Jeffrey Flanagan: King Carl chimes in again on Reid hiring...

[DaWolf]

http://www.foxsportskansascity.com/0...13&feedID=5117

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Former Chiefs general manager Carl Peterson can't help but still care what happens to his former organization.

It pained him to see the Chiefs suffer through a 2-14 season, and it pained him to see the total disconnect unfold between the Chiefs and their fans.

"You don't spend 20 years working somewhere and just not care," Peterson told FOXSportsKansasCity.com by phone.

"I very much care. I still have a house here, spend time here. Obviously I don't want to see what Lamar Hunt and I built here for 20 years go downhill. I want to see this organization successful.

"I think the world of Chiefs fans. And I could tell how much they were suffering these last couple of years with all the banners flying over Arrowhead calling for people's jobs. There was a lot of fan anger there. Then you had the cheering when Matt Cassel went down. That's not the Chiefs fans we knew. But obviously they were frustrated and angry. It was sad to see."

Peterson, who took over as general manager in 1989 and immediately hired Marty Schottenehimer, resurrected a franchise in complete disarray at the time. Peterson and Schottenheimer worked hard at not only winning on the field, but also at winning back the fan base in the community.

That's why Peterson was so relieved that Chiefs owner Clark Hunt hired Andy Reid as the new coach - Peterson believes it's the first step to soothing wounds with the fans.

"Andy is what this organization needed to restore its credibility," Peterson said. "It's in some degrees similar to what I went through when I hired Marty. I think the organization was probably in worse shape back then.

"I remember when I first got here in 1989 and I met (broadcaster) Bill Grigsby, I asked him, 'Honestly, Bill, how bad is it here with the fans?' And Bill said, 'Well, let me tell you a story, Carl. Last year my wife and I were down on the Plaza and we went to have dinner. We left four club-level tickets on the windshield of my car, and put a little note with them that said we were giving these tickets away to anyone who wanted to go to Sunday's game. But when we got back from dinner, the tickets were still there, and there were actually two more tickets with them.'

"Now, I don't think the situation is that bad right now, but it has deteriorated. That's why it was so important to get Andy here."

Peterson said he was not asked by Clark Hunt to advise on Reid's hiring.

"But we have texted each other since the hiring," Peterson said. "I texted him that I thought it was a great hire."

Peterson also has talked to Reid by phone twice since Reid was hired.

"I've known Andy for a long time," Peterson said. "I told him (my wife) Lori and I would be willing to do anything to help him get acclimated to Kansas City. He's very excited about this team and this town.

"I first got to know him when he was coaching with Bob Stull at Missouri. Andy would come to Kansas City to recruit and we wound up hooking up. Then we stayed friends when he went to Green Bay under Mike Holmgren, who is a good friend of mine, and, of course, when Andy went to Philadelphia.

"Dick Vermeil lives in the Philly area, so the three of us kind of kept close tabs of each other."

Soon, Hunt and the Chiefs will make the hire to replace general manager Scott Pioli, who was let go last week.

Peterson, who resigned from the Chiefs in 2008, would not comment on Pioli's performance as GM, but he did give a thumbs up to reports that Green Bay's John Dorsey might be the next Chiefs general manager.

"He would be a good choice," Peterson said. "He's a smart guy.

"The most important thing is to have someone who can really work hand-in-hand with the coach. We had that with Marty and me, and then Gunther (Cunningham) and Dick (Vermeil) and Herm Edwards. You have to be close with your coach. You don't always have to see eye to eye, but you have to have mutual respect and a great working relationship.

"I know Andy has a history with John Dorsey and that would help."

Peterson, who now is the chairman of USA Football, the NFL's youth football partner, said he expects that Reid and whoever is the next general manager will turn the Chiefs around quickly.

"With Andy, I think Clark has gotten everyone's attention," Peterson said. "He's gotten the attention of the national media, the rest of the NFL, the fans, and most important, the players on this team."

"He's an excellent hire. He is very detail oriented and I think he will get the most out of his football team."

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by Pro Bowler

I can only assume that the people who think Carl Peterson was a complete failure are just too young to remember what it was like BEFORE Carl Peterson was hired.

The Chiefs were ****ing awful for 17 years. They were totally irrelevant. Arrowhead Stadium was a ghost town on Sundays. Nobody wore red on Fridays. Nobody gave a SHIT about the Chiefs. They were that bad.

Then Carl Peterson came to town and immediately hired Marty Schottenheimer. Almost instantly this franchise was transformed from one of the worst in the NFL to one of the best. For TEN years Arrowhead Stadium rocked on game days, and the Chiefs were exciting and RELEVANT. Arrowhead Stadium was the loudest stadium in the NFL, and it was known around the league as the toughest place in the NFL for a visiting team to go into and win.

Those ten years weren't perfect. We never got to a Super Bowl. Every now and then Carl or Marty would make a boneheaded decision that would infuriate the fans. I've always said that if they had picked Gannon over Grbac, the Chiefs would have WON a couple of Super Bowls.

