Latest / Best of the NFL Podcast Network / The Season with Peter Schrager: "What's a Head Coach Interview Like?" with Scott Pioli

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The Season with Peter Schrager: "What's a Head Coach Interview Like?" with Scott Pioli · Best of the NFL Podcast Network

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: The Season with Peter Schreeger is a production of the
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio. What's up, everybody, Welcome to
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: the Season with Peter Schreger. I'm Peter Schrager. I'm on
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Good Morning Football Monday to Friday and the NFL network.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: I'm on Fox NFL Kickoff on Sundays. We're not during
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: the divisional round of the playoffs. But before we get
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: to all that, and to our guests, I just wanted
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: to really go a little deeper on what occurred on
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Monday in Arizona and what the Rams and the Cardinals
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: pulled off. I say the Cardinals because I think they
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: were the ones who didn't get any credit in this
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: whole situation for executing what was an incredible seventy two
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: hours and putting on an NFC Wild Card game in
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: a stadium that wasn't involving either team. The Cardinals sent
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: their team planes. We saw that. That's from the owner.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: That's cool. How about the Cardinals PR staff led by
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Mark Dalton and Chris Melvin and those guys. They thought
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: their season was over. They were preparing for the combine
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: and for the draft, and they were put into action
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: and were not only working with the Rams and the
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: league in credentialing media members, but they were on site
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: providing all the media elements that you need when you
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: arrive at a game as a media member working it.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: The Cardinals opened up their building, they opened up their arms,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: and they embraced a division rival in the La Rams,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: and did so with no complaints and with no second thoughts.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: As for the Rams, incredible, incredible in that on the
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: Tuesday prior, they are in many cases evacuating their homes.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: As so many of those RAM staffers live on the
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: West side of LA and many live in Malibu and
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: some I know live in the Palisades and Altadena. They
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: were evacuating their homes in many ways, and if not,
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: they or at least involved in what was going on
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: in Los Angeles that we were all on the East
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: coast watching from AFAR. They leave early for Arizona, they
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: do so as a team, and they go on Friday.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: They have a practice in Arizona, which I was later
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: told before the game that it was their best practice
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: of the season. Now that's why probably a lot of
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: people say, oh, you say that every time, especially after
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: the fact. No, no, no, they were dialed in, They
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: were ready, and there was this weight of we know
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: what we have to do. McVeigh preaches something, and he
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: preaches it always be your best when your best is required,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: meaning when you need to be your best, be your
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: best show up that day. And what I see sense
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: is this wasn't just the players and the coaches being
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: their best on Monday night. The staffs from the sides
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: of the business side, from the staff of the in
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: game experience, from PR, from marketing, from everybody who helped
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: board the buses of several buses leaving from LA and
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: driving six hours to Arizona, to the folks who actually
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: brought their in game entertainment. They brought their team dj
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: they brought their team graphics, They brought everything that they
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: had on their JumboTron and brought that as like almost
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: like a mobile experience to Arizona. They installed that and
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: they practiced for seventy two hours of getting that right,
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: so it at least felt like a Rams home game,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: and then the Rams fans actually showed up. You have
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: to understand Minnesota. As much as this was a home
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: game for LA, Minnesota is the home of many many
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Vikings fans but in the winter time states Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa,
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: A lot of those people's people, they don't camp out
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: in Florida as snowbirds. They go to Scottsdale and they
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: go to that Gilbert, Arizona area. So from what I
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: was told, a lot of Vikings fans were like, Oh,
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: I know, no intention of going to a Vikings playoff
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: game in LA, but crap, it's in It's in Scottsdale,
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: it's in Glendale, it's in Phoenix. I'll get there. That's
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: a day. That's a cool activity. So there was a
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: lot of added Vikings fans that weren't going to be
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: there in LA that ended up going actually from Arizona.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: The execution of Monday from a game day operations standpoint,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: to make that feel like a Rams home game took
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: so many hands. And we've had Kevin dem Off, the
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: team president on we haven't had the Rams, you know,
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: head of marketing, this woman Kat Frederick, who's fantastic, But
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: all the all the stuff that you saw in game,
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: whether it be Warren g performing, whether you see their
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: team D day, I just know what it took and
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: what it meant to those players and what it meant
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: to that coaching staff that the entire organization was was
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: ten toes down and we're all hands on deck, and
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: they were able to actually pull it off. You saw
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Aaron Donald there, you saw the really cool Andrew Whitworth
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: address to LA and then you see the game. And
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: that's where McVeigh stands alone in my eyes as far
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: as seeing the big picture here. They were widely criticized
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: for not playing their starters in Week eighteen, and the
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: criticism came because it essentially cost them the three seed
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: and they ended up being the four seed instead. If
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: they win that game, as the way it all went down,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: and if it worked out a way that they could
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: have happily been the three seed in Tampa the four seed,
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: and they would have played the Commanders, which seemed like
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: a way inferior opponent to the Vikings. But McVeigh said,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: I don't care when we play these teams. If we're
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: going to where we want to go, it doesn't matter
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: who is playing us and when we play them. If
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: the Vikings are really this team or the Lions at
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: the time, who they thought they might have to face
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: this really this team, we're going to have to square
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: off against them at some point. Anyway, Rams come into
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: this thing, they rest their week eighteen players, where everyone else,
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: including the Vikings, had had to play because they had
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: something to play for. And they come in and Karen
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: Williams led the NFL in rushing attempts. He didn't touch
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: the ball for thirteen days going into this game. Stafford
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: looked cooked. At the end of the season, Cup looked cooked.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: Of course, you look at Pukinakua and the way he
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: plays so aggressive, seeking out contact. To have that week
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: off was so important for the Rams, and then what
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: do you know, the injury report comes out All week
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: twenty two starters started for the La Rams in that
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: playoff game, and then they kicked the snot out of
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: the Minnesota Vikings. Which is a conversation we're going to
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: be having for the next several weeks because I think
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: Sam Donald might have cost himself twenty to thirty million dollars.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: And I don't say that to be you know, salacious,
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: or to cause the headline. I think Sam Donald cost
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: himself a lot of money in that game. I thought
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: Kevin O'Connell the last two weeks of the season. It
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: doesn't affect a Coach of the Year votes, He's going
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: to get Coach of the Year votes, going to win
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: Coach of the Year. He's gonna accept that, and it's
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: going to be very weird because we saw how the
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: season ended with those two games. Dan Campbell at the
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: end of that Week seven, Week eighteen game leans in,
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: It's like, we'll see you in two weeks. Couldn't have
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: been further from the truth. Nine sacks Sam Darnold took
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: through the intercept, had the fumble obviously on the team,
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: and then it got to a fumble recover for her score,
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: just looked out of sync, went eighteen of forty one
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: in the biggest game of the season in Week eighteen
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: against the Lions, and then played even worse against the Rams.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: A lot of things to unpack there, but I'm not
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: focusing on the negative. I'm focusing on the positive now.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: The question is, as we spin it forward towards the
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: Eagles game, did they leave it all out there in Arizona?
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: Was that so much emotion, so much we're playing for La,
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: so much pent up, just desire to win and give
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: their fans and the residents of Los Angeles a moment
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: of glory that they don't have anything left for Philly.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: It's possible. I was there in the Week twelve game
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: when Sakuon Barkley went for three hundred yards from scrimmage.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: I was there. I saw it. It was a one
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: sided game. There's enough change in the time that's passed
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: that we can get a different result. Well, time will tell,
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: but I'll tell you this if and it sounds defeatus,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: it sounds like I'm putting a rap on the Rams season.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: If that's all we get. And that's all they did.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: The Rams went from a one and four start, a
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: five and five record at one point, to getting to
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: the Divisional round in the final eight teams. And they
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: did so despite having La wildfires uproot just about everybody's
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: life and give them the giant curveball before a game
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: that they actually went out and played their best game
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: of the season. Pretty cool. Story. Shows you the power
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: of sports, shows you the power of coaching, shows you
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: the power of an organization that is all in and
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: knows what's at stake, especially when the entire city needs it.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: That was the big story Monday. And then at halftime
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: Adam Schefter comes on and he has to address a
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: report online that Dion Sanders and the Cowboys are talking,
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: and Chefter's like, yeah, they are. There was a conversation,
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: and then he actually gets a quote from Dion which
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: was kind of hollow and that I respect Jerry Jones
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: and yet I still love Colorado. But it was on
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: the record from Schefter that Dion and Jerry have had
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: a conversation. And as we record this on a Wednesday afternoon,
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: I'm warming up to the idea a little bit more
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: every single day, not of the fact that I would
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: hire Dion Sanders as my coach if I was the Cowboys,
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: but that Jerry Jones might. Jerry Jones is eighty two
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: years old. Jerry Jones is always beat by his own drum.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: Jerry Jones has hired two kind of vanilla coaches the
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: last two times around, and Jason Garrett and Mike McCarthy
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: football men, and they're going to do what they do
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: and their contracts are going to expire and we're not
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: going to get further than the Divisional round in any
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: of those years. And that includes Wade Phillips when he
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: was the coach, and Dave Campo, and you go right
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: down the list, whoever else has been a head coach.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: He's hired eight in his life as a Cowboys owner.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: The three biggest splashes were Jimmy Johnson, were Barry Switzer,
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: and were Bill Parcells. All three of those big splash
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: coaches won games for the Dallas Cowboys and got them
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: to the playoffs and did things, and they were the
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: number one story in sports. He's eighty two years old, Folks.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: If Jerry Jones wants to lift his eyebrows and make
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: a wave at this stage of his life and hired
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: Dion Sanders, I think he's the only owner that would
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: do it, and I don't think it's that crazy that
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: it would happen. Consider this, Dion can navigate that relationship.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: He's known Jerry since he was a free agent signing
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: and a very highly decorated one at that. They did
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: a commercial on the golf cart together in nineteen ninety five.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: That's how long this relationship goes. If there is any
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: coach that can handle the bright lights and lean in
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: of Dallas and what it means to be the head
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: coach of America's team, it is Dion. I'll also add
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: this other lever and layer to it. Dion Sanders was
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: the face of the NFL Network for like the first
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: twenty years this network existed. He was an on air analyst.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: He was the biggest star. He was prime time and
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: having worked with him at Super Bowls and worked with
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: him at countless events, he is larger than life. He
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: is that guy. So you you have to realize that
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: a lot of people that worked at the NFL Network
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: worked with Dion and he was a gentleman and he
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: was great and when he acknowledged you and pumped you up,
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: there was nothing cooler. So you're not gonna get us
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: on NFL Network being critical of Dion Sanders, and you know,
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: throwing out you know, those relationships and knowing how inspiring
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: he is and knowing what he is, our initial reaction
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: is not going to be, oh, screwed, Dion. It's just
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: not going to happen. Whether that doesn't make us journalists
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: or not. I think coming at it as an open
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: mind is where we start, and then from there it
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: might be actually favorable coverage. Then you go to ESPN,
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: do you realize how many segments Stephen A. Smith and
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: Ryan Clark and Chris Russo and whoever else get out
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: of Dion Sanders being the coach of the Cowboys. Then
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: you add in the fact that it might go terrible,
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: and that almost adds to the to the drama. It
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: adds to the possibility of great debate, and it can
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: carry an entire offseason, let alone the football season. CBS
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: Guess who used to work on the CBS pregame show
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: Deon Sanders. Guess who has a great relationship with CBS
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: Deon Sanders ABC? Guess who was on Good Morning America
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: last week on stage with Michael Strahan. Dion Sanders, Fox?
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: Guess who is a show on two B right now?
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: On Sanders Guess what network owns to be? Guess who
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: is a huge, shining star and a part of Michael
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: Strahan's life and the represented by the same folks at
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: Smack Entertainment. Dion Sanders go go over to Amazon. I
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: believe there's a prime show on Amazon, which, no coincidence,
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: is called Amazon Prime as well. I think he's got
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: a television show currently with Amazon Prime. So if you're
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: waiting for this groundswell against Dion and you're looking for
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: us to all come out with our knives out, I
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: think everyone's gonna give it the benefit of the doubt
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: and oh, by the way, Dion comes and I believe
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: a lot of that stuff comes with him. If if
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: Jerry is gonna do it his way, Dion makes more
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: sense than anybody. If Jerry's doing it his way, Arthur
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: Smith is not the next head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: If Jerry's gonna do it his way. You know, Matt
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: Naggi is not going to be the next coach of
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: the Dallas Cowboys. From a football sense, I thirteen and
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: eleven at Colorado and getting blown out by BYU in
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: the bowl game isn't the greatest resume builder. But the
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: Arizona Cardinals hired Cliff Kingsbury after a losing record at
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: Texas Tech, and he was fired by the Texas Tech
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: rid Raiders. It's not unprecedented that a coach who didn't
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: necessarily win the national title gets an opportunity at the
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: next level. Matt Ruhle had some great bowl games and
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: did some great things at Baylor. I don't think everyone
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: was looking at Matt rules as Nick Saban or as
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: you know Bear Bryant when he was hired by the
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: Carolina Panthers. I don't have a problem with Dion. You
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: know his college record as a reason why. It's some
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: great knock on the resume. The only critique I have
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: is does he actually want to do this? Would he
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: do this without his son? And is it about more
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: the circus and the media attention and all the bright
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: lights and a potential series with NFL films and sky
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: Dance and all that stuff, or is it about getting
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: the Dallas Cowboys to the next level. I have no
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: problem with Deon Sanders as the head coach of the
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys, and the more I think about it every
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: single day, it makes more and more sense that Jerry's
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: entertaining this idea and that Dion would entertain it as well.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: All right, so Dion's one coaching potential hire, and we
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: can break that down and sure do great clicks and
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: all that. But there are other teams too. Jacksonville's got
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: an open opening that hasn't been filled. The Saints, we
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: obviously know the Jets, and we know the Bears. There
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: are coach openings and there are still no hires made
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: and we are now nearly two weeks after the regular season.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: So I got a text from a guy who was
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: on the podcast couple of weeks ago, and that was
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: my friend Danny, who is Danny from Lotty who we've
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: gotten such great feedback from that podcast, a Jets fan
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: and along with Joe Caparoso who's a you know, the
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: bad Lands producer for the Jets podcast, we got great
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: feedback on that. And Danny said, you know what hasn't
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: really been done and I don't know if you can
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: set it up or do it as like a mock
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: interview whatever. Like the one thing we don't have access
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: to in a Hard Knocks age and an age of
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: Amazon all in what goes on in the room when
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: they're actually interviewing these guys, Like what questions are asked
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: and who's asking them, and what's the process of picking
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: who gets to interview where and why? And can I
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: can actually win the job in an interview. It's a
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: great question. It hasn't been done, and I think it's
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: it's a fantastic podcast topic. So we're gonna go in
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: the room of hiring a head coach, and we're gonna
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: do it with a guy who's done it before and
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: has Lombardi trophies behind him and on his resume. We're
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: gonna go through a head coaching interview, and we're gonna
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: do it with Scott Pioli, the former personnel executive from
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: the Patriots and GM of the Kansas City Chiefs. Pioli's
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: got the Lombardes. He's also got those head coaching interviews
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: under his belt. It's also interviewed four GM jobs. So
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: we're gonna go into the room where it happens. A
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: little shout out to our guy lin manuelmur and we're
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: gonna do so after this, very excited for our next
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: guests at our conversation. So two weeks ago, as a callback,
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: we had on the leading Jets podcast host who does
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: a Jets fan podcast and a Jets season ticket holder
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: who just walked away from the scene tickets and we
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: went through their dream lists of Jets coach and GM
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: just being fans and not being in the room. And afterwards,
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: one of those guests, guy Danny, who goes by Danny
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: from Latti, who is very active, and said he's giving
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: up his season tickets based on another season that was lost.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: He gave up the PSLs.
