KRL Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Pure speculation on my part but here's why I think "Marrone mania" was going crazy in NY: - With the change in ownership and Orton retiring, Marrone was scared about his job security and the team's record next year - So he and his agent (Sexton) asked for an extension - They get turned down so they take advantage of their opt out clause which puts next year's salary in his pocket - Once he's a free agent Sexton contacts Adam Schefter and the "Syracuse Mafia" in the local media. Leaking that the Jets are the front runners to get Marrone - Sexton does this to generate buzz for Marrone and to get the other teams needing a coach to schedule interviews Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Schroy Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Jets in Seattle to interview for coach, GM jobs Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn and assistant head coach-offensive line coach Tom Cable, along with former Buffalo coach Doug Marrone, are on the Jets' early list of candidates to replace the fired Rex Ryan. Johnson flew to Seattle on Thursday, along with consultants Ron Wolf and Charley Casserly, and interviewed Seahawks director of pro personnel Trent Kirchner for New York's general manager position, which opened when Johnson fired John Idzik along with Ryan on Monday. While in Seattle, the trio also will meet with Quinn and Cable. It was a busy day for the Jets, who interviewed Cleveland executive chief of staff Bill Kuharich in New Jersey before they headed to Seattle. Marrone became a prime candidate for the Jets when he abruptly stepped down Wednesday night as Bills coach. He exercised an opt-out clause in his contract, essentially making himself a coaching free agent. Marrone led the Bills to a 9-7 finish in his second season for Buffalo's first winning campaign since 2004. Buffalo still missed the playoffs, extending the NFL's longest active postseason drought to 15 seasons - but beat the Jets twice. As of Thursday night, it was uncertain when the Jets would interview with Marrone. It likely will occur as soon as Johnson returns from Seattle, perhaps as soon as Sunday. Marrone, a Bronx native, has some ties to Johnson and the Jets: He was their offensive line coach under Herm Edwards from 2002-05. Quinn also was a Jets assistant from 2007-08 under Eric Mangini. He's also from Morristown, New Jersey, located just minutes from the Jets' training facility in Florham Park. New York also plans to interview San Diego offensive coordinator Frank Reich, but nothing had been scheduled. There is also interest from the Jets in Arizona defensive coordinator Todd Bowles and Baltimore offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak. The Jets already interviewed two in-house candidates Wednesday: Rod Graves and Anthony Lynn. Graves, the team's senior director of football administration, met with Johnson, Wolf and Casserly for the GM job. Before being brought to New York by Idzik in 2013, Graves was Arizona's general manager for six seasons. He is currently overseeing New York's football operations on an interim basis until a GM is hired. Lynn, who interviewed for the coaching position, was the running backs coach and served as assistant head coach under Ryan. With those two meetings, the team also satisfied the NFL's ''Rooney Rule,'' which requires teams to interview at least one minority candidate for open positions. In addition to Kirchner, the Jets have scheduled interviews with Houston director of college scouting Mike Maccagnan and Philadelphia director of pro personnel Rick Mueller, but it wasn't immediately certain when those would occur. Two candidates the Jets were interested in - Baltimore assistant GM Eric DeCosta and Minnesota assistant GM George Paton - turned down interview requests, preferring to remain with their current teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sperm Edwards Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 You are defeatist why did the Tuna leave a Bowl team for the 1-15 Jets in 1997?? The Guys from the Ravens or Vikes are turning down everybody but you want it to seem they are just turning down the Jets?? We are number 1 in whining fans.. Yeah, I saw that as well. Did I miss out on the news that Saban, Harbaugh, DeCosta, and Holmgren were interviewing with other NFL teams and only boycotted the Jets? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OuttaSightPF Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 You are defeatist why did the Tuna leave a Bowl team for the 1-15 Jets in 1997?? The Guys from the Ravens or Vikes are turning down everybody but you want it to seem they are just turning down the Jets?? We are number 1 in whining fans.. I hope I'm wrong and you are right. Honestly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gangrene Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 BY Mike Lupica NY Jets' interest in Doug Marrone is reminiscent of Rich Kotite days If Doug Marrone, who was 6-10 and 9-7 this season with the Bills and was 25-25 when he coached Syracuse, is the end of the star search for Woody Johnson then he would have been better off staying with Rex Ryan, who has had much better results in pro football than Marrone has. NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Friday, January 