Scott Pioli interview

[Hammock Parties]

Pioli doesn't give many exclusives so this has some interesting stuff. It was posted in two parts. Can't copy/paste any of it for whatever reason (maybe someone else can).

I DON'T work for WPI anymore so this isn't spam.

http://kan.scout.com/2/1180005.html

http://kan.scout.com/2/1180551.html

[RealSNR]

Ever since General Manager Scott Pioli arrived in Kansas City back in January of 2009, he came to the organization with a trio of Super Bowls in hand and expectations that would make even the most mortal of men, fear the task at hand of rebuilding a franchise that hasn't won a playoff game since 1994.

Just the first sentence. What's with the ****ing comma?

Does this reerun know anything about writing?

[TimeForWasp]

What I get out of this. He deserves the last slice of pizza if someone is kind enough to leave it for him and he has nightmares about gum wrappers.


by the way,

I actually don't even dislike Pioli.

[|Zach|]

Originally Posted by Satanic Goat

so this has some interesting stuff.

Not really.

It felt like those were some questions that a high school kid job shadowing something would ask.

[Simply Red]

Originally Posted by |Zoccer|

Not really.

agreed - **** that turd, didn't you two break up yet, Clay?

[Chiefs=Champions]

Scott loves him some left over pizza.

[pr_capone]

In his career in the NFL, Scott Pioli doesn’t walk away from difficult challenges. He’s embraced the opportunity in Kansas City because he wants to rekindle the glory years that have been subdued since the Chiefs played in their last Super Bowl game back in January of 1970.

After nine years in New England and three in Kansas City, the NFL Draft is the one arena in which you build the foundation for your football team. And throughout his successful NFL career, that began in Cleveland fetching coffee for the staff, cleaning up the papers left behind on the floor and snatching the last piece of pizza in the Draft Room, Pioli is poised for the stretch run to make the Super again.

In this two-part, one on one interview, Scott Pioli talks about his earliest recollection of the NFL draft as a fan, his path from Cleveland to Kansas City and the things he looks for when selecting young athletes to represent and contribute to the Kansas City Chiefs. He also discusses why he doesn’t like the name War Room and if he prefers drafting talent versus need.

WP: As an NFL Draft junkie, I loved watching the draft on Television. It was my favorite time of the year. For you as a New York native, what were you earliest recollections of the NFL Draft and what about it did you remember the most?

Scott Pioli: “Watching the draft was like a relatively new phenomenon. Where I grew up as a kid Cable TV didn’t exist there were just three networks. I was always a football fan and a football historian. I loved to read about it and I loved to meet some of the people like every other person that falls in love with football I have my heroes. So following the draft it wasn’t this thing like it is now. When I was a kid I only followed the New York Giants and the because as a Giant fan you love to make fun of what the Jets were doing wrong or always hope they were doing wrong. I watched college football and knew who all the good players were but understanding the entire draft as you see it now and all the information and the immediacy of information you had to buy the books.

I have the old Joel Buchsbaum books. I’ve got the second one, even the paper copy of his first book that was really just a pile of papers. Joel was a guy I became fascinated by and actually later became friends with."

WP: Do You Remember the First Day You Entered the Draft War Room?

SP: “First off let me say that the name “war room” makes my skin crawl. It’s funny because the book Michael Holly wrote was called “ War Room”. The only disagreement that Michael and I got into about that book was when he made the reference “war room”. I told him that he would never hear me call it that because people die in wars, we are playing football. I find the phrase disrespectful so its funny when I got to the Patriots and when I got to Kansas City both signs in both places said War Room and I had them taken down. It’s a Draft Room."

WP: For most people who have never been in a Draft Room, what was it like in the early days when you were just starting out in this business.

SP: “But it wasn’t just that day it was the days leading up to the draft---the process. I’m a big process guy. I think that anything you are getting an end result out of, if you don’t enjoy or really embrace the process then you are never going to learn for the future. So it was the whole process of the meetings, the amount of work, the amount of hours, the amount of useful hours and also watching the amount of wasted hours, the wasted work, the wasted energy on things, then just taking it all in.

But then the first draft day it was pretty amazing. It was watching how different people responded to different stimuli. There are so many different things involved with the pressure of doing things right and doing it well. Knowing that millions of dollars of resources have been spent preparing for the draft and people sacrificing their lives. The amount of work the scouts put in to this and how it takes away from their families it’s an amazing process - then to watch the end result.

At the end of the first draft, I remember looking around and it was just this feeling of exhaustion by everybody. Because you go from this high level of intensity to torn up sheets of paper, coffee cups and chewed cups. One of my memories was walking around at the end, cleaning up, and thinking wow that was 365 days of preparation and intensity and this is what’s left? This included left over pizza that I took home.”

On Wednesday in Part-Two of our exclusive one-on-one interview with Scott Pioli, he discusses his executive climb in the NFL, what he learned from his time in New England plus his draft philosophy for the Chiefs.

[pr_capone]

Warpaint Illustrated: As you climbed up the executive ladder in Cleveland, Baltimore, New York and New England, how did it change and what the was the environment like when you had to start making those decisions for yourself in the Draft Room?

Scott Pioli: “There was a peace. Part of that was being with Bill Belichick. Where we were similar was when there’s pressure. I slow down and Bill is the same way. Part of that I think is just about preparation. If you feel prepared for any situation, you should feel comfortable and calm by the decisions you have to make. Knowing that there’s going to be ten things happen that you had no idea were going to happen and understanding that those things are out of your control. If you spend time, energy, and emotion fretting about those things, your setting lots of people up for failure.

If you are prepared and you spend the amount of hours that we have spent, you should go in there comfortable and knowing that you are going to make good decisions for the right reasons.

