Whitlock: Carl's scouts all must go

[tk13]

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansas...s/10285718.htm

Peterson's KC scouts all must go

JASON WHITLOCK


You might have spent considerable time the last couple of weeks wondering how the Chiefs should dig themselves out of their latest mess. You may even have asked yourself just who should be allowed to grab a shovel this off-season.

Should head coach Dick Vermeil return for a fifth season?

Should president/general manager/CEO Carl Peterson be given a 17th season to implement his five-year plan?

And what about the roster? How do you get rid of all the defensive dead weight?

Those are all good questions. The Chiefs are 3-7 — four games behind today's opponent, the San Diego Chargers, and the Denver Broncos — and beyond giving Larry Johnson a few meaningless carries, there's nothing left to accomplish this season. We might as well look ahead to the off-season.

In my mind, it's foolish to waste time worrying about Vermeil's future. He could retire today and it wouldn't surprise me. He could coach another five years and it wouldn't surprise me. And for those of you fantasizing about Peterson getting canned or stepping aside, take a look at season-ticket sales and Arrowhead Stadium's parking-lot receipts. Peterson's going nowhere.

So that leaves the roster. And I say before you start trying to figure out 2005 NFL free agents and draft prospects, let's take a long, hard look at the men in charge of scouting talent for the Chiefs. That's what separates the Kansas City Chiefs from the New England Patriots and the Pittsburgh Steelers. It's not money. It's not commitment. Lamar Hunt spends enough money to compete for a championship. Peterson wants to win a championship as much as the next general manager.

The Chiefs are a stinking embarrassment this season — and have missed the playoffs six of the last seven seasons — because their player personnel department has failed.

You want to talk 2005 changes? You want to talk roster shake-up? You want to know where to direct your outrage? You want to know who has had a worse season than Jerome Woods, Kawika Mitchell, Dexter McCleon and Ryan Sims put together?

Lynn Stiles, Kansas City's vice president of football operations/player personnel.

I like Stiles. He's a wonderfully nice and polite man. He's always gone out of his way to be respectful toward me, even during the times when Peterson went out of his way to be disrespectful toward me.

But Lynn Stiles should be fired. He oversees the Chiefs' scouting of college and NFL players. Stiles is the man who in 1995 took me into a film room and tried to convince me that Trezelle Jenkins was worthy of a first-round pick. It happened. I was there. He played film of Jenkins flopping around at the University of Michigan and told me that Art Shell would coach all of the bad technique out of Jenkins.

Stiles is also the man who came on my radio show last spring to talk about the NFL draft, and he had no idea that Ben Roethlisberger played Division I football. Roethlisberger's Miami of Ohio squad finished the season ranked in the final Associated Press top 10. Stiles didn't know that. Roethlisberger played in the same Mid-American Conference that produced Randy Moss, Byron Leftwich and Chad Pennington.

Stiles has his current position because he's lifelong friends with Vermeil and Peterson. Some people call it the good-old-boy network. Others call it the Chiefs' front office. Unless Peterson believes you've betrayed his trust (Tim Connolly), it's virtually impossible to lose a Kansas City front-office job. It doesn't matter that Peterson's hand-picked scouting department has botched nearly every draft except the 1996 draft (Jerome Woods, Reggie Tongue, John Browning, Donnie Edwards and Joe Horn).

Chuck Cook has been KC's director of college scouting for eight years. Here's a word-for-word excerpt from his bio in the Chiefs' media guide: “Thanks to the efforts of Cook and his scouting staff, the Chiefs have selected an impressive resume of college performers during his tenure, including recent first-round draft picks such as RB Larry Johnson (2003) and DT Ryan Sims (2002).”

I guess Chuck was too modest to take credit for Mike Cloud and Rashaan Shehee. When your scouting claim to fame is L.J. and Sims, you need to have your resume in heavy circulation at Sprint headquarters.

All of Peterson's scouting underlings should be looking for jobs.

Bill Kuharich, Jeffrey Foster, Jim Criner, Bruce Lemmerman, Don Gregory, John Bonaventura, Cornell Gowdy, Matt Littlefield and Greg Olejack, if you'd like to stay in the area, I have connections with upper management at Gates.

I'm sure there are a few men on that list who are actually pretty good at their jobs. That's irrelevant now. It's time to clear the air. Last off-season, Vermeil had to cut ties with his dear friend Greg Robinson. This off-season, Peterson needs to break up his cigar club.

[ZootedGranny]

Couldn't agree more.

Peterson should still be thrown into a viper's nest though.

[Hammock Parties]

Whitlock nails it again.

[Yosef_Malkovitch]

He's absolutely right.

[Redcoats58]

I hate to say it but I agree with the fat bastard.

[elvomito]

amen brotha

[tk13]

Bingo was his name-o!



Sorry, just trying to fit in...

[Coach]

God Damn, Fat-ass is on fire!

[go bo]

abso-fuggin-lutely!!

[Coach]

Originally Posted by tk13

But Lynn Stiles should be fired. He oversees the Chiefs' scouting of college and NFL players. Stiles is the man who in 1995 took me into a film room and tried to convince me that Trezelle Jenkins was worthy of a first-round pick. It happened. I was there. He played film of Jenkins flopping around at the University of Michigan and told me that Art Shell would coach all of the bad technique out of Jenkins.