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: He texted me.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: One off and said, you know what's something none of
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: us actually know what happens in the room. And to
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: cite our guy lin Manuel Miranda, do you want to
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: be in the room where it happens. And there's no
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: man who's been in maybe more influential rooms that I
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: deal with on a daily basis than Scott Pioli. Scott
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: is the NFL network's front office voice. He also is
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: a three time Lombardi winner. He also has been a
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: part of multiple coaching searches and has been to big
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: places with different teams both Kansas City and Atlanta and
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: Scott Pioli's our guests this afternoon, Scott, what's up.
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: Man, Peter? Thanks for having me man. I love the
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: Hamilton reference right out of the gate, but there's so
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: much true to that man, so much. Let's think we
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: can cheer up Danny from Where's Danny from?
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: Dannis from Lotty. Now he's originally from Hewlett, New York,
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: but now he is a you know, you're out there
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: in those Hofstra days at the Jets camp. That's that's
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: where he's out from that world. But to that point,
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: there's so many different job openings right now, and if
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: you're trying to look at some of the trackers of
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: who's interviewing with who, it feels like it's one of
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: those CVS receipts that just goes on and on and
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: on and on, and the question is from the fans,
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: what I actually happened. So let's use your Atlanta experience
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: as a part of the key group that hired Dan
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: Quinn way back when when he was the Atlanta head
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: coach that was hired after their Super Bowl runs in Seattle.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: Take us through how the individuals were selected, who get
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: to be a part of the process to even get
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: in the room to interview head coaches.
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, in that particular situation, Peter, Again, I've
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: been in part of this in so many different places
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: and everything is so organizational specific, right. It's however the
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: owner wants it, who the key players are to the
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: owner and who has the owner's year. But in the
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: Atlanta situation, you know, the decision was being made by
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: Thomas de Mittroff and Thomas de Mitroff and Arthur Blank,
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: that's it. But Thomas wanted some other people around, so
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: Rich McKay was involved, Kim Shruck and Goss who was
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: an important, you know, leader within Arthur's orbit, a gentleman
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: by the name of Dean Stimulus, who worked for Russell Reynolds,
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: but was also good friends with Thomas and with Arthur.
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: Dean's one of the most amazing people that I know.
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: Dean was actually involved in the process when the chiefs
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: hired me in my interview process, and you know, and
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: then then I Thomas asked me and Arthur asked me
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: to be a part of it. So it was a
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: small group who spent most of the time, and sometimes
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: those interviews were in the office. Sometimes we actually did
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: him in Arthur's living room, at Arthur's office at the
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: family offices. But as we collected names, we were using
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: some names that were gathered by, you know, a an agency,
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: and then some folks meaning a search firm agency, not
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: an agent, and then folks that we all knew and
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: had relationships and people who were hot names. So the
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: list was comprised of both you know, assistants, former head coaches,
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: college head coaches. It was a very very big list
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: and we had to start narrowing that down.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: Okay, so that's the initial list, and it's this long list,
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: and you reference the search firms. Corn Ferry's a search firm,
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: Jeff Hughes the search firm, Mike Ford is a search
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: firm for the listener at home. We all know the NFL,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: and if you're working at an NFL team, you know,
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: it's not that hard to say, hey, you know, go
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: interview Liam Cohen and Ben Jonson and Cliff Kingsbury, like
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: we know it. But what are these search firms do
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: and what's their role beyond just presenting a list?
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: You know, this is a great question because I believe
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: in input from search firms, But I think what happens sometimes
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: depending on the organization and the strength of the organization
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: and or the strength of the owner. There's some teams
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: allow the search firm process to go too far and
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: lead them in too many directions, and the tail begins
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: to wag the dog, when in reality, when you're hiring
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: an individual to lead the club, you have to make
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: sure that all the fit and that it doesn't end
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: up being the search firm favorite person or the search
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: firm's relationship with an agent or you know, the six
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: guys that come from one particular agency, because the search
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: firm has a relationship with the agent at this agent,
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: you know, talking about the formal type. Yeah, so they
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: have a tremendous amount of value, but again, you have
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: to understand it's like analytics right within football. I believe
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: in analytics in football, but you have to watch the dynamics,
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: the human dynamics, because it's an interdependent The game is
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: a game of eleven interdependent relationships on every single place.
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: So there's this human element that is not just analytics.
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: You have to watch film. It's different but very similar
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: when you're trying to find a head coach and it's
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: so critical to make sure that the tail doesn't wag
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: the dog.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: Logistics wise, again, I'm going real deep with you because
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: you know who's scheduling. You know this guy can come
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: in at this time. This guy's going to be remote.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: Now the rules have all changed since that dan Quinn hire.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: It's been you know, ten years or whatever, and now
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: the league has really structured it and done a I
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: think a fine job in delaying a lot of these
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: interviews for the coaches that are still in the playoffs.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: But the logistics part of it wo a search firm
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: do that? Is there a clerical assistant that works for
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: the owner? Like how does that all go down? Well?
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: Again, most interviews are done around the owner's schedule. Again,
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: depending on the organization. Some owners say hey, listen, you guys,
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: go handle it, And the logistics are usually handed by
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: someone within your football ops program. It's either the head,
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: the general manager's assistant, the president's assistant, the owner's assistant.
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: The assistants are all collaborating getting that done, contacting people,
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: the individuals that you're going to interview, and their agents.
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: So it's a lot of people working together. And again,
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: depending on the organization and who has the juice right,
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: whoever's closest to the owner, that's usually where a lot
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: of that ends up coming. You know, Peter, we could
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: have an entire podcast conversation about the dynamics of and
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: the psychology behind Again, who's influencing the owner and the
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: owner's decision based on what's best for the team and
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: what people are being territorial and possibly you know, protecting
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: their own turf based on who's hired.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: So let's get to that a little bit without naming
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: any teams or any individuals, Like, there are going to
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: be candidates that are either personal friends of people who
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: are doing the interviewing in the room or are just
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: hot names. But like, is there if you pick the
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: right guy and you push for the right guy and
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: he gets selected and you go on to success. Is
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: that like a notch to the owner, like, hey, I
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: was I was influential in pushing for this guy. Is
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: that the win in the room.
