Saunders will be joined on the Chiefs' offensive staff by two of Gunther Cunningham's assistants, tight-ends coach Keith Rowen and offensive-line coach Mike Solari, and two additions from the Buffalo Bills, wide-receivers coach Charlie Joiner and running-backs coach James Saxon.

Vermeil interviewed former Chiefs tight end Jonathan Hayes to be tight-ends coach, but Hayes told Vermeil he preferred to remain an assistant at the University of Oklahoma.

Vermeil said former Oakland head coach Mike White could join his staff, but White's involvement would be more administrative and not in an on-field capacity.

Vermeil was still seeking to hire a quarterbacks coach.

The Chiefs on Monday completed their defensive staff with the hiring of Greg Robinson as coordinator.

"It very well will be the finest coaching staff I've ever been able to put together," Vermeil said. "I really feel that strongly about it."

http://www.kcstar.com/item/pages/spo...1179.119,.html

So-beside Tight Ends and QB coaches, what vacancies are left in this staff?

I think the QB coach is it. Rowen will remain the TE coach...

My optimism for our staff and what they might accomplish is at an all time high!

I hope your optimism is not unfounded. I fear we have a staff that will be only slightly better than the Gun squad.

milkman-

…only slightly better?

Vermeil V. Gunther
Robinson V. Schotteneheimer
Saunders V. Raye
Gansz V. Stock

slightly better?

xoxo~
gaz
sees several orders of magnitude improvement.

To expand on what Gaz said- I think Charlie Joiner will prove to be an excellent hire.While I liked Gun,I don't see DV making fundamental coaching mistakes.Also, I would rather have the "gift" my dog left in the yard this morning coaching our Special Teams than have Stock for another year.

I am very happy with this staff...However, a staff of this quality could have and should have been put together without giving up a 2nd and a 3rd...

Robinson's defenses were underachieving, and gave up a lot of yards to Dillon, and to our Chiefs, who, as you may have heard had a nearly non-existent ground game.
Ganz was drummed out of Oakland because his STs rivaled ours for ineptitude.
Suanders was passed over for Raye when Hackett left for USC. That scares the hell out of me!

Robinson believes in an attacking Defense and man coverage. That is sweet music to my ears after Schottenheimer’s stinking soft zone. The thing I admired about the Denver D was their willingness to blitz the QB relentlessly. Robinson will have a much higher level of talent in KC than he had in Denver.

I find it hard to believe that anyone rivals Stock in ineptitude. :D

Saunders passed over for Raye speaks volumes about the guy who made the decision, not about Saunders. I thought he should have been the OC when Raye got the job. We have seen enough bad decisions from the Chiefs staff that Saunders should not be blamed for this one.

Vermeil is doing exactly what I wanted him to do. He is building a coaching staff that matches my approach to the game: attack on D and balance on O.

xoxo~
gaz
excited by the prospect.

Milkman - Funny! In one thread I read that Marty couldn't pick anything on the offensive side of the ball, and then you take into account how he picked Raye of Saunders, that should be a sign that Saunders was the better choice.

Gaz,
You may be right about the decision maker being to blame.
As Morph points out, and I hadn't really thought about it like this, I'd already depicted Marty as an idiot when it comes to finding offensive talent, whether it be player or coach.
I also like Robinson's approach. I just hope it was the players that made him look bad, and not the other way around.
As for Ganz, someone listed the statistical improvement that the TRaiders made last season w/o Ganz. Some of that can be attributed to Janikowski and Lechler, and stats don't always tell the whole story, but the improvement was huge, and some of the blame for the inept STs play in '99 has to laid at Ganz's feet. I'll try to keep an open mind, but that negativity will occasionally rear it's ugly head.

Milkman - I will admit that I'm a little worrid about the DC and the STC, but the DC is at least an attacking guy. The STC I really don't have much to say, but nobody could be more inept then Mike Stock.

[Edited by morphius on 01-20-2001 at 11:31 AM]

On a positive note, I will say this. I really am pleased with the Joiner hiring. He didn't possess great natural physical ability as a player, but was a great WR in the NFL because of the matter between his ears, and the desire to be the best. He might be the guy that can turn Sly into the player he has the potential to be.

Well I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I'm excited as hell about the upcoming season. This coaching staff is light years ahead of Goonther and his band of boobs. Now if they can just instill the will to win on these guys it just may be a thing of beauty to see this fall.

Milkman,

When you say that Saunders was passed over for Raye......the Chiefs must have made the biggest blunders in coaching personnel in the last couple of years. Look at the guys who were let go: Tom Rossley (OC @ GB), Mike McCarthy (OC @ NO), Ron Zook (DC @ NO), as well as Saunders, Shell etc. In the past it seems we have held on to the idiots :D

Bob Dole has noticed that, too, Cormac. Seems like every other day Bob Dole reads, "So-and-so, who spent 19nn as Kansas City's <insert position here > Coordinator has been named as Something Better for <insert team>." Too many to count...

While I am happy as everyone else is about Gunter being replaced, I am not as optimistic about how much difference Vermeil and co. will make. It still takes talent to win in the NFL and the Chiefs are lacking in many areas. Five different coaches have tried to motivate Chester McGlockton and it hasnt worked. Four different coaches have tried to get Elvis to play smart at it hasnt worked. One constant remains: Carl Peterson. And that doesnt help the Chiefs chances. Three playoff wins in 12 years??? As long as he is the one providing the talent, I dont think the Chiefs will be anymore than mediocre.

Also, the 64 year Vermeil is a short term bandaid. Constant turnover hurts whether its business or football. After three more mediocre seasons, the Chiefs will be looking to do this all over again.

Talent comes first (as Mike Holmgren has found out) and coaching comes second. The Chiefs have to many needs to think that coaching will make that much of an impact.

Well, I wanted sweeping changes, and certainly got them. I think Elvis can be an absolute terror on the field with the right coaching (and a decent RB).

I'm still not thrilled about DC or ST, but hell, as long as these guys has pulses they'll be an improvement over what we had. Under Stock, special teams was more like special ed.

At the very least, these changes should energize and revitalize the entire organization. Let's hope that momentum actually carries us somewhere this year.

GO CHIEFS!

I know a lot of people love to point out the games Robinson had against us and Dillon, but on the other hand look at the games he had against, for example, Oakland's ground game. A lot of it has to do with the players you have and how you use them. In recent years the Donks have not had great defensive players. Consider this recent article from the Rocky Mountain News:

Rhodes or not, talent is route to winning

Still NOT liking the idea of Robinson calling the defensive plays, but just about anybody or rather any "warm" body would be better than Kurt and Willie Shaw. My guess is that Vermiel plans on jumping on teams early to make them play catch - up kind of like the Donx did when their defense was "good". Well, then we need to get a LEGIT threat in the backfield to join Elvis and Richardson. IMHO, to expect a Robinson defense to be dominent without an explosive offense is asking way too much.