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06-06-2007, 08:14 AM
http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2007/06/06/gretz_the_reality_of_herm__gun/
GRETZ: The Reality of Herm & Gun
Jun 06, 2007, 8:54:05 AM by Bob Gretz - FAQ
It was early in the 2006 season and Gunther Cunningham had just read a story in the Kansas City Star that indicated he and head coach Herm Edwards were at odds.
Cunningham was irate. The defensive coordinator sought out the author and in no uncertain terms relayed his thoughts about the piece.
“I was hot,” Cunningham said. “It had this stuff that Herm and I weren’t on the same page because I wanted to blitz every play and he’s a cover-two guy. It was bull. It was so far from the truth. It was probably one of the worst and most incorrect things I read throughout my coaching career”
Yes, but that was the perception of many outside the Chiefs when Edwards retained Cunningham for his coaching staff last season. The belief was that these two men did not agree on how to play defense and had such differing personalities that they wouldn’t get along. Some in the NFL believed Edwards was forced to keep Cunningham by team management.
It was a classic case of the perception having nothing to do with the reality, as that Star reporter learned when he got an earful from Cunningham.
“We work very, very well together,” said Edwards. “Now that we’ve done it for a year, it’s almost scary how well we work together now. I can walk down the hall and walk up to him and say Gun, and before I can finish my sentence he’ll say ‘I already know what you are thinking.’
“I have a great respect for Gunther. Maybe some people don’t realize that when Gunther was hired here (1995), I was still here. I tried to hire Gunther in New York with the Jets (after the 2003 season) before he came back here to work for Dick (Vermeil.)”
But there’s more to this relationship than just defense and football. Despite their obvious differences, there is much shared between these men.
“First of all, as men our genetic background is almost the same,” said Cunningham. “We always kid each other, because people look at Herm as an African American and I’m obviously white. It makes me laugh because Herm always says Gun doesn’t know what he is. Herm knows who his father was; I don’t.
“Both of our mothers are Germans, so we share those traits, the stubbornness for one. Our hearts are the same. We are wired the same. And our attitudes about defense are the same.
“My respect for him as a head coach is monumental. I’ve told him many times he does the best job I’ve seen at addressing the coaching staff and the team. I’ve been around some great coaches, so that’s not just throwing a statement against the wall. There’s some meaning behind that. I think Herm does the best job I’ve ever seen at handling people.
“His relationship to me, I can’t begin to tell you how strong it is and how much we believe in each other.”
In some ways, Cunningham is Edwards’ alter ego. The head coach does not use four letter words, no matter how upset he may be. He’s very analytical about everything, including moments when he may seem to lose his emotions, which he very rarely does. Cunningham’s outbursts on the practice fields and meeting rooms are legendary. Edwards hasn’t asked him to stop. He knows part of Gunther’s genius is the passion he brings to every practice and film session.
“When I worked with Tony (Dungy, as his assistant head coach in Tampa Bay), you would never hear Tony on the practice field,” Edwards said. “It was always me. I was always the bearer of bad news, or the guy doing the yelling. Tony was always sitting there kind of whispering.
“I would never try to shut Gun up.”
Cunningham is happy to have a head coach who thinks the way he does.
“I remember being at Goucher College and being at practice when Herm was starting at right corner for the Eagles and I was coaching the defensive line for the Baltimore Colts,” Cunningham said of this training camp memory from the early 1980s. “The history between us goes back that far. I was flying to New York to possibly be the defensive coordinator there with the Jets and I would have been, but somehow, someway my family and Carl Peterson got in the way of that and I ended up back here.
“The good thing is we got the chance two years later to come back and work together when he came back.”
Coming on Friday: Edwards and Cunningham hope to re-introduce the big play into the Chiefs defense.
GRETZ: The Reality of Herm & Gun
Jun 06, 2007, 8:54:05 AM by Bob Gretz - FAQ
It was early in the 2006 season and Gunther Cunningham had just read a story in the Kansas City Star that indicated he and head coach Herm Edwards were at odds.
Cunningham was irate. The defensive coordinator sought out the author and in no uncertain terms relayed his thoughts about the piece.
“I was hot,” Cunningham said. “It had this stuff that Herm and I weren’t on the same page because I wanted to blitz every play and he’s a cover-two guy. It was bull. It was so far from the truth. It was probably one of the worst and most incorrect things I read throughout my coaching career”
Yes, but that was the perception of many outside the Chiefs when Edwards retained Cunningham for his coaching staff last season. The belief was that these two men did not agree on how to play defense and had such differing personalities that they wouldn’t get along. Some in the NFL believed Edwards was forced to keep Cunningham by team management.
It was a classic case of the perception having nothing to do with the reality, as that Star reporter learned when he got an earful from Cunningham.
“We work very, very well together,” said Edwards. “Now that we’ve done it for a year, it’s almost scary how well we work together now. I can walk down the hall and walk up to him and say Gun, and before I can finish my sentence he’ll say ‘I already know what you are thinking.’
“I have a great respect for Gunther. Maybe some people don’t realize that when Gunther was hired here (1995), I was still here. I tried to hire Gunther in New York with the Jets (after the 2003 season) before he came back here to work for Dick (Vermeil.)”
But there’s more to this relationship than just defense and football. Despite their obvious differences, there is much shared between these men.
“First of all, as men our genetic background is almost the same,” said Cunningham. “We always kid each other, because people look at Herm as an African American and I’m obviously white. It makes me laugh because Herm always says Gun doesn’t know what he is. Herm knows who his father was; I don’t.
“Both of our mothers are Germans, so we share those traits, the stubbornness for one. Our hearts are the same. We are wired the same. And our attitudes about defense are the same.
“My respect for him as a head coach is monumental. I’ve told him many times he does the best job I’ve seen at addressing the coaching staff and the team. I’ve been around some great coaches, so that’s not just throwing a statement against the wall. There’s some meaning behind that. I think Herm does the best job I’ve ever seen at handling people.
“His relationship to me, I can’t begin to tell you how strong it is and how much we believe in each other.”
In some ways, Cunningham is Edwards’ alter ego. The head coach does not use four letter words, no matter how upset he may be. He’s very analytical about everything, including moments when he may seem to lose his emotions, which he very rarely does. Cunningham’s outbursts on the practice fields and meeting rooms are legendary. Edwards hasn’t asked him to stop. He knows part of Gunther’s genius is the passion he brings to every practice and film session.
“When I worked with Tony (Dungy, as his assistant head coach in Tampa Bay), you would never hear Tony on the practice field,” Edwards said. “It was always me. I was always the bearer of bad news, or the guy doing the yelling. Tony was always sitting there kind of whispering.
“I would never try to shut Gun up.”
Cunningham is happy to have a head coach who thinks the way he does.
“I remember being at Goucher College and being at practice when Herm was starting at right corner for the Eagles and I was coaching the defensive line for the Baltimore Colts,” Cunningham said of this training camp memory from the early 1980s. “The history between us goes back that far. I was flying to New York to possibly be the defensive coordinator there with the Jets and I would have been, but somehow, someway my family and Carl Peterson got in the way of that and I ended up back here.
“The good thing is we got the chance two years later to come back and work together when he came back.”
Coming on Friday: Edwards and Cunningham hope to re-introduce the big play into the Chiefs defense.