2, 2015, 12:27 AM KEVIN LARKIN/AP Leon Hess hires Rich Kotite 20 years ago to help save the Jets. What happened next was a 1-15 season. Once, with another Jets owner in another time, the owner couldn’t believe his team’s good fortune that a coach from another team, one with a record a lot better than Doug Marrone’s was at Syracuse or with the Buffalo Bills, had suddenly become available. That coach was Rich Kotite. Leon Hess was the owner and he said at the time that he was “80 years old and I want results now.” So he got rid of Pete Carroll and he hired Kotite away from Philadelphia, where he had won 11 games in his first season and 10 games the next and made the playoffs. But Kotite faded at the end, and the Eagles got tired of him, even though his four-year record there was 36-28. Oh, and Kotite was local, he sure was, a Staten Island guy, and that was supposed to be a big deal at the time the way it is supposed to be some kind of big deal that Marrone is from the Bronx. “Rich is a fighter, a builder, a ‘deze’ and ‘doze’ guy, a leader, bringing the New York Jets back,” Leon Hess said. It all happened so fast 20 years ago, the way things seem to be moving very fast with Marrone now that he has walked away from the Bills. You start to get the idea that it is as if this is the greatest opportunity for a New York team to hire a local guy since Bill Parcells. Or Lombardi. Jamie Sabau/Getty Images The Jets' interest in Doug Marrone is baffling and could very well be a regrettable move if they follow through. But if Doug Marrone, who was 6-10 and 9-7 this season with the Bills and was 25-25 when he coached Syracuse, is the end of the star search for Woody and what we assumed would be a crack committee that included Ron Wolf and Charley Casserly, then Woody would have been better off staying with Rex Ryan, who has had much better results in pro football than Marrone has. It is worth pointing out again that the decisions that Woody has to make, replacing both John Idzik and Ryan, are the most important he has made since buying the Jets, because this is the lowest point for the franchise since Kotite came to the Jets and went 3-13 and then 1-15 and then Parcells did have to come here from the Patriots and save everybody. But if Johnson is getting pushed or shoved in the direction of Marrone by Casserly and/or Ron Wolf, if this is all happening this fast when the smart thing is for Johnson to go get himself the best possible guy to be his next general manager, then he doesn’t look like an owner trying to make things right with what is a sorry operation right now. He looks like a sucker. Or maybe a mark. There is an old Parcells line that might be coming into play here, the one about some people in pro football not knowing whether the ball is blown up or stuffed. This doesn’t mean Marrone is a bad football coach. He is just another coach looking for a job, even though he and his agent seem to have this idea that they have done something brilliant by leveraging Marrone away from the Bills with some big coaching jobs available in the league. You even hear that if the Jets have the incredible luck to get Doug Marrone to come coach their football team, he might have a say in who the next general manager is. And if that is true, what kind of cockeyed process are they running over in Florham Park? Woody has to hire a new general manager first, and then if that general manager does all of his due diligence and he somehow decides that Marrone is the best man for the job — and not somebody just being agent-ed into the job — then by all means, bring Marrone here. But who thinks that will happen? The reason that you are supposed to believe that there is this tremendous momentum for Marrone to be the next Jets coach is because that is what Marrone and his agent want you to think, before Woody Johnson comes to his senses. He has just seen, Johnson has, over the past two seasons how it usually goes in sports — not always, there are always exceptions, but most of the time — when a general manager brought in to try to turn around a franchise is forced to take on a coach he doesn’t want, or never would have hired. The result with the Jets was, wait for it, the lowest point for the team since the Kotite years. Keith Torrie/New York Daily News The last thing teh Jets want to do is relive the dark days of the Kotite era. Only now Woody talks about what “good news” it is that Marrone might be available. Yeah, maybe good news for the Patriots, and Dolphins and maybe even the Buffalo Bills, a team that sure did win nine games this season. Two were against the Jets. One was against a New England Patriots team basically taking a knee at the end of the regular season. You see this all begin to play out this way, and wonder why in the world Woody or the Jets or guys such as Wolf and Casserly are acting as if there is some kind of meter running on this thing. Maybe it is true that Casserly — who gets way too much credit for the old Redskins, because he was the guy who followed Bobby Beathard — looks at Marrone and sees some budding coaching genius. But who else does? Again: Woody Johnson hasn’t been a terrible owner with the Jets. He hasn’t. He did the right thing this past week, getting rid of Idzik when he got rid of Rex. Idzik