Mid-week Hodgepodge … Wednesday Cup O’Chiefs
What’s ahead for the Pro Football Hall of Fame?
Besides the 10 men held over from the 2011 finalist that did not get elected, there are going to be new additions to the list of eligible players.
How about the class of 2012 where three major coaching names will become eligible: Marty Schottenheimer, Bill Cowher and some guy named Bill Parcells. Also as part of that group will be former Chiefs guard Will Shields.
Here are some names for other classes down the road:
- 2013 – becoming eligible will be DE Michael Strachan, QB Vinny Testaverde, OT Jonathan Ogden, DT Warren Sapp and K Morten Andersen.
- 2014 – LB Derrick Brooks, S Rodney Harrison, and coaches Tony Dungy, Jon Gruden and Mike Holmgren.
- 2015 – QB Kurt Warner, WR Marvin Harrison, OT Orlando Pace, LB Junior Seau, OT Walter Jones and WR Isaac Bruce.
ROAFING AROUND
Back in 2002 when the Chiefs were talking about trading for OT Willie Roaf, there was not unanimity when it came to dealing with New Orleans.
Then head coach Dick Vermeil had a long conversation with Jim Haslett, who was the Saints head coach at the time. Roaf was coming off a serious knee injury, plus there were some problems within the locker room and the big tackle had other problems with Haslett. Roaf did not sound like Vermeil’s guy and he voted against the acquisition.
In this case, GM Carl Peterson went against his coach’s wishes and made the deal, trading a third-round draft choice for Roaf. It will go down as one of the best trades in Chiefs history, as Roaf put together four Pro Bowl seasons at left tackle.
Last week, Vermeil was happy that the Chiefs had made the deal for Roaf. He compared Roaf to Bob Brown and John Hannah, a couple of blockers already in the Hall of Fame.
“He was the best, most explosive big man I have ever seen,” Vermeil said. “I never saw a player who can do what he could do. He was dominant against great players.”
MUDDY WATERS RUN AGAIN
Last season, offensive line coaching guru Howard Mudd was on the outside looking into the NFL for the first time in decades. Mudd had retired as the Colts offensive line coach, bringing an end to 37-year NFL coaching career.
Mudd was going to spend time traveling with his wife Shirley, who he met during a four-year stint as offensive line coach with the Chiefs (1989-92).
That lasted a year. Mudd was hired last week as the offensive line coach for the Philadelphia Eagles. He will be 69 years old on Thursday. Andy Reid has revamped his staff in several areas, including added 61-year old defensive line coach Jim Washburn, stealing him away from the Tennessee Titans.
“Obviously, there were a couple pieces to the puzzle,” Reid said. “I’m losing a great offensive line coach, but I’m also gaining a great one. I think that’s very important in this whole deal here.
“I wasn’t going to weaken the offensive line and the coaching there, so I had to do a little bit of evaluating and it took a little bit of time to get the pieces together. I’m very excited about this move.”
VERMEIL EARNS A HALL OF FAME NOTICE
Later this month, Vermeil will be inducted into the California Sports Hall of Fame during a dinner at the Ontario Convention center in Ontario, California.
Vermeil was born and raised in Calistoga and will be part of a five-person class that will join those already in the California Hall like Willie Mays, Reggie Jackson, Tommy Lasorda, Dan Fouts and Marcus Allen.
There has been a lot of Hall of Fame activity recently with former Chiefs, as RB Priest Holmes earned a spot in the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame and CB Emmitt Thomas was inducted to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.
AN OUTSIDE LOOK INTO THE CHIEFS BUSINESS
Paul Domowitch is the NFL columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News and last week had an interesting look at the labor situation in the NFL and the decision by some teams – especially the Chiefs – to prepare for a potential lockout by trimming their payrolls.
Domowitch wrote:
“Last week, Chiefs owner Clark Hunt and Jets owner Woody Johnson threw a total of 41 paycheck-to-paycheck employees over the side of their yachts in the name of supposedly shrinking profit margins. Hunt, whose daddy Lamar never laid off a worker in 40-plus years as the Chiefs’ beloved owner, showed 11 employees the door, even as the NFL was getting ready for a Super Bowl that is expected to break attendance and television-ratings records.
Public relations director Pete Moris, who had put in 17 loyal years with the organization and has 2-year-old twins . . . gone. Brenda Sniezek, the team’s longtime director of community relations who had been a Chiefs employee for 29 years . . . gone. Director of logistics Ken Blume, who had worked for the Hunt family for 26 years . . . gone.
Thanks for your years of loyal service, people. But we might be having a lockout in a couple of weeks that could force the missus and myself to fly commercial on our next trip to Cabo. Hope you understand. Oh, and don’t let the door hit you in the butt on the way out.
