Chiefs Posnanski: Haley, Belichick share similarities

FringeNC · 02-07-2009, 07:53 AM

Haley, Belichick share similarities
By JOE POSNANSKI
The Kansas City Star

The similarities are eerie. They are both sons of football men. That’s obvious enough. But it goes much deeper than that. They are both sons of real football men, hard-nosed football scouts, the kind who loved to study film and break down the game and search for secrets in the rewind. There aren’t many of those men around.

They both traveled with their fathers on college scouting trips.

They both grew up around great football players.

They both started breaking down game film when they were young boys.

“Other kids had their hobbies,” wrote David Halberstam in his book TheEducation of a Coach. “Some collected postage stamps and others had baseball cards. But Bill studied film.”

Dick Haley said: “Todd loved looking at film when he was, I don’t know, 11 or 12. And he was good at it right away.”

They both played other sports more than football. Bill played lacrosse. Todd played golf. They both got into pro football on the bottom floor, in jobs that required getting coffee for the coaches and driving them to work. They both worked nonstop.

They both learned a whole lot about football from Bill Parcells, the two-time Super Bowl champion coach. Bill was Parcells’ defensive coordinator, and the two clashed and synchronized and won. Parcells gave Todd his first coaching job, though it came with a warning.

“You’re crazy,” Parcells told Todd.

The pay was less than half of what Todd was making as a scout. But Todd wanted to coach that much.

They both became coordinators for Super Bowl teams.

So, of course, you know the two men are New England guru Bill Belichick and Todd Haley, hired on Friday to be the new coach of the Chiefs. And that adds one more eerie similarity to the equation. Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli, who made his reputation working with Belichick in New England, is the guy who hired Haley.

“You know, they do have similar backgrounds,” Pioli says in a somewhat surprised tone, as if he had never really thought of it.

And it’s probable that he never thought it quite that way, never had really gone down the line, point by point, and noticed that the man he hired was, in fact, a perfect eHarmony match for the man he had worked with. Even so, it was no coincidence. Maybe Scott Pioli wasn’t looking for another Bill Belichick — he knows, better than anyone, that there is no other Bill Belichick.

Thing is, Pioli was not opposed to finding someone with some Belichick in him.

“It doesn’t hurt,” Pioli says. “They do have a lot in common in their background. They have a few differences, too.”

And that is true also. Haley does not appear to be as determined a football hermit as Belichick (though Haley admitted that he did have to be reminded, several times before his Friday news conference, to smile some). Haley seems as if he’s probably a better dresser. Haley thinks offense first, while Belichick thinks defense first. And so on.

But there is no question that Pioli is trying hard to rebuild the Chiefs, as best he can, in the New England Patriots’ image. And Haley fits. He’s a dedicated film watcher who gets real enjoyment out of breaking down opponents’ weaknesses.

He’s a former scout who has a good feel for what makes good and great football players (his father Dick Haley was, of course, a legendary scout for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1970s). He’s a guy who loves just talking about football and philosophies, which should make for some fun and loud late-night conversations with Pioli.

And he’s a guy who brings a lot of passion and emotion to the job. Of course, every coach wants to win. But Haley figures to show it a little more than some. He had that rather famous shout-out with Arizona’s Anquan Boldin. He had a less famous clash with Terrell Owens (less famous because … everyone has had a clash with Terrell Owens). He admits that his dreams of being a professional golfer — he was on the Florida golf team with PGA veterans Chris DiMarco and Dudley Hart — were pretty much destroyed because of his football temperament.

“It killed me,” he says.

Will the Pioli-Haley combination work? It’s all guesswork, of course. The NFL — pro sports in general — is just not that easy to predict. Many promising coaches end up flopping … heck, Bill Belichick got fired in Cleveland before succeeding in New England. Many brilliant young general managers struggle to put their team together. A lot has to go right for a football team to become a winner. It helps to draft a quarterback like Tom Brady in the sixth round or find a linebacker like James Harrison as a free agent or something like that. There are so many variables.

But there certainly was a winning vibe Friday at Arrowhead. It sure looks good now. You have two very bright, high-energy guys who have had a lot of success and who think about the game in pretty much the same way. Will it work? Why not? It worked already in New England.

**Gonzo** · 02-07-2009, 07:58 AM

This doesn't mean Haley's a cheat too does it?
Posted via Mobile Device

oaklandhater · 02-07-2009, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gonzo

This doesn't mean Haley's a cheat too does it?
Posted via Mobile Device

If he win's I dont care.

Coogs · 02-07-2009, 08:58 AM

And New England already had the 1st pick of the 1st round in 1993 playing QB when they took Brady in the 6th. Not quite the sane scenario here.

Deberg_1990 · 02-07-2009, 09:20 AM

Just watching his press conference, their personalities seem kind of similiar.

Dry, slow, methodical. Rather boring actually. Who cares as long as he wins.

**The Bad Guy** · 02-07-2009, 09:30 AM

They also both wear NFL Equipment sweatshirts on the sidelines with tan khakis.

patriotsfan · 02-07-2009, 09:44 AM

silly-

Every team in the NFL cheats, or at least tries, and I use that term loosely.

