Maybe that's why the media is so cowed now-adays. But if you back anyone into a corner they're going to fight back. If you give the media nothing but fluff, they're going to believe you're hiding something.

A loser family owns a team that lines their pocket with gold but can't win anything, and the national press will look into it?? Nope!

I feel like I'm being held hostage by this front office. It's a terrible feeling.

Getting Away, Going Home … Wednesday Cup O’Chiefs




February 1, 2012 - Bob Gretz |

Comments (25)



Over the weekend I learned former Chiefs head coach Todd Haley would be visiting with the Pittsburgh Steelers about their offensive coordinator’s job that came open last week with the firing of Bruce Arians.

That visit went down Tuesday in Pittsburgh and the results remain unknown. By the time you read this, a decision yeah or nay could already have been made. Late Tuesday evening, things appeared all quiet on the eastern front.

I can tell you this, never have I rooted for a coach to get a job as hard as I’m rooting for Haley to land with the black and gold. I’m always the first one to say be careful what you wish for because you might get it. I know that Haley would like to spend his 2012 season back home with the Steelers, the team that was so much a part of his youth. There’s almost a magical feel to the mere possibility.

More than anything, it would be the perfect antidote for Haley to recover from what he lived with over his final two seasons as head coach of the Chiefs.

We’ve all heard so much from Clark Hunt about how he wants his organization to be like the Steelers, and then he turns around and does things that are completely opposite of what would happen with the Rooney family. Maybe if this job works out, Haley will actually get a taste of the Steelers Way.

It’s become more and more apparent that even though he was named coach of the year by some outlets in 2010, won a division title and got the Chiefs into the playoffs with a lineup far from championship caliber, the organization wanted to dump him after that season. Unfortunately, neither Hunt nor GM Scott Pioli had the guts to pull the trigger and make the move, so worried were they about the public reaction to firing a coach that made the playoffs.

Instead, they kept him on board and went about making his life as head coach as miserable as possible. Second guessing of decisions to his face, to others in the organization, to friendly media types began almost immediately. Hunt would have preferred the Chiefs have kept Charlie Weis as offensive coordinator and gotten rid of Haley, but that’s not how things worked out.

There was constant harping at Haley about little things. The head coach went to a Lil’Wayne concert on a Monday night in August with some of his players and word spread out of the Chiefs offices around the league that Haley was a slacker, unwilling to work hard. There were snide comments in the national media, passed down the pipeline from the Chiefs front office about his mental stability and his supposedly uncontrollable temper. There were willing partners in the local media who were fed this pabulum as well, and they repeated it almost with glee.

There was the talk of how he dressed; his raggedy hat, his shaving habits, his sweatshirts and the like. Those last items really infuriated the home office in Dallas. The talk out of Hunt Central was that Haley did not represent what an NFL head coach should look like. Wonder if Bill Belichick has ever had Patriots owner Robert Kraft walk into his office and question him about his choice of hoodie with cutoff sleeves for his sideline apparel?

One of the things that gnawed at Haley almost immediately upon his arrival in the building was how little things became big things, the old making a mountain out of a mole hill. Plus, there was the inability of the organization to move quickly and pull the trigger on various situations. There were constant conversations, back and forth between the offices and Dallas, more meetings and still sometimes a decision couldn’t get made.

For the last two seasons he was the head coach, Haley was one man in the boat with a single oar. There was nobody rowing in the same direction. I don’t buy a lot of conspiracy theories on any subject, but more and more it seems like the team’s unwillingness to spend money on new players going into last year when there were so many possibilities may have had motives other than saving a buck.

As has happened frequently with the powers in charge with the Chiefs, anything that happens even after a person leaves the building is blamed on the absent. The Kansas City Star story on the toxic environment around the team has been blamed on Haley around the bigwigs at team headquarters. Now, there’s talk that the team is not going to pay him the last year of his contract, because they fired him “with cause.” Cause was never a word that Hunt or Pioli used when they announced Haley’s firing on December 12.

Eventually, the Chiefs will pay Haley the money they owe him, even if he has to go to league arbitration and the court house to get the check. It will just be a continuation of the hapless behavior of a franchise that has become an NFL laughingstock. At the Senior Bowl last week there were 800 NFL team employees in Mobile. I didn’t talk to 800 or 400 or even 200. But over five days, I bet I spoke to 100 head coaches, assistant coaches, GMs, front office employees and scouts. Almost to a man, they wanted to know about the Star story. It seems that everyone in the league has read the toxic tale and not a single one of them made a comment to indicate they thought Haley was out of his mind for thinking his office was bugged and his phone tapped. Most of them were not surprised.

If Haley can jump to the stability that is the hallmark of the Rooney family and their operation of the Steelers, it will help wash away the last two years in the toxic soup of the Chiefs organization. In Pittsburgh right now, things are not perfect. Their early departure from the playoffs was not what’s expected each year. The team’s offense has been spotty and has drifted too far to the passing side, with not enough running game. Arians was fired and that has made quarterback Ben Roethlisberger unhappy. It seems like Roethlisberger is continually hurt, because he holds onto the ball so long and takes so many hits. They badly need to rebuild their offensive line, which has had massive injury problems over the last few seasons.

But, compared to what Todd Haley’s had to live with the past two years, it would be a day at the coaching beach, where he could coach and not have to constantly look over his shoulder.

You moved the Gretz post while I was posting a reply dammit! ROFL

Sorry it should go in here it is really sad what is going on at 1 arrowhead drive.

Clark Hunt can shove his Goldman Sachs online class up his fruity ass.

Yep.

I guess Gretz is just one more guy in Haleys corner through all of this. Interesting that he is so close to the situation and is likely the only respected reporter in KC and he sees things the same way I do.

You know what's really really sad?

Every bit of this likely links it's way back to Matt Cassel.

No matter what, Pioli is doing everything in his power to ensure Cassel stays...even if it means everybody else has to leave.

Sad

so Gretz is now implying that the Chiefs didn't sign any free agents last year to deliberately lose so they could fire Haley?

Haley tanked games and Pioli/Hunt tanked a season?


wow

Actually, Mr. FAX, this is a pretty good idea. Everyone going to the first preseason game should bring a grocery bag of candy wrappers with them and dump them at Arrowhead to send Clark and Pioli a message.

ROFL

That's awesome. Everybody get a package of that old school Juicy Fruit and leave the little tinfoil wrappers everywhere. That would be priceless.

Clark and Fat Scott's accountability crap rings hollow when mediocre employees such as Bill Muir are allowed to remain with the team and leave on their terms. Bill Muir's retirement was a legit retirement... this wasn't him getting forced out. If it was a force out retirement it would have happened a lot sooner.

Why didn't the Chiefs fire Muir immediately after the season? He was the offensive coordinator for perhaps the worst offense in franchise history.

Why didn't Clark and Fat Scott apply the same level of accountability that they apparently apply to other non-football operational staff at One Arrowhead Drive?

That's definitely the implication. I'm not sure I believe that. However, there is enough "smoke" around this stinking pile of garbage that even a blind gynecologist could figure out somebody's vagina is ablaze.

The most damning element of the article is the claim that 100-plus NFL executives and coaches are unsurprised at the revelations in Babb's article. It's almost unthinkable that people would take that seriously ... yet, apparently, they do.

Whether you like or dislike Haley makes no difference. This situation is fast becoming moronic and has already passed the counter-productive stage.

To me, the behavior demonstrated by Clark and Dr. Evil is completely antithetical to the Chiefs' traditional image and Lamar's approach to the game and his employees. I know you can't live in the past, but neither should you seek out a future in which you pack lukewarm rabbit dung up your nose every week.

This entire debacle is disgusting and I can't figure out why I'm supposed to care about a team that's self-destructive and whose reputation in the league continues to be this laughable.

FAX

FWIW, Gretz' NFL beat career starting in Pittsburgh and he has fond memories of his time there. I always take that into account whenever reading any of his tripe that includes the Steelers organization.

The core of the article has little to do with the Steelers. It's about the environment and conditions in which Haley was allegedly forced to work.

Forget the Steelers ... compared to the Chiefs, a Soprano crew sounds like a better career choice.

FAX

More proof Clark Hunt is an idiot. Good piece Gretz maybe you can land the exclusive Haley interview

Agree. Just putting out that other bit for future reference.

Maybe Clark isn't quite so dumb and just lacks some balls? Anyone who says Haley wasn't toxic is crazy. I am not saying all the fault fall on his shoulders but let's face the facts...he fired Galey 2 weeks before the season started. Weis couldn't stand to work for him. Muir was promoted as a token so Haley could be the OC.

