Blob Gretz: Herm deserves 2nd chance

[dirk digler]

http://www.bobgretz.com/

So what about Herm?

Early Wednesday evening the Chiefs will introduce new GM Scott Pioli during a press conference at the team’s facilities. Pioli’s hiring was officially announced Tuesday evening by the club, as he steps into the football role held for the previous 20 years by Carl Peterson.

One of the first questions that will be fired at Clark Hunt and Pioli will be the status of head coach Herm Edwards. Throughout Tuesday evening, that was the new No. 1 question floating through the NFL grapevine now that Pioli is on board.

Assumptions have been made by national media types that the hiring of Pioli means that Edwards is out and a new head coach will be coming to Arrowhead. Some have speculated that New York Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo is now the No. 1 candidate to join Pioli. Others believe the new head coach could be Pioli’s good friend, University of Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz.

No GM should have a head coach handcuffed to him, and it’s doubtful that Hunt will do that Pioli. But there’s also little doubt that Edwards was part of the discussions with Pioli leading up to an agreement between the two parties. Remember, when Hunt announced the resignation of Peterson, he said he would decide on Edwards’ future, with input from his new GM.

Hunt has said he supports Edwards and the job he undertook in trying to rebuild the team. The Chiefs also made it clear in their annoucement Tuesday evening that Pioli “will have final say over all football operations … “ Obviously, the head coach is part of football operations.

Edwards deserves a chance to keep his job. Many of his decisions in the last year were based on the support he was receiving from Hunt. It’s safe to say that if the head coach had known he was going to be on shaky ground in the rebuilding process, he would have approached things in a different manner. Every move that Edwards made came with the belief that Hunt was in his corner.

And here’s a tidbit that a lot of people don’t know. One of the people in the league that pumped up Edwards during the long ‘08 season was New England head coach Bill Belichick. He encouraged Edwards in a pre-game meeting before the season opener between the teams. When the holiday season rolled around, Edwards received a Christmas card from Belichick, who expressed support for the manner in which he was rebuilding the Chiefs with a hand written inscription.

Remember, this was from Bill Belichick, who is not one of pro football’s happy-go-lucky, chatty, back slapping guys. That he twice took the time to encourage Edwards, who has no connection to him, is revealing. It’s a good bet that at some point in time, he and Pioli had discussions on what was happening in Kansas City.

And this might be stretching the point, but remember this as well: when he was coaching the New York Jets, Edwards knew the Patriots were filming the Jets sideline during the game. In fact, at one point Edwards waved at the cameraman. But unlike the coach who replaced him with the Jets, former Belichick protégé Eric Mangini, Edwards did not turn the Patriots in to league security.

Life is not always fair and no place is that more true than professional sports. It seems a long shot that Pioli will give Edwards the chance to finish the job. That will be unfair, because after suffering the pain of the ‘08 season, Edwards should get the opportunity to enjoy possible success in the coming season.

No matter what the decision, it figures to come quickly. If a change is going to be made, then Pioli needs to interview and lineup potential replacements. Next week is the Senior Bowl, what amounts to an annual NFL job fair. If a change is made, the Chiefs will be looking to fill a coaching staff. Should Edwards survive, expect changes in his coaching staff and he’ll need to find some new bodies.
This needs to be settled before everybody heads to Mobile.

It sounds like one Chiefs assistant coach may already be gone. Secondary coach David Gibbs has been in Houston talking with the Texans about moving there. His father, former Chiefs assistant coach Alex Gibbs is now coaching on Gary Kubiak’s staff.

What a lot of people don’t know is that when Gibbs joined the Chiefs in 2006 – leaving Auburn where he was defensive coordinator – he was offered the coordinator’s job by Kubiak. He could have gone to the Texans then, but Gibbs decided to honor his commitment to Edwards and Chiefs defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham.