Josh McDaniels was the new head coach of Indianapolis Colts – for a few hours. Shortly after the team had reached an agreement with the offensive coordinator of the New England Patriots after weeks of talks, he backed down. It’s nothing but unprofessional from him and the patriots. At the same time, it points to the future of Bill Belichick. A commentary by SPOX editor Adrian Franke.
Unprofessional. That was the first thought that crossed my mind when the McDaniels rejection of Indianapolis was official. On Wednesday he should have been introduced as the new head coach, the Colts had officially announced a few hours before that they had reached an agreement with McDaniels. He had even made telephone calls with potential assistants and offered jobs in his colts trainer’s staff before leaving Indy with this pile of shards.
Teams looking for a head coach who want to hire the co-ordinator of a Super Bowl team are in a difficult position anyway: The contract may only be signed after the Super Bowl, the whole process, including the coaching staff and internal communication and work, is slowed down considerably in comparison to the other teams looking for a coach. This opens the door to the disaster now facing Indianapolis: as the last team without head coach, starting from scratch.
Not that the Colts McDaniels wanted to be head coach with the current knowledge. But this fact makes McDaniel’s behaviour and patriots’ actions no less unprofessional.
Over several weeks – according to the corresponding reports – New England had ignored the situation around McDaniels said internally to say the least. The team knew that McDaniels was negotiating with the Colts and everyone knew how these discussions continued to progress. And everyone knew what qualities McDaniels brings and what you have in him. Nothing has changed here.
Nevertheless, the Pats did not do anything at all. Until after the Super Bowl, when team owner Robert Kraft and presumably Bill Belichick himself sought to talk to McDaniels. Within the last 48 hours they convinced McDaniels to stay in New England.
The timing and approach of the patriots is completely incomprehensible and, I repeat, unprofessional. If you want to hold McDaniels, you didn’t get this insight after the Super Bowl.
So why not seek the conversation early? Why shouldn’t McDaniels at least signal earlier on that they would like to have it – and thus possibly prevent his agreement with the Colts? It is impossible to avoid noticing the old rivalry between Kraft’s patriots and the colts in the back of the head, which gives a distinct aftertaste.
And of course it’s also unprofessional by McDaniels himself. If his choice of Indianapolis was so shaky on his feet, why would he make it? McDaniels in particular should have learnt from his debacle as head coach of the Broncos – where he showed enormous interpersonal deficits in dealing with his players and assistant coaches, among other things – how important it is that the situation for him as coach also fits exactly.
At the same time, his rejection, especially in combination with his head coach’s previous history, gives a deep insight. McDaniels must be aware that after this action he is now at least a red scarf for some of the head coach search franchises and will be completely removed from their list.
Especially in the case of head coaches, teams are particularly focused on character and interpersonal qualities, and the best Scheme architect does not necessarily have to be the best head coach. People management in combination with stability is one of the most important job requirements and precisely the qualities that McDaniels was most in doubt after the Broncos-Intermezzo. These question marks will now multiply many times over. It’s a step that will close many doors to him in the NFL.
And this leads to the conclusion that the patriots have made his contract financially attractive, no question about it. But that can never have been the only reason why McDaniels suddenly wants to stay, putting himself and his reputation in the line of fire and leaving a chance to head coach with a franchise quarterback in Andrew Luck’s position. In Indianapolis, he probably wouldn’t have gnawed at the scarf. That would not only be incredibly short-term thought, it would simply be stupid.
There must be more behind it here – and what could this “more” be? Although there seems to be no written guarantee, if you look at it logically, the Belichick perspective heritage must play a role. The difference is that this late 180-degree spin and the fact that McDaniels is putting his future job prospects at risk across the league, at least not to explain them logically after the conversation with Kraft.
If so, his decision would still be highly selfish, unprofessional and ice-cold. But in this context, it could at least be explained from McDaniels’ perspective.
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