needed to go and Rex needs a new team. But he can’t let this process get hijacked by this dumb narrative that somehow they have been presented this tremendous opportunity now that Marrone walks away from the Bills. But somehow he says that it’s “good news” that Marrone is in play. Leon Hess said the exact same thing about another local guy once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sg3 Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Mehta, Lupica What is with all this 4'7" Hobbit Orange grads seeking their revenge because Marrone dared to leave coaching there for the NFL I'll bet the third Hobbit, Stokes is chiming in whereever he is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T0mShane Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 I'm sorry, didn't make it through that whole article. Did Lupica ever actually explain how Marrone is exactly like Kotite, or was it just Lupica saying things? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T0mShane Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Always on point, Boomer and Carton open their show talking about Jim Harbaugh going to Michigan before transitioning into Carton breaking into a "comedy" bit about Christmas cards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T0mShane Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 But if Johnson is getting pushed or shoved in the direction of Marrone by Casserly and/or Ron Wolf, if this is all happening this fast when the smart thing is for Johnson to go get himself the best possible guy to be his next general manager, then he doesn’t look like an owner trying to make things right with what is a sorry operation right now. Oh. Woody should do the smart thing, even if that means not listening to Wolf and Casserly. Thanks, Mike Lupica. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sourceworx Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 So according to Lupica, the Jets are searching for a new coach because we're at our lowest point since Rich Kotite, and yet replacing the coach who got us to this point with Doug Marrone is equal to replacing Pete Carroll with Rich Kotite. Makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sg3 Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Must be a Syracuse thing.. Mehta....Lupica.... Stokes.... Did Bilbo and Frodo Baggins attend there also? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slats Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 You even hear that if the Jets have the incredible luck to get Doug Marrone to come coach their football team, he might have a say in who the next general manager is. And if that is true, what kind of cockeyed process are they running over in Florham Park? Woody has to hire a new general manager first, and then if that general manager does all of his due diligence and he somehow decides that Marrone is the best man for the job — and not somebody just being agent-ed into the job — then by all means, bring Marrone here. The Marrone bashing from the Daily News has been bizarre but, on this point, Lupica is not wrong. Marrone may very well be a strong candidate. He's an experienced head coach with some moderate success. He checks the tough guy box so many people want after Rex. He's from the offensive side of the ball. But he doesn't have the type of stature that Carroll or Reid had when they were hired. This isn't a guy you hire before the GM. You hire a GM. and let him hire Marrone if he thinks that he's the best man for the job. The urgency surrounding this guy doesn't match his record. There's no reason to be sure he's a better candidate than Bowles or Quinn before they've all interviewed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T0mShane Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 The Marrone bashing from the Daily News has been bizarre but, on this point, Lupica is not wrong. Marrone may very well be a strong candidate. He's an experienced head coach with some moderate success. He checks the tough guy box so many people want after Rex. He's from the offensive side of the ball. But he doesn't have the type of stature that Carroll or Reid had when they were hired. This isn't a guy you hire before the GM. You hire a GM. and let him hire Marrone if he thinks that he's the best man for the job. The urgency surrounding this guy doesn't match his record. There's no reason to be sure he's a better candidate than Bowles or Quinn before they've all interviewed. The scuttlebutt seems to be that Marrone and Maccagnan would be a package deal, assuming Marrone is their guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeC36 Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Mehta, Lupica What is with all this 4'7" Hobbit Orange grads seeking their revenge because Marrone dared to leave coaching there for the NFL I'll bet the third Hobbit, Stokes is chiming in whereever he is Mehta graduated from Penn State and Lupica from Boston college, but please don't let facts get in the way of your always enjoyable rants Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slats Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 The scuttlebutt seems to be that Marrone and Maccagnan would be a package deal, assuming Marrone is their guy. I get that, but neither man has even