The Buffalo Bills are a team I really want to like. I’ve been to a game at Ralph Wilson, and I thoroughly enjoyed it – it’s a pleasant stadium with good sight lines and very good tailgating in my experience. They’ve had their share of iconic players over the years, and they often seem to be on the verge of big things. They’re the poor little cousin of the NFL, so as a guy who always likes the underdog I have an obvious soft spot. With their latest move, though, I’m afraid that they may have finally lost their minds. If you missed it, Chan Gailey has been named coach of the team. Yes, that Chan Gailey. Brutal.
Let’s review. When last we saw Chan Gailey he was getting fired in Kansas City as offensive coordinator before the season even began. There are different accounts of why that happened, but it seems fairly obvious – new coach Todd Haley was fresh removed from being an OC himself, so he was easily able to see that Gaily didn’t have much of a clue. Before that he spent six years at Georgia Tech. To his credit, Gailey made a bowl in each of those six seasons (though he only won two, and he dropped his last three in a row). The problem, though, is that Gailey just once won more than seven games (an underwhelming 9-5 in 2006), and did absolutely nothing to show any progress with the team while he was there. Before that he spent a year as OC with the Dolphins. They went 11-5 that year, but lost their first playoff game 20-3 to the Ravens, and Gailey called the most transparently predictable offensive game plan that I ever remember seeing from a good team. Before that came Gailey’s only NHL head coaching experience – two years with the Cowboys. Those were two underwhelming years for the team capped by the humiliating home loss to the Cardinals. Gailey faced a near-revolution from the team’s veterans. Gailey was solid in Pittsburgh as OC – good enough to get him the job at Dallas. He spent 1989 and 1990 as OC in Denver, though, and he was so good there that when he left there he moved to two really prestigious gigs – the World League of American Football, and head coach at Samford University (where he went 5-6 nonetheless). I could go on and on, but you get the point I am making – Gailey just isn’t a good coach.
The excuse that is being made on behalf of the Bills is that they had to hire Gailey because no one else would take the job. I know that several high profile coaches – both big names on the sidelines and up and coming assistants – turned down a shot at the job, but I still don’t buy this as a legitimate concern. The problem as I see it is that the Bills never really gave themselves a chance to hire a top coach. First, they promoted Buddy Nix to GM in December. Nix is a highly respected scout, but he’s also 70 years old. It’s a hard sell to convince teams that you are an aggressive, progressive team when you hire a guy who remembers what it was like when there wasn’t an NFL. Next, they seem to have shown a lack of creativity in finding coaching candidates. They approached guys like Cowher and Shanahan who they just weren’t going to get, and they approached name coordinators like Brian Schottenheimer, but they didn’t seem to show any real creativity. Teams that make good choices for coaches when they don’t have prime jobs often go off the board. When you reach a bit for a guy you get a guy who is hungry and will take the job. Instead of searching around a bit they panicked and grabbed an anchor that will drag them to the bottom of Lake Erie and leave them for dead. Buffalo isn’t the best job in the country, but then neither are several other jobs in the league, and those franchises have done a better job of hiring a coach than the Bills did. Heck, if Cleveland can get a Mike Holmgren, and Detroit can get anyone to take their job, then surely Buffalo could have done better than Gailey.
Needless to say, I won’t be investing in Buffalo futures before next season.