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: This is a great question because you know, one of
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: the things I learned early in my career, and I
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: remember Parcels talking about, is don't keep score. Yeah right, right,
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: it's like if you don't make decisions and keep sc
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: or because we all have to serve one another. And
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: this is what happens within the competitiveness of football and business. Right,
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: there's a lot of us that mostly dudes who have
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: too much testosterone and make this about a competition in
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: trying to be right or trying to be the person
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: that gets closer proximity or more love and influence with
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: the owner, when that's not what it should be about. So,
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: those those dynamics are real things. As silly as it
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: may sound to an outsider that no, that doesn't go on.
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: People are human and that stuff does happen. Unfortunately, it
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: shouldn't be about. It's about getting it, not getting it right,
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: not trying to be right yourself.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, so you mentioned ourselves and you have
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: all these lessons and stories from ourselves. But I would say,
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: do you have notes on that Atlanta search? I like
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: using it as a case study. Do you know, can
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: you mention who the other head coaches were that you
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: got your candidates that you guys actually met with in person.
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: Everyone knows who they were. They were mostly made public.
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: We're very transparent organization. I know Doug Maron was one
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: of the people that was interviewed. I know that we interviewed,
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: you know, again along longest Rex Ryan was. That was
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: an epic interview.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: This is post Jets or post bills, Rex Ryan.
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: This is Oh my gosh, this has got to be
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: This is twenty fifteen, so this is this is post bills.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so he's already done the Jets. Yeah, got fired
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: and I worked for the Bills for two years and
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: was looking for a third bite at the Apple. Okay, Yeah,
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: and you know.
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: Here's what I'll say. You know, Rex was a terrific interview.
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: Rex is a you know, I've actually I've known Rex
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: since when I was an offensive line coach at Murray
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: State University and he was the defensive coordinator at Moorhead
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: State Man. He his defense wore us out and we
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: became friends back then and I got to know him
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: as you know, more as his career went on and
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: mine went on. And when he came in an interviewed.
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: He did a terrific job for us. And you know
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: a lot of people see the The Rex it's on
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: TV and the show that he gives. Does he have
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: a little pet barnum to him? Absolutely, he embraced that.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: But let me tell you what that dude is smart,
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: I mean crazy smart. It was a terrific interview and
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: you know, I remember there were some people in the
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: room that were there. This is pretty good. This was
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: pretty good, all.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: Right, so Rex Marone dan Quinn. Just to have the
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: different list who else was in that?
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: In all gosh, I should have had notes prepared because
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: you asked if I have notes, dude when I'm gone.
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: You know, I like to my wife and daughter call
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: me a hoarder. I like to fancy myself as more
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: of a historian. Yeah, so I save a lot of things,
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: a lot of notes. I want to say that we
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: coach called Well was a part of that, because I
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: know he was part of you know, because I've been
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: through so many different head coaching searches that they're they're
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: kind of running together right now in my mind at
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: this moment.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: So Dan Quinn walks in, and he of course was
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: had his history with Pete Carroll and there's a great
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: resume to him and they just fresh off the Super
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: Bowl loss. Dan Quinn comes in. What do you remember
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: from the questions you guys asked, not only him but
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: all the candidates, Like what were you asking in? What
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: does a what does a room? Because I'm picturing the
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: combined interviews which we've seen where it's a circular room
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: and people are peppering questions. But again, every team is
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: different and every interview is different. How do they usually
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: go down? Yeah?
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: Here was Here's what I remember. Here's the funny part.
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: What I remember about Dan's inery when he you know,
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: I only knew Dan a little bit, but we got
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: to know when we had we'd intersected with so many
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: common people and relationships, and I know Thomas was really
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: positive about Dan and going in we're looking forward to
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: this one, Tom Petral And here's what I remember though,
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: is Dan was exhausted right they were on a run.
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: He came in, We finally got a chance to get
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: him and I want to say he came in on
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: the red like a red eye, or maybe we sent
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: the play but he was exhausted. Now picture this, we
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: all know Dan Quinn and what he looks like, right,
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: dudes wearing a ball cap backwards. Dan shows up in
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: his suit, so suit doesn't fit up. Shirt doesn't fit them,
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: you know. And it was hilarious. And I remember the visual.
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: And once we loosened up, I said something to him
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: off there, and we just started busting up. He says, Man,
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: I can't believe I'm in his suit. But Dan did
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: a great job in the interview. Because you know, we
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: talk about analytics, we talk about psychological tests, because we
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: do psychological testing with all the candidates. Depending on your organization,
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: you do it differently, depending on if you're working with
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: a search firm. Some search firms have their own tests
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: that they give. But one of the most important things,
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: even with combined interviews, I mean, Peter, you interview people
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: for a living. Yeah, you've spent so much time with people.
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: You can pick up bs right, you can pick up
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: when things are authenticity and see.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: Authenticity is the number one factor in me.
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: J and and and that's I think something that that
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: can't be picked up. Now, I'll say this, I think
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: there were a group a couple of people in that room. Thomas.
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: Thomas has a very good ability to evaluate who's full
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: of it and who's not. Arthur Blank has an amazing ability.
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: I'm telling you what. Two people that that I worked
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: with that that have I think superior ability the BS
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: meters in terms of owners. Arthur Blank and Robert Craft
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: are terrific in terms of seeing people and reading through nonsense.
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: And I think, you know, I'm not saying this. My
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: skill is more in the area of exactly this. With
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: Dan's interview, you could see feel here. You know, I
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: listen with my eyes right and yeah, my dad told
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: me when I was a kid, two eyes, two ears,
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: one mouth, use him in the proper proportion. And Dan
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: you could tell was the real deal. And it was
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: an energy and authenticity. And also I think of positivity
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: because you know, we used to joke about, you know,
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: the leadership group there's gonna be around the football program.
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: Thomas is very positive, but he also has a history
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: of where some things are. It's so positive, you know,
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: same with me. Dan was bringing it all the time
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: and he was just a regular dude, and you don't
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: sit in these interviews and talk about x's and owers.
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: I was going to ask that, do you ask, like,
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: all right, your defensive coach, what's your offensive scheme?
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: Here's what you need? To be more specific? And coming
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: from interviews that are personnel people, you say, what do
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: you need out of a right tell us a little
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: bit about your defense? Tell us what you want at
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: your right defensive end, at your left defensive end. And
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: we grew up in a school, Thomas and I, where
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: we were very system specific, so we would ask, okay,
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: what does the three technique need to be able to do?
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: And what does he need to look like? And why
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: does he need to look like that? So when in
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: terms of x's and o's, you know, we're all serving
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: one another. So the personnel department we needed to understand
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: only enough about what DQ or whatever other coach was
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: going to do, because we're the ones that have to
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: go out and find the players. Yeah, so for us
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: to dive into x's and o's and try to act
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: like we know x'es and o's as well, or know
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: what the hell of coach is talking about is ridiculous.
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: And you know, I understand, Hey, I played football my
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: whole life. I coached for four years, but I can't.
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: I don't know what they know need. So I think
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: sometimes it's kind of to do your job mentality, don't
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: get into their business, But then you start throwing things
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: at them. Ask them questions about Ask them about certain
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: specific situations that they were involved with with players that
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: might have been problems or if they weren't a head coach,
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: things that went on, how it was handled, and what
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: their feelings were and how they would to hand would
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: have handled it. You know, what is their fine system
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: with players? What do they believe that you know? Ask
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: them how they're going to handle certain situations. Ask them
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: about their their family dynamics, anything that is public about
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: them that is not positive. Ask for an explanation. That's
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: kind of like we do with the combine, Right. Ninety
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: percent of the questions we ask it the combine or
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: the answers to right, and we want to hear what
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: they have to say about it and what's their excuse?
