The number of NFL head coaching vacancies is dwindling. I think a couple of the latest fillings are interesting because they are not what I would have predicted two weeks ago. Let me explain:
The Titans hired Robert Saleh. I am squarely in the camp that says Saleh has the credentials to be a good head coach; I think he was in an impossible situation with the Jets and was always impressed that his outmanned team played hard for him. Having said that, I am surprised at this marriage for two reasons:
- Generally, coaches get two shots at a head coaching position before they acquire the label of “great coordinator but not head coaching material”. Saleh has had that one shot with the Jets; I would have expected him to aim for one of the more stocked rosters available this year. Also, he saw what can happen to a team and a coach under “less than ideal ownership” in NY; and yet, he took a job with the Titans. Oh well; at least he avoided the organizational dumpster fire that persists with the Raiders…
- I thought the Titans would look for a “offensive guy” which is not Saleh’s pedigree.
The Dolphins hired Jeff Hafley. The timing of the Dolphins’ firing of Mike McDaniel almost immediately after the Ravens ditched John Harbaugh led to more than a few reports that the Dolphins wanted Harbaugh and that made some sense. The narrative there was that the locker room in Miami was undisciplined/disorganized and that Harbaugh would bring needed stability and order to the fore. Then John Harbaugh signed with the Giants without taking a serious interview with the Dolphins who did a major pivot to Hafley who has never been a head coach at the pro level. As defensive coordinator for the Packers, his teams have played well and the decline in performance late last season was in part due to the season-ending injury to Micah Parsons. This may or may not be a great personnel move by the Dolphins; time will tell. But the dramatic shift in the reported direction of the franchise from “old-line stability guy” to “first time head coach” and from “offensive genius” to “defensive guy” makes this one to watch.
The remaining opening that intrigues me the most is the Buffalo Bills. When the Bills failed to make it to the Super Bowl despite being in the playoffs for the last seven seasons, the Bills fired the coach and promoted the GM. My reading of the situation there is that the Bills’ roster was deficient and that deficiency should have had negative implications for the GM as well as the coach.
The Bills have a QB who is likely to be in the Hall of Fame one of these days; they also have a running back who has been in the league for 4 years and been to the Pro Bowl in 3 of those years. What has been lacking in Buffalo for about 5 years now is a top-shelf defense and above-average talent at the WR position. The organizational transformation announced by the Bills would lay the lion’s share of the blame on the now-absent coach. So, what might that mean for the next incumbent?
Switching gears … The Baseball Hall of Fame will induct three new members this summer. Previously, the folks evaluating players who did not make it to the Hall in the normal time frame decided that Jeff Kent belonged there. Earlier this week the baseball writers elected Carlos Beltran and Andru Jones to the Hall of Fame. And my reaction to that trio can be summed up in a single syllable:
- Meh!
I don’t dislike any of the three players who will be honored this summer; I just don’t think of them in the same way I think of many other Hall of Fame members. Moreover, the list of players who did not get elected this year – – the up-and-comers for the next few years if you will – – are unimpressive.
Only one of the players on the ballot for the first time received 5% of the votes meaning all the other “first timers” will not be on the ballot next season. The one player who crossed the 5% line was Cole Hamels who received just under 25% of the votes.
The player who got closest to the needed 75% of the votes for induction was Chase Utley; he got about 60% of the votes.
Here is a link to the entire voting for this year all the way down to several first-year aspirants who got no votes at all from the 425 ballots that were cast in the election. Look over that list if you will. I could be talked into three of the fourteen players who got enough votes this year to be carried over into next year’s voting, but the pickings are slim.
Finally, here’s a thought from Ricky Gervais:
“There’s no difference between fame and infamy now. There’s a new school of professional famous people that don’t do anything. They don’t create anything.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………