The common denominator there is Haley. Yes he got Bowe and DJ to play up to their potential but that a HC does not make. Our offense sucked with Haley as OC the first year and the phantom OC last year. The only time our offense was effective was when Weiss was around. And the fact he was only around for one year sheds light on Haley as well. I am sure Pioli plays a part in all that but nonetheless Haley was the common thread.

And while you can blame Piloli and Clark for Cassel and not signing depth you can't blame them for the way this team looked this year. From training camp on we looked lost. We never looked prepared. We were unorganized, couldn't get plays in and were not ready to play football. 9 of the 27 blowouts the Chiefs have suffered in their history came under Haley. That's 1/3 in 3 years time. We saw it with training camp this year. We saw the yoga vs. football mentality. We saw us unprepared and whipped on our home opener and again in the 2nd game. So while Pioli and Hunt share blame on personel it's the HC's job to have the players ready to play every Sunday and Haley fell way short of that this year.

The press hates Pioli. They hated him from the first press conference where Pioli decided to treat the media like little children. They weren't professionals to him - they were a nuisance part of the job. He will talk to them, but when he wants, how he wants, in the manner he wants. He put up the huge veil of secrecy, etc.

The press wasn't going to come down on him when everyone was so happy the Peterson era was over, but you could bet they were going to open fire when things hit a rough patch, which they now have.

I don't know why Pioli hired the combustible and raggedy Haley in the first place. He doesn't fit the 'no wrappers on the floor' mentality that Pioli has, and that Pioli wants his staff to have.

Do I think that behind closed doors Pioli made it hard on Haley, yes. Do I think Haley did little things to poke his boss back, sure.

At the end of the day, for good or bad, or until I jump on the bandwagon of the team that drafts RGIII, as a Chief fan we are stuck with Clark and Scott. Let's hope the stories are untrue, or there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

We didn't look bad from training camp on. We looked bad for a few games then made a serious run. All behind a shitty QB and a negative running game. As I've said before, considering the major gaps we had at critical positions, especially at QB, this team didn't play bad in 2012.

We played good against 4 shit teams then shit the bed in our own house to Miami and Denver.

That's a shall we say homer perspective.

The best showings we had after our 4 game run against the winless was Pittsburgh which was due to our D, Chicago which was due to Cutler being out, a fluke hail Mary pass for a TD and our D and the games with Orton which were of course post Haley.

We were playing for sole posession of 1st place at our house against a winless Dolphins team and not only did we get blown out you had a ton of players on offense saying after the game that Miami "did a bunch of stuff we weren't prepared for". Sorry that screams fail all over the HC.

News flash, Miami and Denver were two very good teams. And no matter how you spin it, no coach should be expected to be a playoff team when Matt Cassel without Jamaal Charles is leading your team. And especially when your only option is Palko and Stanzi.

Denver was a very good team? Tebow completed what, 4 passes that game or something like that? Miami was a better team but when you are in your house playing for 1st place against a winless team I don't give a **** who you are playing, there is no excuse to get blown out like we did and have players saying Miami did a bunch of stuff they weren't prepared for.

No, the homer perspective is to throw your ex-coach under the bus and defend the administration for an abortion of a decision at the QB position, and the absolute inability to field enough depth on the roster to the point where you have Sabby Piscitelli, Palko/Stanzi, Thomas Jones/Jackie Battle as starters at three not just key but critical positions.

People are whining about losing games, nevermind that we were trying to win games with a roster that wasn't all that good.

And let's not forget the Haley temper tantrum in NY. I agree we got ****ed on consecutive calls but a HC has to maintain his composure. That was the most embarassing thing since the Monday night meltdown.

If we were trying to win games Orton would have played sooner than he did as well as Stanzi. When Haley refused to put Stanzi in at NY it showed he was just a dumbass.

The fact is Haley did some good things on this team but he managed to run off 2 OC's in as many years and promote probably the worst choice there was in his 3rd.

I for one don't want Cassel as our QB but I would be lying if I said I wasn't curious to see him and the rest of the offense post Haley.

It doesn't ****ing matter that Miami was winless. It matters what Miami looked like when Matt Moore took over. The week before, in Moore's first start, he took the Super Bowl Giants team deep into the 4th quarter before the Giants finally pulled ahead, and then Moore led the team to plenty of victories after the Chiefs' game. The reason they caught the Chiefs by surprise is because they completely changed philosophies. And yes, Denver was a tough team when teams hadn't yet figured out how to scheme Tebow. In both cases, the Chiefs caught the front end of a team completely changing philosophy. By the way, even though the Chiefs exposed Tebow the second start, they still won by only a hair under a much better QB.

I didn't even care about that, but I did nearly throw up when I saw a formation without Bowe, Breaston, or Baldwin on the field. I was like "I get it, he WANTS to be fired".

Bullshit. Starting Orton against Pittsburgh after being with the team a few days would have been reckless, especially given the way Carson Palmer got grilled a few weeks earlier. And you couldn't have expected Orton to play against New York. The only game I thought Orton should have absolutely positively started was against Chicago, a game where he did end up getting subbed in only to hurt himself (and a game which the Chiefs ultimately won).

The OC decisions were an embarrassment. But we still don't really know who made the call on any of the three--I still believe that he definitely had no say in Gailey and had limited say in Weis.

To your final point... I don't know why you want to see Cassel post-Haley, but did it ever occur to you that Haley deserved a chance to show what offense he would run post-Cassel?

Damn. It was obvious Gretz felt this way, but I didn't think he had the guts to put in writing.

They were doing this after Haley got fired too. Baldwin was off the field a ton once Romeo took over. Even more so, in fact.

I think it's fair to say Haley deserved a chance without Cassel. It's also fair to say he had that to a point and chose to stick with Palko who he had brought in the year prior and it was no secret Palko was his guy. He could have pulled Palko against NE and didn't. He could have pulled Palko against Pit and didn't. He could have pulled Palko against NY and didn't.

Nah. At no other time in the season was there a formation on the field without some combination of those three. Only Offensive Mastermind Todd Haley could come up with something like that.

That's total BS.

You can look at the game threads. It came up a few times that Baldwin didn't see much of the first quarter. We wondered if he was in Romeo's doghouse.

Hey, he could bench those 3 but he couldn't put Stanzi in what was a lost game because it was "unwinnable".

No, YOU can look at the game threads. I'm not disputing whether or not Baldwin's snaps went up or down, I don't care. That has no relevance to what I said.

He could have pulled Palko in NE for a 5th round rookie QB who they believe wasn't yet ready. We have no ****ing clue what Stanzi looks like in practice. Maybe he didn't feel comfortable putting a rookie in the fire that was that young and unprepared. Or maybe it was just a dumb decision. We don't know. There are just as many legit reasons not to play Stanzi as there are bad.

And that's what bothers the shit out of me. People are sooooo pissed off about him starting Palko. It amazes me that no one in this group questions what the **** we're doing when your next best option when your shitty starting QB gets hurt is a journeyman with a noodle arm and a 5th round rookie who may or may not have been at all ready. People blame Haley for the Palko decision. I blame Pioli for putting Haley in that shitty position to have to choose between two very unappealing options as your plan B.

And we know Haley brought Palko to KC. You have no idea if he was blindly loyal to him because Pioli NEVER gave Haley a competitive enough option to force Palko off the roster.

I can't be 100%, but I am pretty sure that happened again, on a few 1 WR sets.

And besides, you don't think some of that had a little something to do with the fact that Haley knew he had to run a horizontal offense because his QB couldn't throw over 20 yards? It's not like Haley was so dumb he didn't know his QB's limitations. The entire offense was based largely on a bunch of quick screens and slants.

Cue the part where people discredit the story because Gretz was a disgruntled employee. Gretz brings back a few memories that are more than a little interesting: 1) Haley was on the chopping block before the season even started. We heard whispers about that all season long. So BS that he was fired because of poor performance or Tyler Palko. He was fired because Pioli finally found an excuse to do it. Haley was on the bubble IMMEDIATELY AFTER MAKING THE PLAYOFFS in his second season; 2) the unkempt appearance. We heard rumblings about that too, which is hilarious, because I remember bringing up how funny it was that they're hung up on Haley's hat but not on Hoody's disgusting cut-off sweatshirts.