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: You know, ask them who's your staff?
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: That's what I was going to ask, So I know
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: there's the legendary like who's in your book? Like these
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: agents prepare this book. It's a binder or it's a
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: one pager or whatever it is. But so many coaches
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: talk about preparing their book and I'm prepping my book
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: and I say, well, what does that mean? Well, here's
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: who I will bring with me as my two coordinators.
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: Here's who I'll bring with Well, do you have commitments
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: from those guys? Well? No, but this is my dream scenario.
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: I'll have a list of three. Like, so, what's realistic
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: in there? When these guys come in and you say, okay,
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: well we like you, but you're you know, in dan
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: Quinn's case, you're a defensive coach, Like, who's your offensive coach?
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: How does that all go down?
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah? Well you ask those questions and then to your point,
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: which you just said, Peter, you asked the question, who
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: are your top two or three offensive coordinators? Okay, who
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: are you going to get? How are you going to
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: get them? Because the reality is this, they've talked to people.
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: We can't talk to people because you're with another club,
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: but they've talked to people, and they better have it
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: figured out. And are you certain you can get the guy?
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: But here's the other part. Okay, you're certain to get
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: the guy, what's it going to cot?
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: Lost us?
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: Right, So you have to talk about the whole coaching budget.
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: But I also love the question. I think an important
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: question to ask the coach is Okay, when you are
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: putting together your staff, show us and I give us
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: an idea of what your budget's going to look like.
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: Who were the top three or four most important coaches
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: and why? And what you're really hoping to hear is
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, special teams, offensive line.
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: Coach, offensive line Right off.
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: I have sometimes put the offensive line coach.
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: Over some of the others.
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, because if you watch this game and the teams
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: that performed, it's not a mistake. People talk about coaches
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: and past protection and players. Well, you know, I was
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: so blessed in my NFL time I work. Kirk Ferrans
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: was our offensive line coach. Our assistant offensive line and
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: coach at the time was Pat Hill. Those are two
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: great coaches, right, and I was there with them in
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: Cleveland and Baltaroo. We go up to the Jets, We've
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: got Bill Muir, who was unbelievable. We go to the
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: Patriots and we've got Dante Scarnekia. You talk about being spoiled.
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: Then when we went to the Chiefs, we had Bill
• 36:15
  Speaker 2: Murr again. Yeah, So the certain positions that are so
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: important because those kind of positions, they're actually going to
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: help you in the development of your quarterback and the
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: protection of your quarterback and the development of your entire team.
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: So the staff thing is important, you know, Peter, I'm
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: like gassed up here on Kathy. And this is a
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: fantastic because you go back to the book too. The
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: book is a fascinating thing because I remember someone telling
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: me very early in my career, if someone comes in
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: with a book, right, be a little bit skeptical because
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: if that person put that book together by themselves, well,
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: they were spending too much time preparing that, preparing that
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: rather than doing their job. And if their agent did
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: and that's what happens. A lot of agents do it now.
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: And I know in interviews talking with coaches that you
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: ask him a question and they have no idea where
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: it is in their book because they didn't put it together.
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: And it's you know, sometimes owners or and and you
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: will take these books and give them to other people
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: in the organization to take a look at. Do you
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: help refine some of the informations come out of there
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: and it's it's too much. Sometimes Beware the coach or
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: or general manager. Beware the person with a big book.
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: It's probably not a lot of what they've done.
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: What's interesting to me is that, you know, it's very
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: easy for us on the outside to say, Okay, former
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: head coach, he's had success, we know what we're getting.
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: Or here's the hot coordinator. It's his time and we're
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: going to give him an opportunity. Very so often you
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: know that's the case. Then there are these outliers. There's
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: a Sean McVay who is thirty years old and wowed
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: in the room. Or there's a Mike Tomlin who no
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: one expected to be the next Steelers head coach, but
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: beats out Russ Grimm for that job because he had
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: his outstanding interview? What what is an outstand Have you
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: been blown away by an interview that's an outstanding interview
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: from a guy who maybe you didn't think was ready
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: or a guy that you didn't think was going to
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: be the favorite walking in Oh wow?
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: I go back to the dan quinn interview. Blew me
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: away and dan Quinn, when all is said and done,
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: at some point in time is going to be labeled
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: a great coach in the NFL. You know, it's funny.
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: I remember doing some mock interviews also with some people,
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: whether they were real or mocked. You know. It was
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: something that DQ had asked me and Thomas had asked
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: me to do with some assistant coaches. So I remember
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: Raheem Morris's Yeah, was really really good. I'll tell you
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: Jim Caldwells was outstanding. Again I mentioned Rex Ryan's was
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: really good. I believe it if you filter and when
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: you get Rex when he's you know, so some of
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: what he does is real. Everything he does on air
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: is real, but he puts in some entertainer. But when
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: you get that dude talking ball and being about ball,
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: holy smokes, he's good.
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: Well, I can tell you this knowing it from Jet sources.
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: Everyone rolled their eyes when they were interviewing Rex Ryan.
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: It's been years since he coached here. What are we doing?
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: Rex interviewed on a last Tuesday. I want to say
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: he came in there and for three hours told them
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: I don't want to be the coach of the Saints.
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: I don't want to be the coach of the Dallas Cowboys.
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: I want to be the New York Jets coach because
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: I love this team. I love this franchise, and here's
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: what I will do. And whether or not he gets
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: the job, I would say it's unlikely. They came out
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: of there and they were like that was very refreshing,
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: and holy crap, does Rex still have the juice which
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: goes a long way.
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: He has juice, and he has he garners trust from
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: his players. That's the other thing, and that's one of
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: the most important things if you can find ways and examples,
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: because the most successful coaches have players that trust them.
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: And when I say trust them, they trust that the
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: coach is going to put them in a situation where
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: they are going to better themselves, right, because let's face it,
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: when we peel all this stuff apart, is you know,
• 40:20
  Speaker 2: players want to have successful careers. They want to win,
• 40:23
  Speaker 2: and they want to make money. Making money comes from
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: being prepared, being developed, and making sure that you're in
• 40:30
  Speaker 2: a situation to be successful. So finding coach that knows
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: how to teach, and I think that was another element,
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: you know, when when when I interviewed, you know, in
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: coaches in Kansas City, and then when we did it
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: in Atlanta. Some of the opportunities I had, I wanted
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: to have, and I requested that we had to coach
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: teach us something right, something that we didn't know.
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: Like i'm the board, Like teach us a scheme or
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: teach anything anything.
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: To teach us something.
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: And teach me how to how to or agami it
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: could be anything or a simple player or teach me
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: how you think the relationship and and everything that you're
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: listening to when you ask them about their relationships with
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: the other people in the organization, they're teaching you there.
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: So all right, you think it's important to have a
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: really good relationship with the trainers, but with this, so
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: tell me how you do that, right, because that's the
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: other thing I think you have to do. As part
• 41:31
  Speaker 2: of the interview, you're asking the head coach, you know,
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: what are your expectations of managing all of the football folks,
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: the trainers, the video player, engagement equipment. Who's going to
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: do that? Do you want to do that? Do you
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: want the general manager to do that? Do you have
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: you know a Steve Scarneka who's going to be doing
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: that for you? Or do you have you know or
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: do you want the GM to handle it. So I
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: think there's so many different ways that and the way
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: that organizations operate. I think one of the most important
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: things you can do is ask questions and get answers
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: to things that will allow everyone to manage expectations. So
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: the head coach can their expectations are managed of what
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: the president's role is, what the GM's role is, with
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: the direct vice president, player personnel's role, and with the
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: owner's role. And each person that I just mentioned also
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: has to understand what their expectations are because that's where
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: some of the problems can generally start.
