MOBILE, Ala. — Buffalo Bills General Manager Buddy Nix goes way back with Chan

Gailey. When Nix was defensive coordinator at Southern Mississippi in 1973, he coached against

a University of Florida team quarterbacked by Gailey.

Nix says the history between him and his new coach could not be more irrelevant.

"Listen, I didn't take this job to hire my buddies," Nix said. "I hired him because he's

the best coach for the job."

Nix emphasized his strong conviction in Gailey this week and shed more light on his thought

process for picking the new coach.

"It had nothing to do with past acquaintances or good friends," Nix said during a break in

practices for the Senior Bowl. "It has to do with fitting the qualifications we want for our

head coach."

Nix wanted a man with prior head-coaching experience and an offensive background. He

probably could have had former Baltimore Ravens head coach Brian Billick. He could have had

former Giants coach Jim Fassel. Neither was interviewed.

Nix wanted Gailey.

"I think he's by far the best chance we've got," Nix said. "He's smart. He's a worker. He's

not a flash in the pan. He's a solid football guy."

Gailey's ability to get the most production out of the talent on his roster was the biggest

selling point for Nix.

Gailey went 44-32 in a six-year stint at Georgia Tech from 2002-07. His teams went to bowl

games six straight seasons but never finished in the top 25 of the rankings. He was fired

after the '07 season.

"At Georgia Tech, I thought he did a great job," Nix said. "He had rushing offenses, he had

throwing offenses. He takes what's there. He's not a guy that brings in a player and says,

you've got to fit this system. He takes players and fits the system to them."

Nix said Gailey did what he had to do to win.

"Listen, trust me when I tell you that it's not that easy at Georgia Tech," Nix said. "They

talk about they fired him because he didn't beat Georgia. During that time, didn't nobody

hardly beat Georgia."

Nix likewise wasn't dissuaded by the fact Gailey was fired after one season as offensive

coordinator of the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs went 2-14 in 2008.

"I know Kansas City because we played them twice a year," said Nix, referring to his former

employer, San Diego. "We know the division. He didn't have a lot to work with, and he still

got a lot done offensively. He adjusted to [Tyler] Thigpen. Give me a break. Then look at what

happened to the offense after he left."

Thigpen averaged 215 yards a game passing in 11 starts for the Chiefs in 2008. Chiefs

starter Matt Cassel averaged 195 a game this year.

"My view of him was already high, but it was raised by his job at Kansas City," Nix said.

Nix and Gailey followed nearly intersecting paths at various points in their careers. When

Nix coached at Auburn in the mid-'70s, Gailey was down the road in Alabama at Troy State. When

Gailey got the head-coaching job at Troy in 1983, Nix was defensive coordinator at Louisiana

State. Their teams never played each other. Nix also scouted Gailey's Georgia Tech teams.

Nix said he and Gailey never talked on the phone. They never went to dinner. They were

professional acquaintances but they were hardly buddies.

"If I went into Georgia Tech to scout, he'd come over and visit, and that was the end of it

'till I came back [the next year]," Nix said.

Nix also said while Gailey was impressive in his interview with the Bills, that wasn't

especially key to his getting the job, either.

"A guy who hires off of interviews is going to get himself in big trouble," Nix said.

"There are some guys who interview well. Check their history. That tells you what you need to

know. The interview confirms some things, clears some things up. He got my side of the story.

I got his. That to me is what the interview is for.

"If I'm going in there, and I have four hours for this guy to prove to me he can be a head

coach, I'm in bad shape. I'm out of luck. I don't have time for a fellow to learn on the job.

"We put in the parameters of what we needed for a head coach and what we were looking for,"

Nix said. "This guy fills the bill."