interviewed yet. If I liked Maccagnan as GM, I'd hire him, and present him with my favorites from the list of guys they're doing preliminary interviews with, and maybe have him do follow-ups on a couple other guys before crowning Marrone. Again, this isn't Harbaugh we're talking about, it's Harbaugh-lite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Dierking Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Mehta graduated from Penn State Please do not say that. Mehta himself says that he is a SyRacuse alumni Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sourceworx Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 I get that, but neither man has even interviewed yet. If I liked Maccagnan as GM, I'd hire him, and present him with my favorites from the list of guys they're doing preliminary interviews with, and maybe have him do follow-ups on a couple other guys before crowning Marrone. Again, this isn't Harbaugh we're talking about, it's Harbaugh-lite. I don't think it's a coincidence that Maccagnan and Marrone are interviewing with the Jets around the same time. It's basically a foregone conclusion that if one is hired, the other will follow. Supposedly these two are also heavily favored by Casserly. So I think it's very likely that these two are going to be the ones brought in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patman Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 You are defeatist why did the Tuna leave a Bowl team for the 1-15 Jets in 1997?? The Guys from the Ravens or Vikes are turning down everybody but you want it to seem they are just turning down the Jets?? We are number 1 in whining fans.. The jets are a great landing spot for anyone who wants to be a HC or GM, as long as they have the know how to handle the media, and your family is ok with living in the northeast lifestyle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UnitedWhofans Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Cimini has weighed in and he is for the move. · Rich Cimini@RichCimini Marrone has solid credentials. Look past record + see big picture. Not saying he's next Parcells, but r there any sure things on Jets' list? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeC36 Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Please do not say that. Mehta himself says that he is a SyRacuse alumni I've heard him say he was Penn State on numerous occasions. I'll rescind my last post if that is in fact true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeC36 Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Must be a Syracuse thing.. Mehta....Lupica.... Stokes.... Did Bilbo and Frodo Baggins attend there also? Please do not say that. Mehta himself says that he is a SyRacuse alumni Saw his tweet from yesterday saying he was a syracuse alum. so I apologize for screwing that up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sg3 Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 I've heard him say he was Penn State on numerous occasions. I'll rescind my last post if that is in fact true. No prob, Joe...I was wrong about the other little shrimp Maybe Womanish flunked out of both PSU and Syracuse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mphtrilogy_8577 Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 I don't understand the backlash, he's a solid candidate. I think anyone we bring in at this point would get hammered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flgreen Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Marrone is Reminiscent of Kotite NY Jets' interest in Doug Marrone is reminiscent of Rich Kotite days If Doug Marrone, who was 6-10 and 9-7 this season with the Bills and was 25-25 when he coached Syracuse, is the end of the star search for Woody Johnson then he would have been better off staying with Rex Ryan, who has had much better results in pro football than Marrone has. NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Friday, January 2, 2015, 12:27 AM A A A KEVIN LARKIN/AP Leon Hess hires Rich Kotite 20 years ago to help save the Jets. What happened next was a 1-15 season. Once, with another Jets owner in another time, the owner couldn’t believe his team’s good fortune that a coach from another team, one with a record a lot better than Doug Marrone’s was at Syracuse or with the Buffalo Bills, had suddenly become available. That coach was Rich Kotite. Leon Hess was the owner and he said at the time that he was “80 years old and I want results now.” So he got rid of Pete Carroll and he hired Kotite away from Philadelphia, where he had won 11 games in his first season and 10 games the next and made the playoffs. But Kotite faded at the end, and the Eagles got tired of him, even though his four-year record there was 36-28. Oh, and Kotite was local, he sure was, a Staten Island guy, and that was supposed to be a big deal at the time the way it is supposed to be some kind of big deal that Marrone is from the Bronx. “Rich is a fighter, a builder, a ‘deze’ and ‘doze’ guy, a leader, bringing the New York Jets back,” Leon Hess said. It all happened so fast 20 years ago, the way things seem to be moving very fast with Marrone now that he has walked away from the Bills. You start to get the idea that it is as if this is the greatest opportunity for a New York