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: There's examples in recent years. I would look at Joe
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: Shane and Brian Dable where there's a fresh slate for
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: the giants hiring a GM and a coach and they
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: go to Buffalo and they say, these guys know each other, well,
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: we're going to bring them in. There's time and time
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: again that's happened. Then there's these blind marriages like in
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: Chicago where Ryan Poles did not know Matt Aberfluss from
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: but he'd loved his interview and those guys were paired together.
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: How much do you make and I guess there's a
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: clean slate in Vegas right now, there's a clean slate
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: in New York with the Jets, And I guess with Dallas,
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: if you want to say they're going to bring in
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: someone else, so they might at GM or not. What
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: do you make of bringing in two guys who actually
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: worked together before and kind of implanting them and be
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: on the same page from day one because they have
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: a relationships.
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: Wow, there's another question that could go a lot of
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: different ways.
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: I think it's important that there's a I think that
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: it's important that there's a history and understanding of the
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: top leaders. Again, when I look at our situation in
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: New England, we went to New England, Bill and I
• 43:51
  Speaker 2: went there together. We went there with some other people
• 43:54
  Speaker 2: that knew Bill had worked with Bill. But here was
• 43:57
  Speaker 2: the other dynamic that I've never really talked about publicly,
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: and no one's really when we all went there, we
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: were signing up for our last job, right.
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: What do you mean by that?
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: What I mean like by that was, you know there
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: was Bill had had a tough go in Cleveland, and
• 44:18
  Speaker 2: after Cleveland, you know, he did some things to to
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: to prepare himself for the next job. And who was
• 44:26
  Speaker 2: going to be his personnel department. He knew that he
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: was going to delegate a lot more. He's going to
• 44:30
  Speaker 2: delate delegate to his coordinators, and he was going to
• 44:32
  Speaker 2: bring certain people, myself, Ernie Adams, Charlie White, people together.
• 44:38
  Speaker 2: And when we all went there, here's one of the
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: things I think that was so important because the general manager,
• 44:44
  Speaker 2: that or that, whoever the person, call the personnel person,
• 44:46
  Speaker 2: whatever you want to call him, the personnel person and
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: the head coach have to be in lockstep. That doesn't
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: mean that they that they get along on everything and
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: that they're best friends, but they have to be chasing
• 44:59
  Speaker 2: the same thing. And when we went there, many of
• 45:02
  Speaker 2: us that went there that left the Jets, including my
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: you know myself, Eric Manngini. I mean I left my
• 45:06
  Speaker 2: father in law to go take this job, right, and
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: he and Bill were not in a good place right,
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: So we knew if we didn't succeed there, it was
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: whether anyone admits it now or not. Charlie Weiss was
• 45:18
  Speaker 2: part of the lawsuit, right, So many of us went
• 45:21
  Speaker 2: up there knowing that if we didn't succeed, we were
• 45:24
  Speaker 2: all done. And there's something about that that created this
• 45:28
  Speaker 2: togetherness and this this situation, circumstances, whether it was going
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: to be no cracks, there's no looking back.
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: We have to rely on each other and got and
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: we're Brown Us Island together.
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: Let's go rock, amen. And it was that old mentality
• 45:45
  Speaker 2: one die, All die. Yeah, right, And I bring that
• 45:48
  Speaker 2: up because there's something about that psychology of togetherness to
• 45:52
  Speaker 2: answer your question about two people coming together. The other
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: thing is whoever the personnel person is again, whatever you
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: want to call that title, that person's job is to
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: serve the head coach. Even when I was in Kansas
• 46:06
  Speaker 2: City and I was overseeing the entire football operation. As
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: soon as I hired the head coach, whoever that head
• 46:12
  Speaker 2: coach was, and the second time after Todd it was Romeo,
• 46:16
  Speaker 2: I get out of the way and I go find
• 46:18
  Speaker 2: players that fit them. That's my job to serve the coach.
• 46:22
  Speaker 2: And so I think, Peter, that idea of people knowing
• 46:26
  Speaker 2: each other is important. Again, I go back to you know,
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: I made sure and knowing when we were bringing in
• 46:34
  Speaker 2: Bill Belichick type players that was critical, not only schematically,
• 46:39
  Speaker 2: but players that I understood Bill. I've known Bill since
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: I was a sophomore in college. I know who he
• 46:46
  Speaker 2: is and I think I'm going to talk out of
• 46:51
  Speaker 2: the other side of my mouth now because I also
• 46:54
  Speaker 2: watch Peter and you're very aware of this. I watch
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: these circumstances and situations right now where head coaches and
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: general managers have the same agent and they're being packaged
• 47:05
  Speaker 2: and forced on owners.
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: It's the dirty side of this that no one actually
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: talks about on TV. I mean Tom Pelasero and Ian
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: Rappaport and Mike Carrafellow can report all these things, but
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: no one will say and is represented by this guy,
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: and that's why he's getting an interview, And this is
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: why this person's getting a favor because the agent represents
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: the GM and they know each other, Like there is
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: this disgusting part of it that not necessarily is mentioned
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: when we do.
• 47:27
  Speaker 2: This absolutely or the favor or it's a favor or
• 47:32
  Speaker 2: you know, the head coaches well, yeah, I'm prepared for
• 47:34
  Speaker 2: this job, but I don't know who my GM is.
• 47:37
  Speaker 2: And the agent's like, oh, this guy, you know, Joe
• 47:39
  Speaker 2: Gret has been working for me. He will be loyal
• 47:41
  Speaker 2: to it. Because again, I think that the agents believe
• 47:46
  Speaker 2: that that is what's in the best interest of the
• 47:49
  Speaker 2: coach and the GM. For them to be partnered because
• 47:52
  Speaker 2: they'll be able to broke or some sort of you know,
• 47:54
  Speaker 2: they'll be able to broke when the marriage starts to crumble,
• 47:58
  Speaker 2: that they'll be able to broke or something. But there's
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: also this part that they know the percentage is the
• 48:03
  Speaker 2: percentage and that's not a criticism this model. That's that's
• 48:07
  Speaker 2: their job. So if they can get two people hired
• 48:10
  Speaker 2: making seven figures, god bless them. And what happens though,
• 48:14
  Speaker 2: is and I know this for a fact, that there
• 48:16
  Speaker 2: are certain coaches that haven't been brought to interviews because
• 48:22
  Speaker 2: owners are leveraged. And it's amazing. As I sit back
• 48:25
  Speaker 2: and as I was a part of watching some of
• 48:28
  Speaker 2: watching billionaires be leveraged by agencies, it's absolutely fascinating. And
• 48:34
  Speaker 2: so I think when people come together as a package
• 48:38
  Speaker 2: that it may start out with all the best of intentions,
• 48:43
  Speaker 2: but it does it come to fruition.
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: The better you better be willing to bank on, like
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: you said, your last job on this person, Like you
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: gotta look at it that way. If I'm going down,
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: is this guy gonna be going on the ship with me?
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: Is he going to sell me out to the owner
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: The first second we get in the room.