Stiles is also the man who came on my radio show last spring to talk about the NFL draft, and he had no idea that Ben Roethlisberger played Division I football. Roethlisberger's Miami of Ohio squad finished the season ranked in the final Associated Press top 10. Stiles didn't know that. Roethlisberger played in the same Mid-American Conference that produced Randy Moss, Byron Leftwich and Chad Pennington.

Anyone find this interesting? Seesh, doesn't even know that Roethlisberger played D-I football, and Stiles is the man that took Trezelle Jenkins? Unbelieveable.

[DaWolf]

Bill Kuharich was the Saints GM who traded the entire draft for Ricky Williams.

Why any former employee of the Saints front office is working for us in a chief talent evaluation post is a mystery...

[Coach]

Originally Posted by DaWolf

Bill Kuharich was the Saints GM who traded the entire draft for Ricky Williams.

Why any former employee of the Saints front office is working for us in a chief talent evaluation post is a mystery...

Holy shit.... you're serious?

[tk13]

Originally Posted by Coach

Holy shit.... you're serious?

Yeah he was, got fired after that season too I believe. Technically I believe Mike Ditka was the orchestrator of that trade, but obviously Kuharich went along with it. I was just reading about it, I hadn't realized that when the Redskins traded down in the first round that year they got Champ Bailey, then with that extra pick the next year took Lavar Arrington to go along with Chris Samuels in the first round.... man he got swindled.

[DaWolf]

Originally Posted by Coach

Holy shit.... you're serious?

Yep. That was his last draft with the Saints. He's an old Peterson buddy from the Philly days...

Chiefs Promote Bill Kuharich to Vice President of Pro Personnel
May 28, 2003, 4:32:00 PM
MAY 28 (afternoon)--Chiefs President Carl Peterson announced on Wednesday that Bill Kuharich has been promoted to Vice President of Pro Personnel effective immediately. Kuharich came to Kansas City as Director of Pro Personnel in 2000 and has served the past three seasons in that capacity. He joined the Chiefs after a 14-year stint with the Saints, serving as President, General Manager and Chief Operating Officer of the New Orleans franchise from ‘97-99.

“Certainly no one is more deserving of this promotion than Bill Kuharich,” Peterson stated. “Bill has been tremendously influential in our player personnel acquisitions the past three years. Bill’s outstanding background and experience certainly qualifies him to run an NFL franchise with great success and it is my hope that he will once again be afforded that opportunity.”

Entering his 21st season in professional football, Kuharich inaugurated his football career with the USFL’s Stars in ’83 under Peterson and the next year was promoted to Assistant General Manager/Director of Player Personnel. During the USFL’s three-year existence, the Stars compiled a league-best 48-13-1 combined regular season and playoff record, reaching all three USFL Championship Games and winning the final two league titles.

In ’86, Kuharich began his 14-year tenure with the Saints as the club’s Director of Player Personnel, serving in that role until ’93. He was promoted to Vice President of Football Operations, working in that role in ‘94-95 before being named Executive Vice President/General Manager in ’96. Kuharich was then elevated to the post of President/General Manager/Chief Operating Officer of the Saints in ’97, a position he held through the ’99 season.

Kuharich was hired in New Orleans by the late Jim Finks, who was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in ’95. When Finks and Kuharich arrived in New Orleans in ’86, they inherited a franchise which had never enjoyed a winning season and had never been to the postseason in its 19 previous seasons of existence. By ’87, Finks had constructed a team which went 12-3 and made the franchise’s first playoff berth. With Kuharich’s continued assistance in the personnel area, the Saints would total four postseason appearances from ‘87-92.

A member of a football family, Kuharich also learned about the game at home. His father, the late Joe Kuharich, served as a college head coach at San Francisco (‘48-51) and Notre Dame (‘59-62). The elder Kuharich also served as an NFL head coach with the Chicago Cardinals (’52) and Washington Redskins (‘54-58) in addition to a stint as the head coach/general manager of the Philadelphia Eagles (‘64-68). During the ’55 season with the Redskins, Kuharich was named NFL Coach of the Year. The elder Kuharich also worked with Peterson in Philadelphia when Peterson served as the Eagles Director of Player Personnel and Kuharich worked as a scout for the club which was guided by head coach Dick Vermeil in the late ‘70s.

A graduate of Middlebury College in Vermont with a degree in History, the younger Kuharich began his football career as a graduate assistant coach at Brown in ’76. He then coached the offensive backfield for Hawaii in ’77. The following year, he went to work for the United States Department of Defense, while still serving as a volunteer assistant coach at Georgetown. In ’79, he returned to coaching at St. Lawrence and earned a master’s degree in Education. He spent the ’80 and ’81 seasons as an assistant at Columbia University before embarking on his professional career with Peterson in the USFL.

[DaWolf]

Originally Posted by tk13

Yeah he was, got fired after that season too I believe. Technically I believe Mike Ditka was the orchestrator of that trade, but obviously Kuharich went along with it. I was just reading about it, I hadn't realized that when the Redskins traded down in the first round that year they got Champ Bailey, then took Lavar Arrington and Chris Samuels in the first round the next year.... man he got swindled.

Yeah when you are President, General Manager and Chief Operating Officer of a franchise and your coach tells you that he wants to trade his entire draft for a running back, you better tell him to find another job instead of going along with it. Certainly a major factor in his demise. I wouldn't say the Aints during his tenure were ever really anything special, they were a sometimes solid club which never apprached championship caliber (which is really the type of guys who should be in our front office, the guys who have helped build championship winners in the NFL, not old USFL buddies who coincidentally also worked with another "good old boy" friend of Carl's, Jim Mora)...