But those were ten GREAT years to be a Chiefs fan, and anyone who says that Carl Peterson was a total failure because the Chiefs didn't get to the Super Bowl is a total ****ing idiot. You don't make the playoffs 8 times in 10 years if you're a total failure.

The number of great players and Hall of Famers that Peterson brought to Kansas City has already been listed elsewhere in this thread, so I won't repeat it. I also won't repeat the list of quarterbacks Peterson drafted in an attempt to find that franchise quarterback, and I won't repeat the list of free agent quarterbacks he brought in to try to fix the quarterback problem. Anybody who thinks he didn't try like hell to find a great quarterback is a moron.

Were the last 15 years of Carl Peterson full of failure? Hell yes. Carl stayed WAY too long, and it was time for him to go years before Hunt finally fired him.

But if you think Carl Peterson didn't accomplish ANYTHING here, you have gone full reerun and you should just shut up and stop posting until you get a little smarter. Carl Peterson turned this franchise around, and for that he deserves to be applauded, not shit on.

Save your venom for a guy like Scott *****. He's the one that deserves it.

Carl Peterson was a good GM who, like many in the business, became too loyal to his list of croneys. The same bullshit we saw in Pioli (Pioli's was even worse, though, given that he was new to the GM role).

The sad part is, Carl Peterson's loyalty kept the team from reaching the next level in several instances. He could have fired Marty earlier and handed the team to the best head coach candidate in the market, instead of handing it to Gunther Cunningham. Think Brian Billick or Andy Reid could have taken Marty's team to a Super Bowl? Probably.

Then there's Vermeil. That was a good hire, but they should have been more creative about picking the Defensive Coordinator instead of plucking from the tree. That Vermeil team could have easily been a strong super bowl contender with a legit defensive coordinator.

And then there's Herm. He hired Herm, the DC, the OC all from the tree. Granted, by the time Herm got the team, Peterson left about a 2-year window to win anything meaningful because of how old the team became. But you don't think another head coach could have won a playoff game for us by year 1? I sure think they could have.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Rausch

Displayed by the "pinkie game..."

Displayed by his whole wasted career.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Rausch

Displayed by the "pinkie game..."

As Bill Walsh so eloquently put it, Steve DeBerg is "just good enough to get you beat."

If the guy had spent less time partying and chasing skirts, he found have found far greater success.

[DeezNutz]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

As Bill Walsh so eloquently put it, Steve DeBerg is "just good enough to get you beat."

If the guy had spent less time partying and chasing skirts, he found have found far greater success.

But he also would have likely found far less happiness and fewer good times.

[FloridaMan88]

Originally Posted by Pro Bowler

I can only assume that the people who think Carl Peterson was a complete failure are just too young to remember what it was like BEFORE Carl Peterson was hired.

The Chiefs were ****ing awful for 17 years. They were totally irrelevant. Arrowhead Stadium was a ghost town on Sundays. Nobody wore red on Fridays. Nobody gave a SHIT about the Chiefs. They were that bad.

Then Carl Peterson came to town and immediately hired Marty Schottenheimer. Almost instantly this franchise was transformed from one of the worst in the NFL to one of the best. For TEN years Arrowhead Stadium rocked on game days, and the Chiefs were exciting and RELEVANT. Arrowhead Stadium was the loudest stadium in the NFL, and it was known around the league as the toughest place in the NFL for a visiting team to go into and win.

Those ten years weren't perfect. We never got to a Super Bowl. Every now and then Carl or Marty would make a boneheaded decision that would infuriate the fans. I've always said that if they had picked Gannon over Grbac, the Chiefs would have WON a couple of Super Bowls.

But those were ten GREAT years to be a Chiefs fan, and anyone who says that Carl Peterson was a total failure because the Chiefs didn't get to the Super Bowl is a total ****ing idiot. You don't make the playoffs 8 times in 10 years if you're a total failure.

The number of great players and Hall of Famers that Peterson brought to Kansas City has already been listed elsewhere in this thread, so I won't repeat it. I also won't repeat the list of quarterbacks Peterson drafted in an attempt to find that franchise quarterback, and I won't repeat the list of free agent quarterbacks he brought in to try to fix the quarterback problem. Anybody who thinks he didn't try like hell to find a great quarterback is a moron.

Were the last 15 years of Carl Peterson full of failure? Hell yes. Carl stayed WAY too long, and it was time for him to go years before Hunt finally fired him.

But if you think Carl Peterson didn't accomplish ANYTHING here, you have gone full reerun and you should just shut up and stop posting until you get a little smarter. Carl Peterson turned this franchise around, and for that he deserves to be applauded, not shit on.

Save your venom for a guy like Scott *****. He's the one that deserves it.

So by your own admission, Carl's "last 15 years were full of failure". He was with the Chiefs for about 20 years so that isn't a good ratio of years that were not "full of failure".

Based on what happened after Marty left it is pretty clear that he... and not Carl was far more responsible for the Chiefs success in the 1990's.