Every player on defense tries to hear or read what the offense is calling.
Every player on offense tries to decipher the pass rush from coverage.

Sharp kids in pop warner, who can read and remember formations need only look to the sidelines and match the hand signals and they can look like mind readers all day. Its simple, anything a team puts out on the field on any given Sunday is up for grabs, for scouting, evaluation, and decoding.

OOH Belichick taped it! What a cheater.

There is no rule to having a staff member with a pair of high powered binoculars, a pad and a pen, sitting somewhere in the stadium doing the same thing manually.

Its like saying, If your wife gets caught on tape screwing around on you she is a cheater.

But if your wife screws around and it gets back to you word of mouth, its completely acceptable.

Bullshit double standard.

The only solution was the mic'ing of defensive players, you can thank the Patriots for that rule change.
Our "cheating" has ultimately made he NFL a little more fair.

You guys are damn lucky to have Scott Pioli.

**the Talking Can** · 02-07-2009, 09:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by patriotsfan

silly-

Every team in the NFL cheats, or at least tries, and I use that term loosely.

Every player on defense tries to hear or read what the offense is calling.
Every player on offense tries to decipher the pass rush from coverage.

Sharp kids in pop warner, who can read and remember formations need only look to the sidelines and match the hand signals and they can look like mind readers all day. Its simple, anything a team puts out on the field on any given Sunday is up for grabs, for scouting, evaluation, and decoding.

OOH Belichick taped it! What a cheater.

There is no rule to having a staff member with a pair of high powered binoculars, a pad and a pen, sitting somewhere in the stadium doing the same thing manually.

Its like saying, If your wife gets caught on tape screwing around on you she is a cheater.

But if your wife screws around and it gets back to you word of mouth, its completely acceptable.

Bullshit double standard.

You guys are damn lucky to have Scott Pioli.

is this post from the 90's?

Craqhead · 02-07-2009, 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

Just watching his press conference, their personalities seem kind of similiar.

Dry, slow, methodical. Rather boring actually. Who cares as long as he wins.

Better then the garbage spewing outta Herm's pie hole.

**Dave Lane** · 02-07-2009, 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gonzo

This doesn't mean Haley's a cheat too does it?
Posted via Mobile Device

Hopefully he pushes that edge

OctoberFart · 02-07-2009, 11:47 AM

I agree, they both sucked D%CK in their first HC gig.

**The Bad Guy** · 02-07-2009, 09:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AutumnWind

I agree, they both sucked D%CK in their first HC gig.

Well, I might be more inclined to trust your judgement because as a Raider fan you know all about first-time HC's sucking on the big meat pole.

Ebolapox · 02-07-2009, 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AutumnWind

I agree, they both sucked D%CK in their first HC gig.

hold up... you have a time machine and didn't tell us? ****er.

Hog's Gone Fishin · 02-07-2009, 11:28 PM

They both eat through their mouths and shit from their butts.

Eerie!

Frankie · 02-08-2009, 01:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oaklandhater

If he win's I dont care.

I do. Winming with cheating is like eating barf and bragging to everyone else that you had warm food and they didn't.

