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On Monday, this topic was broached . . .
with Adam Gase at his introductory press conference. First-off, I will give you the question and the answer and then I will proceed:
Rich Cimini – ESPN.com: In Miami, you had control of the 53-man roster, which you won’t have here. Why would agree to the set up the way it is here, and how might that impact your coaching?
Gase: I was good. I don’t even think I asked. That was not something I was really interested in. This is just kind of how it worked out in Miami. That was something that was really offered up and this is the way we should go. I knew coming in here it was going to be a team effort.
My part is to coach the team and do what I can to help bring in good players and when my opinion is asked, give my opinion. That is what you are looking for, that kind of collaboration.
Okay, so what is my issue with Gase’s answer here.
I just don’t buy that in Miami the coach having final say on personnel was just something that happened to happen. I think he wanted it, and was a hot candidate at the time, and had the juice to get it.
Why would Mike Tannenbaum, who headed up the Miami Dolphins’ personnel department at the time, just want to give away personnel control, if the coach didn’t demand it to get him to sign on the dotted line?
That makes zero sense to me.
Look, this was a good question by Cimini, and a tough one for the coach to answer.
Gase tried to spin this the best he could, but I’m not totally buying what he’s selling.
When Gase said, “I was good. I don’t even think I asked. That was not something I was really interested in.”
I think it “interested” him, but he knew, entering talks with the Jets, that the team’s corporate structure wasn’t going to allow him to have final say on the roster.
Christopher, like his brother Woody before him, believes in having the team president, GM and coach all on equal footing and all reporting to the owner. With this set-up, the GM handles the 53-man roster and the coach decides on the depth chart and who plays.
Whether we think this set-up is ideal is irrelevant. The family that owns the team believes in it and refuse to change it.
So if you want a job, and just got fired from another one, why would you demand something from a potential suitor they aren’t going to give you.
That would be foolish.
So Gase arrived in Florham Park with eyes wide open. He wanted the Jets’ job, and he wasn’t going to get final say on the roster, so why fight a battle you can’t win?
But I don’t buy for one second that he just happen to get final say in Miami and it wasn’t a big deal to him.
He was coming off a great run in Denver with Peyton Manning, and was a hot HC candidate so he wanted final say and got it.
That wasn’t going to happen in Florham Park, and he knew it.
January 16, 2019
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