You put the picture together, and it's pretty crystal clear. Pioli wanted Haley fired and he was willing to annoy the bejeezus out of Haley until he did. Between the two shadily leaked stories about Haley. Questioning his appearance. Certainly plausible that Pioli questioned the hell out of every one of Haley's decisions, as Gretz says. Who knows... maybe Haley thought his phone was bugged because Pioli used his mind games to make him paranoid enough to believe so.

As of right now, teams have expressed interest in Haley even though they know about the Arrowhead Anxiety story. And head coaches and coordinators have no interest in joining Kansas City. And now we have multiple writers with sources saying Kansas City is a complete cluster****, and the only people who have defended the Chiefs' practices are... members of the front office.

I don't care how much you love the Chiefs. This story is getting worse every day.

1. He didn't play Orton in the game two days after he arrived in KC. No coach would have. He brought him in to the second game and he immediately got injured. I can't think of a game where a QB played two days after arriving at the team. Can you? You are really unreasonable on this point. And none of us know how prepared he was for that second game. It is entirely possible that the coaches reasonably decided he needed more time.

2. You have no idea how Stanzi looked in practice and whether it was reasonable for Haley to start Palko over him. Stop pretending you do.

When Bob Gretz writes an article this critical of the Chiefs you have to think there is something to it. He has never been very critical of the Chiefs.

Well, the grain of salt is that Gretz was not just a fan of the Carl Peterson administration, but a raving fan. And there have definitely been sour grapes since Pioli took over, even before he really did much of anything.

But agreed that Gretz is throwing quite a few things in this article that I don't think he throws out without legit sources.

I'm expecting a CYA Stanzi was injured story to leak out
emergency QB only

Gretz notes the organization's laughingstock status. Gretz? That's impressively embarrassing.

The clues are all there if you want to look hard enough. Haley may be nuts for all we know... but it's pretty clear the Chiefs were floating rumors out there about getting rid of him for a while now. Pretty much all of last year really... there were tons of rumors about Haley and Pioli having problems. Maybe it's all coming from Haley. Either way it's obvious the situation was toxic. Amazing we won 7 games, really.

This is what bothers me. This team is beginning to resemble the Raiders under the Vampire's ownership. Not only is it embarrassing as a fan, its likely to have an impact on who's willing to come to KC.

The Executive of the Year is ****ing this franchise up at a record pace.

Gretz just dropped a Whitlockian bomb on the Chiefs.

http://i44.tinypic.com/fcuvq0.jpg

The power of the media.

How much is lash back since the horrible Chiefs won't tell the media everything or anything.

How does the media know this shit?

If you all are that embarrassed and don't like what is going on....jump.
Until the owner changes, nothing changes.

This is nothing but football...a game. You all take the most simple stuff and make it sound like the end of earth....

Sports Radio 810 WHB
Tomorrow on Sports Radio 810, Chiefs GM Scott Pioli joins The Border Patrol at 7:30am. He will talk about a number of topics including new coach Romeo Crennel, accusations from Todd Haley, the subject of Haley's contract and an update on the offensive coordinator search.

While saying absolutely nothing.

I obtained a transcript of the taped interview:

"We are excited about Romeo. The allegations are ridiculous, but I can't say more at this time. We are taking the search for an OC seriously and taking our time to make sure we get the right candidate."

FYP

We've won with Matt.

Did babb **** us in free agency with this?

football players cant read

So you're suggesting that it's the MESSENGER'S FAULT?

Babb didn't **** anybody...

SCOTT PIOLI did.

Scott Pioli bukkake's 70,000 every Sunday.

If Haley was hired in spite of all the stories written about us.
If this was the talk of the combine...

Football is a fraternity. Everybody knows. Everybody knew this was going down. And if the rumor is that Pioli is a notorious lowballer, every agent knows that too.

Sounds like Peyton Manning knows.

I have to believe that the word got around to most folks even without the story; but, the story definitely tarnished the front office and the franchise is the eyes of the public, media, and the players that had not really had much contact with KC.

I'm pretty sure that PM knew or would have found out easily enough about the dysfunctional front office we have. Orton, who couldn't wait to get out of KC quickly enough, would have told him.

I think everybody knows. We saw smoke signals for years. Now it's a fire.

Neither can their law school educated agents, right?

This should be a thing this year. If we win 2 games. Or less. LMAO