• 48:58
  Speaker 2: But and what usually happens unfortunately, because it's human nature, right,
• 49:02
  Speaker 2: And this is the other thing, Like I said, we
• 49:03
  Speaker 2: could talk about this forever. It's human nature. When the
• 49:06
  Speaker 2: start thinking human nature is to be a survivalist. I'm
• 49:10
  Speaker 2: going to save myself and my family. And as I've
• 49:14
  Speaker 2: learned in life, sometimes or most of the times, the
• 49:17
  Speaker 2: things the best things that we can do in life,
• 49:22
  Speaker 2: we need to resist human nature in order to do
• 49:25
  Speaker 2: the best things in life for ourselves and our families.
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: Good answer, Okay, so let's go back to the dan
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: Quinn interview process where you guys decide he is our man?
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: How is that news delivered? And who broke that news
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: was it? Was it a Falcon's tweet or did that
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: go to Chefter first? And how does that work?
• 49:43
  Speaker 2: I think you broke it, man, I don't remember who
• 49:48
  Speaker 2: broke it first, because I think this is one of
• 49:50
  Speaker 2: the beautiful things that I learned, one of the many
• 49:52
  Speaker 2: beautiful things I learned from working with Thomas, because we're
• 49:55
  Speaker 2: so much the same but different in other ways. Thomas
• 49:59
  Speaker 2: reminded me he's like Scott, we could keep this, try
• 50:03
  Speaker 2: to keep this as secret as much we're wasting energy
• 50:05
  Speaker 2: by trying to keep this secret because you know it's
• 50:08
  Speaker 2: not about even anyone internally in your organization that's going
• 50:11
  Speaker 2: to leak it, right, because you've got to call agents,
• 50:15
  Speaker 2: and you've got to negotiate with agents.
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: You got to talk to the guys who didn't get it.
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: You want to give them a heads up.
• 50:21
  Speaker 2: Exactly right. There's people that aren't going to get it,
• 50:24
  Speaker 2: so to waste time and energy. It's one of those
• 50:27
  Speaker 2: funny things that I really had to undo. But anyway,
• 50:32
  Speaker 2: I don't even remember how it broke. But what I
• 50:35
  Speaker 2: do know is everyone was on board with that hire.
• 50:38
  Speaker 2: Everyone in that everyone in that group was on board.
• 50:45
  Speaker 2: Some of us were more excited about it.
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, let's wrap with with kind of spinning it a
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: little bit more till today's times. Belichick just took this
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: job at North Carolina. There's an opening in Dallas, there's
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: an opening in New York. Like, there's all these different
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: things and moving pieces. Which job to you is the
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: most intriguing If you look at the vacancies right now
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: in New York, in Chicago, in Dallas, in Vegas, and
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: you could even go GM in Tennessee if you want
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: as well or Yeah.
• 51:20
  Speaker 2: One of the ones that intrigues me is the Chicago
• 51:23
  Speaker 2: and I think it's because I'm too close.
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, talk about your relationship with Yeah.
• 51:28
  Speaker 2: The Poles. You know Poles. I hired Poles in two
• 51:30
  Speaker 2: thousand and nine. He was working as a graduate assistant.
• 51:34
  Speaker 2: He and Borganzi were working at Boston College. Borganzi was
• 51:38
  Speaker 2: like head of recruiting or something and and and you know,
• 51:42
  Speaker 2: wanted to get in the NFL poll. Same thing too.
• 51:45
  Speaker 2: I think he'd been there for a year. His NFL
• 51:47
  Speaker 2: career just ended. So I stole both of those guys
• 51:50
  Speaker 2: from BC. And I remember Barry Gallup was frustrated. He's like, Scott,
• 51:54
  Speaker 2: you're taking But I had known those guys. I had
• 51:57
  Speaker 2: just come from the way.
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: Can we just take a second, because I don't think
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: he will realize this. They might not know any of
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: these names. But Mike Borganzi four year starter at Brown
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: and a great all ivy fullback.
• 52:07
  Speaker 2: Right yeah, yeah, full back exactly right back when people
• 52:10
  Speaker 2: used fullbacks. Yeah. He was with James Perry, who was
• 52:14
  Speaker 2: a terrific coach. And you know, Brown has pumped out
• 52:17
  Speaker 2: some decent football people. Billy O'Brien played outside linebacker defensive
• 52:21
  Speaker 2: end there.
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: But uh, you know, he's known Ryan forever forever and Poles.
• 52:27
  Speaker 2: Here's what I know about Poles. He is so smart,
• 52:31
  Speaker 2: He has conviction. He has as much empathy as a
• 52:37
  Speaker 2: football tough guy as I know, and he doesn't always
• 52:40
  Speaker 2: show it. So the reason I bring this up is
• 52:43
  Speaker 2: because they've got good cap space. Poles has built an infrastructure,
• 52:48
  Speaker 2: and this is one of the things that so many
• 52:49
  Speaker 2: people on the outside don't see. They see the result, right,
• 52:53
  Speaker 2: And I'm a processed guy. I believe in processes and
• 52:57
  Speaker 2: and some of the best coaches I know, Nick Saban's
• 53:00
  Speaker 2: all about the process, Belichick is ourselves, Andy Reid. There's
• 53:03
  Speaker 2: a process. Poles has set up an infrastructure internally in
• 53:07
  Speaker 2: that organization, and a process that should lead to success.
• 53:14
  Speaker 2: Why it hasn't happened. There's a lot of reasons it
• 53:17
  Speaker 2: hasn't happened. And they have cap room, they have an infrastructure.
• 53:21
  Speaker 2: They have a very talented quarterback. Now I don't know
• 53:25
  Speaker 2: how good this quarterback is going to be. I don't
• 53:27
  Speaker 2: know that right because tools and talent don't always translate
• 53:31
  Speaker 2: to success or winning. But again, I'm a big believer
• 53:38
  Speaker 2: in player development. Poles has a good infrastructure and idea
• 53:44
  Speaker 2: and concepts of player development. He needs the right people
• 53:49
  Speaker 2: developing now, and so I find that that job very,
• 53:54
  Speaker 2: very intriguing. And again I'm trying not to be biased
• 53:58
  Speaker 2: in this answer. Yes, I think the world of the guy,
• 54:00
  Speaker 2: but again I've seen the guts of that organization. I've
• 54:02
  Speaker 2: seen the and I know the guts of some of
• 54:04
  Speaker 2: the other organizations. As leaders, one of the most important
• 54:07
  Speaker 2: things you can do, or one of the most important
• 54:10
  Speaker 2: things you need to do, is eliminate distractions. And some
• 54:13
  Speaker 2: of those other organizations that you mentioned can't help themselves
• 54:18
  Speaker 2: and can't get out of the way and not create
• 54:20
  Speaker 2: their own distractions that impact the product.
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: Last point here and we'll wrap. It's an interesting process
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: this year, and that if you're not employed by a team,
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: you can meet in person before January twentieth, But if
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: you're currently employed with a team, even if you didn't
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: make the playoffs, you can only do a zoom interview
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: until January twentieth. Then January twentieth, the deadline's done, and
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: if you're still in the playoffs, you can't. But then
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: if you're not you can, and you can meet in person.
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: They also capped it at three hours per interview because
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: there's a legendary story about last year there was a
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: guy who didn't get a job and it went on
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: for nine hours, nine hours, and I wanted a team
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: or the candidate, but it was nine hours and it
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: was reported to the league like this can't happen. Then
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: I didn't get the job, and it was just ridiculous.
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: As we get towards this this flurry of action right here,
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: do you think the league, and this includes maybe the
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: Rooty rule and how they've operated, do you think the
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: league is doing the best job possible and trying to
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: set these parameters so that you're not affecting the competitive
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: landscape of the playoffs, but you're also giving teams enough
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: time to interview these coaches and get them in place
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: before the combine.