02-07-2009, 07:53 AM
FringeNC MVP Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: NC Casino cash: $-1783986	Posnanski: Haley, Belichick share similarities Haley, Belichick share similarities By JOE POSNANSKI The Kansas City Star The similarities are eerie. They are both sons of football men. That’s obvious enough. But it goes much deeper than that. They are both sons of real football men, hard-nosed football scouts, the kind who loved to study film and break down the game and search for secrets in the rewind. There aren’t many of those men around. They both traveled with their fathers on college scouting trips. They both grew up around great football players. They both started breaking down game film when they were young boys. “Other kids had their hobbies,” wrote David Halberstam in his book TheEducation of a Coach. “Some collected postage stamps and others had baseball cards. But Bill studied film.” Dick Haley said: “Todd loved looking at film when he was, I don’t know, 11 or 12. And he was good at it right away.” They both played other sports more than football. Bill played lacrosse. Todd played golf. They both got into pro football on the bottom floor, in jobs that required getting coffee for the coaches and driving them to work. They both worked nonstop. They both learned a whole lot about football from Bill Parcells, the two-time Super Bowl champion coach. Bill was Parcells’ defensive coordinator, and the two clashed and synchronized and won. Parcells gave Todd his first coaching job, though it came with a warning. “You’re crazy,” Parcells told Todd. The pay was less than half of what Todd was making as a scout. But Todd wanted to coach that much. They both became coordinators for Super Bowl teams. So, of course, you know the two men are New England guru Bill Belichick and Todd Haley, hired on Friday to be the new coach of the Chiefs. And that adds one more eerie similarity to the equation. Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli, who made his reputation working with Belichick in New England, is the guy who hired Haley. “You know, they do have similar backgrounds,” Pioli says in a somewhat surprised tone, as if he had never really thought of it. And it’s probable that he never thought it quite that way, never had really gone down the line, point by point, and noticed that the man he hired was, in fact, a perfect eHarmony match for the man he had worked with. Even so, it was no coincidence. Maybe Scott Pioli wasn’t looking for another Bill Belichick — he knows, better than anyone, that there is no other Bill Belichick. Thing is, Pioli was not opposed to finding someone with some Belichick in him. “It doesn’t hurt,” Pioli says. “They do have a lot in common in their background. They have a few differences, too.” And that is true also. Haley does not appear to be as determined a football hermit as Belichick (though Haley admitted that he did have to be reminded, several times before his Friday news conference, to smile some). Haley seems as if he’s probably a better dresser. Haley thinks offense first, while Belichick thinks defense first. And so on. But there is no question that Pioli is trying hard to rebuild the Chiefs, as best he can, in the New England Patriots’ image. And Haley fits. He’s a dedicated film watcher who gets real enjoyment out of breaking down opponents’ weaknesses. He’s a former scout who has a good feel for what makes good and great football players (his father Dick Haley was, of course, a legendary scout for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1970s). He’s a guy who loves just talking about football and philosophies, which should make for some fun and loud late-night conversations with Pioli. And he’s a guy who brings a lot of passion and emotion to the job. Of course, every coach wants to win. But Haley figures to show it a little more than some. He had that rather famous shout-out with Arizona’s Anquan Boldin. He had a less famous clash with Terrell Owens (less famous because … everyone has had a clash with Terrell Owens). He admits that his dreams of being a professional golfer — he was on the Florida golf team with PGA veterans Chris DiMarco and Dudley Hart — were pretty much destroyed because of his football temperament. “It killed me,” he says. Will the Pioli-Haley combination work? It’s all guesswork, of course. The NFL — pro sports in general — is just not that easy to predict. Many promising coaches end up flopping … heck, Bill Belichick got fired in Cleveland before succeeding in New England. Many brilliant young general managers struggle to put their team together. A lot has to go right for a football team to become a winner. It helps to draft a quarterback like Tom Brady in the sixth round or find a linebacker like James Harrison as a free agent or something like that. There are so many variables. But there certainly was a winning vibe Friday at Arrowhead. It sure looks good now. You have two very bright, high-energy guys who have had a lot of success and who think about the game in pretty much the same way. Will it work? Why not? It worked already in New England.
Posts: 10,234

02-07-2009, 07:58 AM	#2
Gonzo Stuff & Things Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: The Yukon Casino cash: $10126924	This doesn't mean Haley's a cheat too does it? Posted via Mobile Device
Posts: 21,498

02-07-2009, 08:58 AM	#4
Coogs In Search of a Life Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Northern Kansas Casino cash: $-2275651	And New England already had the 1st pick of the 1st round in 1993 playing QB when they took Brady in the 6th. Not quite the sane scenario here.
Posts: 21,910

02-07-2009, 09:20 AM	#5
Deberg_1990 In Search of a Life Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: San Antonio Tx. Casino cash: $94454	Just watching his press conference, their personalities seem kind of similiar. Dry, slow, methodical. Rather boring actually. Who cares as long as he wins. __________________ Originally Posted by Cassel's Reckoning: Matt once made a very nice play in Seattle where he spun away from a pass rusher and hit Bowe off his back foot for a first down. One of the best plays Matt has ever made.
Posts: 68,678

02-07-2009, 09:30 AM	#6
The Bad Guy Scott Pioli Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: The Copacobana Casino cash: $9283645	They also both wear NFL Equipment sweatshirts on the sidelines with tan khakis. __________________
Posts: 23,216

02-07-2009, 09:44 AM	#7
patriotsfan Rookie Join Date: Feb 2009 Casino cash: $10004900	silly- Every team in the NFL cheats, or at least tries, and I use that term loosely. Every player on defense tries to hear or read what the offense is calling. Every player on offense tries to decipher the pass rush from coverage. Sharp kids in pop warner, who can read and remember formations need only look to the sidelines and match the hand signals and they can look like mind readers all day. Its simple, anything a team puts out on the field on any given Sunday is up for grabs, for scouting, evaluation, and decoding. OOH Belichick taped it! What a cheater. There is no rule to having a staff member with a pair of high powered binoculars, a pad and a pen, sitting somewhere in the stadium doing the same thing manually. Its like saying, If your wife gets caught on tape screwing around on you she is a cheater. But if your wife screws around and it gets back to you word of mouth, its completely acceptable. Bullshit double standard. The only solution was the mic'ing of defensive players, you can thank the Patriots for that rule change. Our "cheating" has ultimately made he NFL a little more fair. You guys are damn lucky to have Scott Pioli. Last edited by patriotsfan; 02-07-2009 at 09:50 AM..
Posts: 12

02-07-2009, 11:47 AM	#11
OctoberFart Banned Join Date: Nov 2006 Casino cash: $10006091	I agree, they both sucked D%CK in their first HC gig.
Posts: 2,583

02-07-2009, 11:28 PM	#14
Hog's Gone Fishin Fish are scared of me Join Date: Nov 2001 Casino cash: $-1539523	They both eat through their mouths and shit from their butts. Eerie!
Posts: 40,649