9602060944
DETROIT FREE PRESS
961205
Thursday, December 05, 1996
METRO FINAL
1G
MITCH ALBOM
Copyright (c) 1996, Detroit Free Press
COACH NEEDS SUPER RESUME
First of all, Wayne Fontes is still the coach of the Lions. I don't fire
him. You don't fire him. All the pundits on radio and TV don't fire him. That
task is for someone named Ford, and if you go by the history of that name and
this team, well, there's no telling what might happen.
But just as we do our Christmas shopping early for a holiday that is still
weeks off, perhaps the Fords already are thinking about a new man for the
job, even though the current coach has three games left to endure, er, play.
And if they are thinking about it -- and it seems that everyone else in
this city is -- then I would like to offer some advice. My advice is short
and sweet. In fact, I can sum it up in three words:
Super Bowl Experience.
If the next guy doesn't have that, they are wasting their money. They
might as well keep Wayne, and that's a pretty sad statement. The fact is, this
team has the personnel right now -- assuming it can shore up the defense in
the off-season -- to contend for a championship. And if the Lions hire some
guy who needs two seasons just to get his ducks in a row, well, they are being
dumber than Wayne ever was.
Now, let us give this to Fontes: He turned the Lions into a team that
expects to win. It was not so long ago, remember, that the men who wore the
silver-and-blue felt privileged to finish 8-8. Today it's a bitter
disappointment. That's good.
But Fontes has never known how to do more than that. His playoff
performances have been mostly abysmal. And you know what? Every time he has
been sent home for the season, it was by a coach who had -- here go those
words again -- Super Bowl Experience. Joe Gibbs with the Redskins. Mike
Holmgren, Green Bay. Ray Rhodes, Philadelphia.
Some of these men had not been head coaches as long as Fontes; but they had
better pedigrees.
It's time the Lions hired a pedigree, too.
Look at Denver, Washington
Don't take my word for it. Look around. The teams that are coming on now
in the NFL are led by men who have been to Super Bowls, or have coached under
men who won Super Bowls. Mike Shanahan -- who once ran the offense with the
49ers -- is now steering the mighty ship in Denver. Norv Turner -- who once
told Troy Aikman what to do in Dallas -- is now running the success story in
Washington. Rhodes and Holmgren -- who used to be with San Francisco? Super
Bowl. Bill Parcells in New England? Super Bowl.
It's the little things these guys know that Fontes does not -- including
how to judge championship talent, and how to find playmakers. How could Fontes
know these things? Wayne cut his teeth with Tampa Bay, a perennial loser, and
he assisted here under Darryl Rogers, another perennial loser. When he took
over this team, he had been to four NFL playoff games in his career -- and
three of them were losses.
Is there any wonder he has hired and fired more assistants than Roseanne?
Or that the most common complaint from the Lions players this year is that the
team is "confused"?
Here is the most important fact staring down the Ford family: The Lions
roster contains major talent, which is committed here for a brief time. Barry
Sanders has one more year on his contract. Henry Thomas has one more year.
Herman Moore has three. Scott Mitchell and Brett Perriman are up this month.
Maybe they sign back -- but not for more than a few years.
All of which means a new coach here must produce immediately. No five-year
plans. No complete overhauls. No "give us time to adjust to a new system." The
Lions do that, they might as well climb to the top of the Silverdome and throw
themselves off.
So please, let's not hear about some college coach who wants to make his
mark in the pros. It's OK to be impressed with the Gary Barnetts of the world;
but be impressed with what they did in college. When it comes to the NFL, I
say show me what you've done.
The Lions need to approach a new coach they way they would approach a star
free agent. Big money. Short deal. They should not be looking to hire a
leader for the next two decades. That's not how sports work today. The Lions
need a coach for the current situation, and the current situation requires
someone who can take out a map and give you directions to a championship.
Super Bowl Experience.
I did say that already, didn't I?
Look to the past
Yes, there are exceptions to this rule, such as Bill Cowher in Pittsburgh.
And if I trusted the Lions brass to find the next Bill Cowher, I would revise
my suggestion. But this is a team that hired Fontes, Rogers, Monte Clark, Rick
Forzano and Tommy Hudspeth. Sorry. But we've earned the right to doubt their
scouting.
And please, please, Mr. Ford, let's not promote someone simply because he's
here or will work cheap. You did that with Fontes. Need we say more?
Right now the league is being led by guys who came out of the Bill Walsh
or Jimmy Johnson school; many of these men were hired after Fontes, yet have
passed him in accomplishments. It's no secret. They have a better clue.
The Lions need to get one as well.
Super Bowl Experience.
I'm not being too subtle here, am I?
Got a comment on Mitch's column? Share it on our Lions and Mitch Albom
forums on the Web at www.freep.com.
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