It’s been fun to sit back the last couple of days and watch the pursuit of hot coaching candidate Jeff Fisher. Virtually every NFL pundit between New York and California has installed the Rams as favorites to land Fisher.
Team Fisher surely is aware of this.
Wednesday we were treated to some new twists that established leverage for Fisher. A story on Yahoo Sports, written by Fisher confidante Mike Silver, reset the odds. Silver, a good reporter, opined that the Miami Dolphins have the ”upper hand” in the competition for Fisher.
The story even included a line about how Fisher wasn’t necessarily sold on the Rams’ Sam Bradford as a franchise quarterback. This dollop of speculation undoubtedly elevated the Bradford haters into a full state of arousal. Later Wednesday, Silver clarified Fisher’s position on Bradford, going on Twitter to say that the coach likes Bradford — but ”doesn’t love him.”
Yahoo Sports disclosed that Fisher left Miami with a positive impression after his formal interview with Dolphins executives. According to Silver, Fisher will meet with Rams owner Stan Kroenke on Thursday in Denver. The pressure is on Kroenke to turn back the Dolphins and win the expensive skirmish over Fisher.
Another story, in the Miami Herald, stressed that Dolphins owner Steve Ross was so determined to secure Fisher, he’d top any financial offer made to the coach. Is Ross challenging Kroenke, his fellow billionaire, to throw down?
The coach must love this high-stakes standoff between two of the nation’s wealthiest men.
Ross is known for his grand gestures and dramatic displays. A year ago the same headlines were written to describe the Dolphins’ aggressive pitch to Stanford head coach Jim Harbaugh. But Harbaugh waved Ross off and chose the the San Francisco 49ers over the Dolphins. That makes Ross even more desperate to win the bidding on Fisher. And that obviously works to Fisher’s advantage.
Through his media strategy Fisher is sending an obvious message to Kroenke: take nothing for granted. If you want me to be the Rams’ coach, be prepared to go all in.
Fisher would be a good choice for the Rams. Kroenke prefers a confident and experienced coach, much like he has in two of his personal favorites: George Karl and Arsene Wenger. Karl is the coach of Kroenke’s NBA Denver Nuggets. Wenger is the acclaimed manager of Kroenke’s Arsenal soccer club in the English Premier League.
Fisher is an established leader and the star of the available coaches. Some in St. Louis are busy nitpicking his overall record (142-120) with the Tennessee Titans. I find that hilarious given that the Rams have had four winning seasons since 1990, and are 15-65 since 2007. And Fisher isn’t worthy of the Rams’ job? Please.
”It would be a major coup for the Rams to land Jeff Fisher,” said Dan Dierdorf, the Pro Football Hall of Famer, who has extensive experience in covering Fisher through his work as an analyst for AFC games on CBS. ”As down as the Rams’ franchise has been, getting Jeff Fisher would make it clear that the Rams are serious about winning.”
It helps to look under the surface numbers to see the quality of Fisher’s work.
No. 1, Fisher worked for one of the league’s worst (and cheapest) owners in Bud Adams. Ol’ Bud didn’t hesitate to meddle, forcing the Titans to draft quarterback Vince Young over Fisher’s objections.
No. 2, in his first four full seasons as the coach of the Oilers-Titans, Fisher’s teams played ”home games” in four stadiums, in three cities, in two states. The Houston Astrodome in 1996, Liberty Bowl in Memphis in 1997, the Vanderbilt University stadium in Nashville in 1998, and the new stadium in Nashville in 1999. The Titans remained competitive. Fisher calmly coached through the chaos.
No. 3, the Titans were fifth in the NFL in victories over a 10-season period (1999-2008) after finally getting settled in their new Nashville home. Only Indianapolis, New England, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia won more games.
No. 4, Fisher rebuilt the Titans on the fly after core-nucleus veterans were cleared out during a salary-cap purge. After retooling during two losing seasons (2004-2005), the Titans improved to .500 in 2006 and made the playoffs in ‘07 and ‘08.
No. 5, over Fisher’s 16 full seasons, his Oilers-Titans had the NFL’s seventh-best winning percentage. They were sixth in rushing and fourth in stopping the run. They were fourth in sacks and third in preventing sacks. They had league’s 10th-best touchdown/interception ratio.
Fisher had five 8-8 seasons. But three came when the Titans were in their transient phase before 1999. Another 8-8 came during the rebuilding process (2006.) The fifth 8-8 mark occurred in Fisher’s next-to-last season, 2009.
”Tell me how many times Fisher had the most talented roster,” Dierdorf said. ”The answer: he didn’t. What people may fail to realize is that some of those teams should have gone 5-11 or 6-10. Fisher coached his tail off just to get them to 8-8.”
You don’t last 16 seasons in one place unless you’re good. Such longevity is rare in the modern NFL. Fisher’s teams had an identity. The Titans were physical, edgy and nasty. And never easy to beat. Fisher maintained a consistent approach for a long time. The Rams have been anything but stable and could use Fisher’s firm leadership.
I don’t know if the Rams will get Fisher.
Can Kroenke close the deal?
We’ll soon find out. Maybe Fisher will be reluctant to sign on with a chronic losing franchise that chews up coaches. Maybe Dallas owner Jerry Jones will have a late change of heart, fire Jason Garrett, and bring in Fisher. Maybe Indianapolis will get involved. Perhaps Fisher will prefer Miami. There’s even some wild speculation out in the NFL media village that has Fisher waiting to see if the Chicago Bears will fire Lovie Smith to open Fisher’s ”dream job.”
Who knows?
If he comes to St. Louis, Fisher will have a direct line to Kroenke. He will be given full run of Rams Park by Kroenke. Stan is no Bud Adams; he will let the coach do his thing. If he comes to St. Louis, Fisher will play a lead role in selecting a GM. He wouldn’t get that in Miami, which is plagued by front-office dysfunction.
In St. Louis, Fisher would have a built-in ally in Rams chief operating officer Kevin Demoff. He’s the son of Fisher’s agent, Marvin Demoff. Which sets up another potential subplot: the father trying to create leverage to be used in negotiations with his son, and Kroenke. This is unusual. But if Fisher signs on with the Rams, he won’t have to worry about front-office sabotage. It’s a nice setup for a coach.
What if the Rams lose out on Fisher? Yikes. For starters Kroenke will face criticism for letting the top candidate slip away. If it happens I’ll have a column ready to go. I’ll ask this of Kroenke: you want St. Louis to step up and invest a fortune on improvements to The Edward Jones Dome, but you won’t buck up for a top coach? Kroenke also needs Fisher for public-relations value.
If Fisher rejects them, the Rams would have to come up with another plan. They could hire a GM first, then dive back into the coaching pool. The Rams already are setting up interviews with GM contenders; it’s a smart move. Be aggressive and have a backup plan ready.
The Rams could surprise and hire a college coach. They could take their chances on a coordinator and give him his first head-coaching job. The Rams tried that with Scott Linehan and Steve Spagnuolo and struck out. But nine of the 12 men that made the playoffs this season are first-time head coaches.
The Rams are also trying to work the game by whispering that Fisher isn’t the only fish in this pond, and that they’re excited over other prospective candidates. I don’t think anyone is buying that as long as Fisher remains on the free-agent market.
Fisher is a safe and solid commodity. ”Plan B” would be a venture into the unknown, a frightening place the Rams have visited many times before. And that’s scary. So we’ll see if Fisher can leverage the Rams into getting everything he wants. This contest is probably down to St. Louis and Miami and a battle of the billionaire owners.
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