team to hire a local guy since Bill Parcells. Or Lombardi. The Jets' interest in Doug Marrone is baffling and could very well be a regrettable move if they follow through. JAMIE SABAU/GETTY IMAGES The Jets' interest in Doug Marrone is baffling and could very well be a regrettable move if they follow through. But if Doug Marrone, who was 6-10 and 9-7 this season with the Bills and was 25-25 when he coached Syracuse, is the end of the star search for Woody and what we assumed would be a crack committee that included Ron Wolf and Charley Casserly, then Woody would have been better off staying with Rex Ryan, who has had much better results in pro football than Marrone has. It is worth pointing out again that the decisions that Woody has to make, replacing both John Idzik and Ryan, are the most important he has made since buying the Jets, because this is the lowest point for the franchise since Kotite came to the Jets and went 3-13 and then 1-15 and then Parcells did have to come here from the Patriots and save everybody. But if Johnson is getting pushed or shoved in the direction of Marrone by Casserly and/or Ron Wolf, if this is all happening this fast when the smart thing is for Johnson to go get himself the best possible guy to be his next general manager, then he doesn’t look like an owner trying to make things right with what is a sorry operation right now. He looks like a sucker. Or maybe a mark. There is an old Parcells line that might be coming into play here, the one about some people in pro football not knowing whether the ball is blown up or stuffed. This doesn’t mean Marrone is a bad football coach. He is just another coach looking for a job, even though he and his agent seem to have this idea that they have done something brilliant by leveraging Marrone away from the Bills with some big coaching jobs available in the league. You even hear that if the Jets have the incredible luck to get Doug Marrone to come coach their football team, he might have a say in who the next general manager is. And if that is true, what kind of cockeyed process are they running over in Florham Park? Woody has to hire a new general manager first, and then if that general manager does all of his due diligence and he somehow decides that Marrone is the best man for the job — and not somebody just being agent-ed into the job — then by all means, bring Marrone here. But who thinks that will happen? The reason that you are supposed to believe that there is this tremendous momentum for Marrone to be the next Jets coach is because that is what Marrone and his agent want you to think, before Woody Johnson comes to his senses. He has just seen, Johnson has, over the past two seasons how it usually goes in sports — not always, there are always exceptions, but most of the time — when a general manager brought in to try to turn around a franchise is forced to take on a coach he doesn’t want, or never would have hired. The result with the Jets was, wait for it, the lowest point for the team since the Kotite years. The last thing the Jets want to do is relive the dark days of the Kotite era. KEITH TORRIE/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS The last thing the Jets want to do is relive the dark days of the Kotite era. Only now Woody talks about what “good news” it is that Marrone might be available. Yeah, maybe good news for the Patriots, and Dolphins and maybe even the Buffalo Bills, a team that sure did win nine games this season. Two were against the Jets. One was against a New England Patriots team basically taking a knee at the end of the regular season. You see this all begin to play out this way, and wonder why in the world Woody or the Jets or guys such as Wolf and Casserly are acting as if there is some kind of meter running on this thing. Maybe it is true that Casserly — who gets way too much credit for the old Washington team, because he was the guy who followed Bobby Beathard — looks at Marrone and sees some budding coaching genius. But who else does? Again: Woody Johnson hasn’t been a terrible owner with the Jets. He hasn’t. He did the right thing this past week, getting rid of Idzik when he got rid of Rex. Idzik needed to go and Rex needs a new team. But he can’t let this process get hijacked by this dumb narrative that somehow they have been presented this tremendous opportunity now that Marrone walks away from the Bills. But somehow he says that it’s “good news” that Marrone is in play. Leon Hess said the exact same thing about another local guy once http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/fo...n=NYDNSportsTw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sg3 Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 The New York Daily News...not even good enough for toilet paper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morrissey Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 I wouldn't wish this job on my worst enemy. Whoever gets this gig will never be giving a fair shake from many in the media and many fans who cant get their hard on for Rex Ryan down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T0mShane Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 I've heard him say he was Penn State on numerous occasions. I'll rescind my last post if that is in fact true. Pwned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Integrity28 Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 But somehow he says that it’s “good news” that Marrone is in play. Leon Hess said the exact same thing about another local guy once. Has anyone suggested that all Woody meant was that it's "good news" that Marrone is out of the division and won't be thumping the Jets anymore? Maybe the Jets interest in him is all manufactured by the media... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T0mShane Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 I get that, but neither man has even interviewed yet. If I liked Maccagnan as GM, I'd hire him, and present him with my favorites from the list of guys they're doing preliminary interviews with, and maybe have him do follow-ups on a couple other guys before crowning Marrone. Again, this isn't Harbaugh we're talking about, it's Harbaugh-lite. I'm with you, but my hope is that this is the product of the calls Casserly was making before he officially drew a Jets paycheck. If this was a situation where Woody and his crew were acting alone, I'd be flipping out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C Mart Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 The Marrone bashing from the Daily News has been bizarre but, on this point, Lupica is not wrong. Marrone may very well be a strong candidate. He's an experienced head coach with some moderate success. He checks the tough guy box so many people want after Rex. He's from the offensive side of the ball. But he doesn't have the type of stature that Carroll or Reid had when they were hired. This isn't a guy you hire before the GM. You hire a GM. and let him hire Marrone if he thinks that he's the best man for the job. The urgency surrounding this guy doesn't match his record. There's no reason to be sure he's a better candidate than Bowles or Quinn before they've all interviewed. Everyone needs to calm down. @RapSheet: #Jets plan to hire a GM first if possible, then coach so everyone is on the same page. GM candidates have been asked for head coach names Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyCarl40 Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Good read on Marrone here: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/sports/football/nfl/bills/2015/01/01/buffalo-bills-doug-marrone-bill-polian/21165875/ Why Doug Marrone walked away from the Bills Sal Maiorana, Staff writer 9:19 a.m. EST January 2, 2015 In the aftermath of Buffalo's asterisk-tagged season-ending victory over the half-Patriots Sunday, the last thing I thought I'd be doing on the inaugural day of 2015 was writing about an ex-Bills head coach. I figured a 9-7 record, Buffalo's first winning season since 2004 — with one of those victories against the Green Bay Packers plus that win over New England, even though it lacked luster because Bill Belichick treated it like a preseason game — was more than enough to prevent Doug Marrone from getting the axe from new owner Terry Pegula. Full steam ahead, I thought. Find a quarterback, improve the offensive line, do your best to keep this excellent defense together, and if all that happened, there was no reason to believe Marrone's Bills couldn't finally end their interminable absence from the playoffs in 2015. And then Marrone quit. Pulled the rip cord on his golden $4 million parachute and bolted Buffalo before the bubbly began flowing on New Years Eve. Echoing center Eric Wood's tweet that night, I sure didn't see that coming. Now, it's chaos at One Bills Drive as reports throughout New Year's Day indicated just how disenchanted Marrone was while working for the Bills. How did this happen? Simple: Greed, insecurity and thin skin. As was the case for many fans, Marrone frustrated me with his in-game management — the silly punts on fourth-and-short from the plus side of the 50-yard-line, his unimaginative offense that he entrusted to his in-over-his-head coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, and his inability to get anything out of the offensive line which was supposed to be his specialty. I didn't think he was a bad coach, just one who needed to be more aggressive in his approach. I liked Marrone more as a guy than I did as a coach and I never had a problem with him personally. Sure, he irritated me with his insistence on not reading off the list of injuries at his pressers, and he wasn't always the best guy to quote for a story because he had a habit of rambling off course and never really answering your question. But I liked him. He was occasionally a curmudgeon (believe me, it takes one to know one), but he could also be engaging and fun to chat with off the record. He always touts his pride about being a New Yorker (even if he was a down-stater), and though he was making $4 million a year, there was a certain blue-collar persona to him. Well, I like him and his starchy white collar a little less today than I did Sunday after the Patriots game. Let's cut right to the chase: He took the money and ran. And then he apparently spit on the organization on the way out the door, reportedly speaking to Bill Polian and telling him the franchise was in disrepair, which seems to have dissuaded Polian from rejoining the Bills. The incredible opt-out clause that Marrone's