ChiefsPlanet - Chiefs Whitlock - Hiring of Pioli puts the Chiefs in the Hunt again

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/col...ry/980160.html

Hiring of Pioli puts the Chiefs in the Hunt again
Jason Whitlock

We have no more questions about Clark Hunt’s commitment to winning the Super Bowl.

By landing the biggest fish in the NFL’s off-season ocean — Patriots front-office guru Scott Pioli — Hunt told us everything we need to know about his desire to win at the highest level.

Clark Hunt is as passionate and committed as the most fanatic Chiefs fan.

You pierce your costume with arrows on game day, wear red on Fridays, decorate your basement with Chiefs apparel, rock Priest Holmes jerseys throughout the week, tolerate taxes to renovate Arrowhead Stadium and pay $22 to tailgate before exhibition games.

Clark Hunt appreciates all that. But he wants you to recognize he just spent a fortune to eliminate the stench of Carl Peterson and make the Chiefs Super Bowl contenders again.

We thought dethroning King Carl was a big deal. Luring Pioli to replace Peterson is much, much bigger.

There is no way to guarantee Pioli will be a success. The longtime Bill Belichick right-hand man might be as fraudulent as Romeo Crennel, Charlie Weis, Eric Mangini and the other Belichick clones who failed once they left the Patriots coach’s shadow and cashed in.

I like Pioli — a lot. He’s young, confident, disciplined, smart and he’s certainly been in the right organization.

But when it comes to the Patriots and success, we just don’t know where Belichick ends and everybody else begins. The Patriots are like the Jackson 5, and Belichick is Michael Jackson. Crennel and Weis proved to be Tito and Jackie.

Is Pioli the next Jermaine Jackson, who had a solid solo career? Or, better yet, is Pioli the next Janet Jackson, a megastar just waiting for the opportunity to shine?

We don’t know. And we won’t know for a couple of years. We’ll need to see how he drafts, whether he can find a legitimate quarterback of the future for the Chiefs, whether he can hire his own version of Belichick.

(Oops, I’m assuming that Herm Edwards will be relieved of his duties.)

What we know for sure is that ownership is going to provide Pioli with everything he needs to be successful.

There’s no way Pioli takes the job without those assurances. He had a great deal of leverage entering this off-season. The Cleveland Browns wanted to make him their general manager. The Lions were initially interested. Pioli could’ve stayed with the Patriots and waited for the perfect situation.

He got it here. He took this job because he found an owner ready to do things the Patriots way. He found an owner ready to match his level of commitment.

You don’t leave Belichick and all those Super Bowl rings unless you believe you’ve discovered a place where you believe you can do the same thing. Oh, I’m sure the money is awesome. I’m sure the Pioli family is set.

But Pioli has no interest in being Weis or Crennel. They’re laughingstocks. They’re known as football men who were great Belichick puppets and nothing else. One of life’s toughest tasks is recovering a lost reputation.

Pioli has a great rep. He’s risking a lot leaving the Belichick nest. He didn’t do it blindly or with dollar signs dancing in his head.

He did it thinking about creating his own legacy and with playoff victories dancing in his head.

Pioli and Hunt recruited each other. Pioli had to convince Hunt that he had a plan to fix the Chiefs. And Hunt had to convince Pioli that he was willing to support that plan.

For two decades under Peterson’s rule and Lamar Hunt’s budget, the Chiefs shopped for bargains in their pursuit of a championship. Peterson grabbed Marcus Allen and Joe Montana at the end of their careers. Peterson snagged underappreciated veterans such as Dan Saleaumua and James Hasty.

Only once can I remember Peterson stepping out and paying top dollar for a big-time free agent. He gave his football godfather Dick Vermeil a golden parachute. Peterson spent lavishly on assistants and Vermeil’s dream of building an offense superior to Mike Martz’s.

It worked.

Well, now Clark Hunt has stepped out and grabbed the most elite name in front-office magic.

And with this move, Hunt has boldly stated only the best and brightest are good enough for the Chiefs.

That’s just what we needed to hear.