There are different beliefs about why they keep the draft room closed, or why do they have such few people in their draft room? I’m the type of person who needs calm around me. I need to be thoughtful. I think when there are distractions and chaos going on around you; you’re not controlling the environment around you. I’ve spent enough time with all the scouts and coaches to get opinions. If we need to get updated thoughts and opinions, we pull them in. It has nothing to do with security or information getting out because everyone is going to know what we do anyway.

But that first time in New England we were so prepared and that’s part of what I have learned over the years. If you are prepared, there is no reason to run around like a chicken with your head cut off or to have an emotional reaction. If you incorporate too much emotion, you’re likely to make unsound decisions.

Part of the pressure that goes on that is internal there is no one that is going to put pressure on me to do the right thing than me. I know that’s kind of cliché but I know the truth. I’ve got 53 players and their families counting on me not to screw it up. Plus I’ve got 20 coaches.

So to me that’s the real life pressure. Knowing that I’ve got to make decisions that affect every employee in this organization and hundreds of thousands of fans who live and die by the Chiefs. So to me if you know all that you keep it in a place and know that if you prepare, you’re likely going to make good decisions.”

WP: When you arrived in Kansas City in January of 2009 there wasn’t much time to acclimated to your new surroundings and you had to use some of the staff that had remained from the previous staff. So what’s been the biggest difference since your first draft compared to what’s going to take place this April?

SP: “I left New England with certain knowledge of the (Chiefs) players. But here’s the deal, I don’t make these decisions on my own. The amount that I rely on the scouts and people that gather information like the doctors, trainers, and coaches there is so much that goes into it. Maybe I gather too much information sometimes but to me the biggest difference was changing gears. I knew what I was looking for and what I wanted and by no fault of the people I was working with originally, they had different expectations.

They had been in a system where they knew where their train was heading. Then when I come in prior to the draft and all of a sudden it’s the middle of January and we were trying to figure out the coaching thing and there was a lot going on. Oh and also preparing for free agency. That’s a small window.

With that you are trying to figure out how to work with people and they are trying to figure out how to work with you. It was really challenging. That’s just the reality and it’s no one’s fault. Now four years later there are a group of people that know exactly what the expectations is, what the pace is, and what the level of accuracy and accountability should be, and what we are looking for.

They know that we are just not looking for good players we are looking for good players that are the right kind of people and the right kind of winners. That’s the biggest difference. There’s now a group of people where everyone is on the same page looking at and for the same things.”

WP: I’ve asked this question of many people in the NFL who are in the position that you are in regards to deciding which players you select in the NFL Draft. And this year, the Chiefs are in a unique position because they’ve added some high quality players through free agency. So looking ahead to April’s draft, do you draft college players for need, for talent or for fit?

SP: Those things change over time. We want a player that is going to contribute, going to be a good player, and also be a good guy. You can’t be arrogant and judgmental and think that people aren’t going to change. If I was being judged today by the way I was my junior and senior year in college I’m telling you we are not having this conversation. That’s the reality.

What you try to look for are guys that are going to have enough of an ability to change and then be that example. There are some of those guys in every program. We want to draft someone that is going to contribute to the team, the talent pool, and need. Is it best player of biggest need? It’s a combination of those things.

It’s not just about picking a player. It’s about dependability. Part of what you do with picks and contracts is you show what kind of behavior you’re going to reward.”

[Sofa King]

SP: “But it wasn’t just that day it was the days leading up to the draft---the process. I’m a big process guy. I think that anything you are getting an end result out of, if you don’t enjoy or really embrace the process then you are never going to learn for the future. So it was the whole process of the meetings, the amount of work, the amount of hours, the amount of useful hours and also watching the amount of wasted hours, the wasted work, the wasted energy on things, then just taking it all in.

He needs a bigger vocabulary.

[the Talking Can]

so what's interesting?

i read it, nothing was interesting

[J Diddy]

Originally Posted by Sofa King

He needs a bigger vocabulary.

Agreed. Now if someone can just forward this on to him:

Main Entry:
process  [pros-es; especially Brit. proh-ses] Show IPA
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: method; series of actions to achieve result
Synonyms: action, advance, case, channels, course, course of action, development, evolution, fashion, formation, growth, manner, means, measure, mechanism, mode, modus operandi, movement, operation, outgrowth, performance, practice, procedure, proceeding, progress, progression, red tape, routine, rule, stage, step, suit, system, technique, transaction, trial, unfolding, way, wise, working

[oldandslow]

There are people in the world, whom if I met in person, I don't think I would like. Pioli is one of those people. Going off on "war room?" I guess he wants to rename the "blitz" out of deference to all those killed by the German Luftwaffe.

This reads as if he is some sort of messianic obsessive-compulsive jerk.

[J Diddy]

Originally Posted by oldandslow

There are people in the world, whom if I met in person, I don't think I would like. Pioli is one of those people. Going off on "war room?" I guess he wants to rename the "blitz" out of deference to all those killed by the German Luftwaffe.

This reads as if he is some sort of messianic obsessive-compulsive jerk.

I don't necessarily think he "went off,"just felt that it was disrespectful and changed it. No big deal.

[yeti]

pioli needs more full offseasons with his staff in place for his process to process

[Direckshun]

Originally Posted by pr_capone

WP: Do You Remember the First Day You Entered the Draft War Room?

SP: “First off let me say that the name “war room” makes my skin crawl. It’s funny because the book Michael Holly wrote was called “ War Room”. The only disagreement that Michael and I got into about that book was when he made the reference “war room”. I told him that he would never hear me call it that because people die in wars, we are playing football. I find the phrase disrespectful so its funny when I got to the Patriots and when I got to Kansas City both signs in both places said War Room and I had them taken down. It’s a Draft Room."

Amen. I hate that terminology, too.