agent, Jimmy Sexton, somehow convinced the Bills' hierarchy to agree to when they hired him in 2013 revealed Marrone to be just like almost every other guy who works in the world of professional sports. They love to say it isn't about the money, but it's always about the money. Always. And power doesn't hurt, either. All that talk of family, and team, and continuity, and doing what's best for the Buffalo Bills? Marrone did what was best for Marrone. Though, perhaps unintentionally, he did what was best for the Bills by leaving. In the three days he had to wield his clear-cut leverage before the opt-out clause expired Wednesday at midnight, Marrone must have looked like an Olympic fencer whooshing his sabre at owner Terry Pegula knowing no matter what, he was still getting $4 million free and clear. Sources say what he specifically asked for was a two-year contract extension for himself, and extensions for his coaching staff so that the assistants were all on the same cycle. They were off kilter because he had to bring in several new coaches in 2014 after Mike Pettine took several of his guys to Cleveland last year. Marrone's NFL record is 15-17, yet he was asking Pegula for a hefty raise, an additional two years at a cost of $8 million. Pegula said no to it all. Upon hearing that, Marrone's insecurity kicked in. One source said he was uncomfortable about the prospect of a new football czar being hired to oversee the operation. Marrone is maniacal about the details — remember, it took the Bills four days of interviewing before he agreed to come aboard because he was so nit-picky about everything. The uncertainty of what the future held, whether he could get along with that man personally as well as professionally, and how much control he'd have over the roster really weighed on him. According to reports, Polian was seriously considering returning to Buffalo until speaking to Marrone. Polian told the Buffalo News Thursday that once Marrone and Kyle Orton left, the job changed and it went from being "fun" to being a "heavy lift" which did not interest him at the age of 72. The final element to Marrone's departure apparently was his own inability to not let criticism bother him. It came to light that he was tired of the negativity emanating from the local media and fans about his job performance, as if that's something new in the NFL, or unique to Buffalo. He felt he was too frequently taken to task about his decision making, and apparently the criticism had begun to upset his wife and children, too. As I remember, that was one of the reasons Mike Mularkey gave when he quit the Bills after the 2005 season. All I can say is good luck in New York, where it is rumored Marrone may end up as coach of the Jets. If the western New York media got under his skin, what's going to happen in Gotham? Gregg Williams, Mularkey, Dick Jauron, Perry Fewell, Chan Gailey, and now Marrone; Buffalo's coaches since Wade Phillips was stupidly fired in 2000 by Ralph Wilson despite a 29-19 record and two playoff appearances in three years. Who's next on the carousel? Frank Reich? Rex Ryan? Bill Cowher? Adam Gase? Dan Quinn? Some college coach? Whoever it is, there's no grace period. The fans have had it. This team is close to being a consistent winner, and if it gets just competent quarterback play in 2015, it should make the playoffs. Pegula has more money than the majority of the NFL owners. He can hire anyone he wants. Let's hope the Bills finally get it right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C Mart Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 I'm with you, but my hope is that this is the product of the calls Casserly was making before he officially drew a Jets paycheck. If this was a situation where Woody and his crew were acting alone, I'd be flipping out. Exactly. Wonder where I've seen that before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morrissey Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Has anyone suggested that all Woody meant was that it's "good news" that Marrone is out of the division and won't be thumping the Jets anymore? Maybe the Jets interest in him is all manufactured by the media... who knows, but if Marrone does sign else where the media will of course crush the Jets for not getting their guy. Doesn't matter if the narrative they reported that he was the favorite to land the job was just speculation on their part. Manish will be leading the charge, wont matter that he's sh*tting on the potential hire now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faba Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 So marrone does not like dealing with Buffalo media- hah wait till he gets Cimini and Mehta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slats Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Everyone needs to calm down. @RapSheet: #Jets plan to hire a GM first if possible, then coach so everyone is on the same page. GM candidates have been asked for head coach names I'll calm down when I'm good and ready. What does "if possible" mean? What circumstance is gonna arise that forces the Jets to hire a coach first? If Rapoport is using their words there, they're obviously leaving their options open to do exactly that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.