• 55:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Peter, I'll say this. I think it's better, and
• 55:31
  Speaker 2: it still needs more tweaks and improvements, and you can't
• 55:34
  Speaker 2: be reactionary to every single thing that isn't working out
• 55:40
  Speaker 2: or isn't good or isn't positive. So to me, the
• 55:43
  Speaker 2: answer is it has gotten better. There's still some things
• 55:46
  Speaker 2: that need to be addressed in terms of time and timing,
• 55:49
  Speaker 2: you know, and I know some people say, well, there
• 55:51
  Speaker 2: should be no interviews until everyone's done playing, But to me,
• 55:55
  Speaker 2: I mean that's a joke because the tampering will be
• 55:59
  Speaker 2: will run rampant, and then people are keeping secrets. So
• 56:03
  Speaker 2: you know, you've got to be careful. I think what
• 56:06
  Speaker 2: it's like anything, It's like with your children, right, You've
• 56:09
  Speaker 2: got to be careful of the rules that you put
• 56:10
  Speaker 2: in place because you know some of them are going
• 56:12
  Speaker 2: to get broken. So just don't create so many rules
• 56:18
  Speaker 2: that you present another host of problems that'll become embarrassing
• 56:24
  Speaker 2: to the league. So it's gotten better, it's still not perfect.
• 56:28
  Speaker 2: I think the version that we're in right now is
• 56:30
  Speaker 2: better than what was You mentioned the Rooney rule. That's
• 56:34
  Speaker 2: another full show that we should talk about it because
• 56:39
  Speaker 2: you know, you know where I stand on so much
• 56:41
  Speaker 2: of this this work.
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: Peter put your heart and soul into trying to elevate
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: some candidates that in recent decades probably wouldn't have gottenn opportunity.
• 56:51
  Speaker 2: And I believe in it, and and but I still
• 56:55
  Speaker 2: know that there's people that whether it's intentional or unintentional,
• 57:00
  Speaker 2: there are systems that have been in place for decades
• 57:03
  Speaker 2: and centuries that that aren't alone allowing the right things
• 57:07
  Speaker 2: to happen, and there are still people that are circumventing
• 57:10
  Speaker 2: those rules and it's disappointing. That's not down though. Man,
• 57:20
  Speaker 2: We've gotten better, gotten better. We're in the right direction. Uh, Scott,
• 57:24
  Speaker 2: thank you. This was awesome.
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: I feel like we got some insight that we have
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: never had before as far as how these coaching interviews go,
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: how the process goes. And I'm like you, I am
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: curious with Chicago, like a sneaky one last night, and
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: everyone just writes it like David Shaw interviewed for Chicago.
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: Like to me, like David Shaw, David Shaw is awesome,
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: and like that's the higher that I think fans will
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: be like David, That's like no, no, no, you don't understand,
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: Like there is there. There is a lot more to
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: these candidates than their most recent record, you know, of
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: their teams and what was going on in those situations.
• 57:56
  Speaker 1: And then there's a there's a bunch of candidates that
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: maybe aren't considered the hot names that one of them
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: will get a job, and it's because of what they
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: bring to the table and how well they did in
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: the room.
• 58:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I'm not going to let you end it here,
• 58:08
  Speaker 2: David Shaw. So I used to make sure every year
• 58:11
  Speaker 2: that I went and spent time at Stanford intentionally because
• 58:14
  Speaker 2: every time that I spent time around David Shaw, I
• 58:18
  Speaker 2: learned something. I learned football. I learned evaluation. Because David Shaw,
• 58:23
  Speaker 2: people forget or don't They either forget or don't remember
• 58:26
  Speaker 2: because there's so much recency bias. David Shaw has coached
• 58:29
  Speaker 2: in the NFL. Yeah, Baltimore's other coach. This guy knows
• 58:33
  Speaker 2: the NFL, and he was uber successful at Stanford. And
• 58:37
  Speaker 2: I'm telling you what you want to talk about. A
• 58:39
  Speaker 2: guy that players trust, and he also holds players accountable.
• 58:45
  Speaker 2: Like sometimes players like coaches because it's not a great
• 58:47
  Speaker 2: deal of accountability. They love those coaches until the team sucks. Right,
• 58:51
  Speaker 2: David knows how to hold people accountable. He's not only smart,
• 58:56
  Speaker 2: he's thoughtful. He knows the game, and he also hires
• 58:59
  Speaker 2: a lot of good coaches around him.
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: Interesting, all right, Scott, good stuff as always, man, Thank
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: you so much much for doing this.
• 59:07
  Speaker 2: Thanks for having me, Peter, It's been a blast.
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: Scott Pioli was great. I hope that gives you a
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: better idea of what's going on these next two weeks
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: and what's been going on in the last two weeks
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: for these teams trying to hire a coach. One of
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: the key things I take away from that is, as
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: you might be skeptical, as so, why is this guy
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: getting an interview? Is that a fit? Yeah, yeah, there's
• 59:35
  Speaker 1: favors being done. This isn't a pure process, and this
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: isn't a clean process. And if an agent has multiple
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: clients and says I'm going to steer my client's interview
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: with you, but you got to interview this guy also,
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: that happens and then the whole tandem stuff. But the
• 59:48
  Speaker 1: GM that's all real. So that's the ugly truth to it.
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: And in a lot of ways us in the media
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: are complicit with it as well, because we ourselves, you know,
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: know this stuff, and it's not ever called out and saying, well,
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: the same agent has this guys. I mean, look, it's
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: entertainment in the NFL, but it is big business. And
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 1: if you don't think they're people scratching backs here and
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: there just to get their guy in the room, you
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: got another thing coming on. You're too much of a purist.
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: On that note, who talk about pure this podcast, it
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: is time for delivering results presented by Uber Eats. Let
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: me discuss a team or a player who delivered on
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: last week's games. I want to shout out, in no
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: short order a guy who I thought played his best
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: game as a professional and did so on the biggest
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: of stages, and that is Nick Bond, the linebacker, splash
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: special teams guy for the Philadelphia Eagles who has elevated
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 1: his game to not only Pro Bowl level to one
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: of the best linebackers in the sport. One of the
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: coolest stories, Bond signed a one year deal after being
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 1: discarded by the Saints, and in this one year he's
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: gone on to be a Pro Bowl linebacker. He's worn
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 1: the green dot for the Eagles when Nakobe Dean is
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: down calling out the place, and on Sunday against against
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: the Packers, had not only an interception that was huge,
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: he also had the big special teams tackle late in
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: the game that helps seal it for them. Nick Bonn
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: has been a huge piece to the Vic Fangio defense,
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: and Nick Bonn has been a huge piece of the Eagles' success.
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: Number fifty three. Nick Bond has been delivering results all
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: season long. And he saved his best for the Wildcard
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: round against the Packers. That was delivering results by Uber Eats,
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: where you can get the best deals on game day
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: food all season long. It's the official on demand delivery
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  Speaker 1: partner of the NFL. Order Now, guys, four great games
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 1: up ahead. The Final eight is here and where you
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: get some coaching news in the next few weeks as well.
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: Enjoy the joy the weekend everyone, It's my favorite weekend
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: of the year. The Divisional round is here. Thanks for listening.
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 1: The Season with Peter Schrager is a production of the
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
• 1:02:04
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• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: your podcasts.