look at the history of the Buffalo Bills, and I've come in that stadium enough

times to know about the fans of the Bills Nation," he said. "Who wouldn't want to come here?

Maybe some guys have personal reasons, they don't want to be here. Great. I'm glad, because I

get to come here."

Bills Hire Chan Gailey

Gailey, in fact, was an assistant coach with Cowher in Pittsburgh from 1994 through 1997.

Cowher recommended Gailey as his successor when Cowher retired from the Steelers in 2007.

Cowher said Tuesday that the Bills had made a good choice.

"Chan's a guy that will leave no stone unturned," he said. "He will not accept mediocrity.

Being around him, I always thought I was a competitive guy, but he may be more competitive

than I am. And I'll tell you, he's a very driven coach. I just think he's a great fit for the

organization."

Nix said he was determined to find a coach with an offensive background.

The Bills are suffering through their worst stretch of offensive football in their 50-year

history. For seven straight seasons, Buffalo has ranked among the bottom eight in the NFL in

yards gained.

"We said we wanted an offensive-minded coach," Nix said. "I wanted somebody that had

developed quarterbacks. The folks with good quarterbacks are winning. The folks with bad ones

are losing. It's not that hard a game [to figure out]."

Gailey went to the playoffs with John Elway as his quarterback in Denver and Troy Aikman as

his quarterback in Dallas. Both Elway and Aikman wound up in the Hall of Fame.

Gailey also went to the playoffs with mediocre quarterbacks. He did it in Pittsburgh with

Mike Tomczak in 1996 and Kordell Stewart in 1997. He did it in Miami with Jay Fiedler at

quarterback in 2000 and 2001.

Asked about Gailey's best asset as an offensive coach, Cowher said: "His adaptability. I

think that's the one thing to me that separates the coaching world. I think we all have

beliefs in systems, but I think the ability to adapt to what you have and to find a way to get

the players to believe in that is what separates you in the coaching world. And I think Chan's

resume and what he's done proves that this guy can adapt to situations as well as anybody in

the league."

Even in his latest gig, in Kansas City, Gailey got good reviews for his work with a bad

Chiefs team. Kansas City started the 2008 season with a power-running attack. But Chiefs

running back Larry Johnson was suspended midway through the season and injuries forced the

team to play its No. 3 quarterback, Tyler Thigpen. He was only comfortable in a shotgun,

pass-oriented attack, so Gailey switched around the entire attack and got Thigpen to be

productive the second half of the year.

The Chiefs changed head coaches after the 2008 season. Gailey was retained, but he was

sacked just two weeks before the start of the 2009 season because the Chiefs' head coach, Todd

Haley, wanted to take over control of the offense himself.

Such is the way of life for a football coach. In Gailey's career, his longest stint has

been six years (in Denver from 1985 to 1990 and at Georgia Tech from 2002 to 2007).

Gailey grew up in Americus, Ga., just nine miles down the road from Plains, the hometown of

former President Jimmy Carter. His father, Tom, was a coach and an educator and later started

a furniture manufacturing business. His mother worked as an elementary school teacher and a

librarian.

Gailey is a man of strong Christian faith. He doesn't smoke. He doesn't drink very often.

He doesn't swear very often. He does chew tobacco.

His and his wife, Laurie, were high school sweethearts, and they have been married for 35

years. They have two sons and two grandchildren.

Gailey attended the University of Florida on a football scholarship, which started him on

his career path.

"I'm not very complicated," he told a Georgia reporter in an interview in 2002. "Faith and

my family and football, and I don't have a lot of other things that are important. I work a

lot of hours and I try to be a good husband and a good father, and I try to be a man of God. I

don't have a lot of hobbies or vices or things that muddy my life."