In North Jersey, Johnson, of the Johnson & Johnson Johnsons, and the Jets gave pink slips to 30 – count ‘em, 30 – people on their business side. A Jets spokesman claimed the jobs were eliminated in connection with the completion of the sales effort of the new stadium. Hold the laughs.
One thing I can guarantee you is that this is only the tip of the iceberg. If the owners and players don’t shake hands on a new labor agreement by March 4, there will be more paycheck-to-paycheck blood spilled around the league.
Seems the rest of the league is less than impressed by the moves of Clark Hunt and his minions.
NFL PERSONNEL FILE FOR TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8
- BUCCANEERS – named Keith Millard and Grady Stetz as defensive line coaches; named Tyrone Pettway as defensive quality control coach.
- COWBOYS – named Brian Baker defensive line coach.
- EAGLES – hired Johnnie Lynn as cornerbacks coach.
- FALCONS – will release S Erik Coleman.
- RAIDERS – promoted Greg Biekert to linebackers coach.
- REDSKINS – named Chris Morgan assistant offensive line coach.
- TITANS – fired offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger, offensive assistant Richie Wessman and defensive assistant Rayna Stewart.
I can’t pretend to understand the trials and tribulations the owner of a multi-million dollar organization might go through, so I am wary to pass judgment on Clark Hunt. But there have been “hard times” in the NFL before, and if his dad was able to find a way to be filthy rich while maintaining competent, loyal staff members as those hard times were weathered, well, it seems maybe the apple falls further from the tree than some would hope (especially those of us who like to think of our Chiefs as a noble organization and one to be proud of for something other than a football record).
Mr Pioli was making the rounds of the AM sports talk programs in the area. I “heard” some interesting things, 1. Weis leaving was a surprise, no one seem aware of his dis-interest in continuing. 2. Draft, be flexible and try not to miss a special guy because you are focussing on a position or need. 3. Play calling depend on the staff and their view of the best way to approach the game and is not his concern. The rest was the usual vagueness we get out of management. Only thing I did not like (but certainly understand), no one knows the truth around things that happen or do not happen with the Chiefs (that is how he runs it, secrecy). And he was shocked about that fact the KC area people live and breath the Chiefs, it reminds me of how new coaches are always amazed that we hate the raiders, darn it know you base.
Let’s say Hunt made a business call that we would all sign on to if we were privy to all the information at his disposal. IMHO, this is how you handle the dismissals: Tell the people privately that their position is no longer needed. Tell them they have a year to find another job and do everything in your power to help them. Then, make sure they get a generous severance package.
I think Lamar was loyal to a fault and it negatively impacted his beloved Chiefs. On the other hand, it is no better to be unappreciative and cheap. Clark has the money to make any changes he wants in a classy way. It sounds like he chose not to do that. This is not how you build a great organization.
This round of personnel cuts by the Chiefs is the most recent of several rounds of cuts. Since I don’t have access to the Chiefs’ financial info, it’s difficult to be critical of their actions. That being said, the sheer number of firings says a great deal. Maybe the administrative staff was too bloated. Maybe some of the admin positions were no longer necessary. Maybe they needed to reduce payroll by replacing higher paid employees with “rookies.” Who knows? What’s sad, though, is the ruthlessness with which this was all done. The Chiefs have long prided themselves on being a classy organization, and their management style and practices had been the subject of university case studies. Their handling of current personnel matters, however, leads me to suspect that they’re no longer the class organization they used to be, and Lamar must be turning over in his grave because of it.
Lamar never fired an employee and Chief’s fans suffered. He left Jack “big foot” Steadman (size 16 shoe) in as GM thru 17 years of hell and he never would have fired him, except Steadman resigned because it got to where he couldn’t go out to dinner without hearing an earful from fed up season ticketholders. Chiefs fans are much better off (if you want another Super Bowl winner) with Clark Hunt as owner than they were with Lamar as owner.
Agree totally, Lamar lost his fire after winning his one superbowl (with Stedman in tow). But before you annoint Clark as the next coming could we at least wait until his team wins one game in the playoffs.
But say what you want, Stedman won a superbowl (how many HOFers were on his teams?), if Clark has a ring it is one left for him from his no good father.
Bob, here’s a viewpoint for you to consider regarding the HOF.
There should be one division for players, with a maximum number for enshrinement per year. Personally, I wouldn’t mind saying that if a player is not voted in the first five or perhaps first ten years, that they would no longer be eligible.
There should be another division for coaches, owners and other contributors.To be eligible for this division the candidiates should be a minimum of say 70 years old. This would at least temporarily eliminate younger individuals like Jon Gruden who might well return to coaching in the future.
If too many are enshrined, the hall begins to lose its meaning.