Orlando, Fla. – Winning the Super Bowl makes a coach shine at the NFL meetings.
Bill Cowher gets it. His peers view him differently. He can sense it, feel it.
“It is amazing how one game changes everything,” Cowher said, still floating from Pittsburgh’s XL championship. “I don’t know if I agree with it. But I’m sure enjoying it.”
Marvin Lewis, Cincinnati’s coach, said he has already begun lecturing his team on a hardened principle: “We have made strides. Getting to the playoffs was big. But the No. 1 thing entering next season for us is to remember that you don’t get to start where you left off.”
Unfortunate for playoff teams. Indispensable for downtrodden ones.
Ten teams present new head coaches. None made the playoffs. Only two (Minnesota and Kansas City) earned winning records.
Of the 10, five each are in the AFC and NFC. Seven are first-
time head coaches. Two of the three previous head coaches – Art Shell in Oakland and Herman Edwards in Kansas City – now reside in the Broncos’ den, the AFC West.
The Shell-back-to-Oakland story is one heck of a spin. He was asked if there has ever been a Raider who left and worked at rival Kansas City, among other stops, and returned to the Raiders.
“I think you’re right, no,” Shell said, perfectly amused. “One thing we will focus on is getting our guys to be professional football players in every way.”
Edwards left the Jets, joined the Chiefs and quickly named running back Larry Johnson the starter, squashing the tug and pull between Johnson and Priest Holmes.
“There is no question that since I came in as a new guy, I could do it that way,” Edwards said. “It is hard on a veteran guy like Priest. But it’s clear – it’s Larry’s turn. He is the future for this football team. We have to go in that direction. I know the AFC West. I got my start in coaching in the division with the Chiefs. I know the exciting football played in the division. I know what Denver has done in it. It will be competitive. And fun.”
Here is what San Diego coach Marty Schottenheimer advises all 10 coaches: “Tell the players what you know. Never start with, ‘I think …”‘
None of the new coaches enters with a task as scary as Sean Payton’s. None has to help rebuild a city as well as a team.
In New Orleans, Payton has found businesses flourishing on one block and buildings boarded on the adjacent one. He and his coaching staff are living at a New Orleans airport hotel. His family will not move from Dallas to New Orleans until June.
Hurricane Katrina initially left New Orleans destroyed and helped put the Saints in shambles during a miserable 3-13 season.
Payton, 42, a first-time head coach and in New Orleans after a three-year stint as a Cowboys assistant coach, interviewed with Green Bay before choosing the Saints. This is not what most would consider a dream job. But Payton dreams big, anyway.
“This challenge presents its own set of unique circumstances,” Payton said. “There are strong football ties in the community and region to the Saints. I certainly want to be a part of restoring the city. History shows that people gravitate to their sports teams. The most important thing you can do as a coach to leave a mark is win games. That’s not the finish to restoring New Orleans, but it would be part of a great start.”
Last season, the Saints traipsed near and far from New Orleans for their home games. They even played a “home” game at Giants Stadium. But this season, all eight Saints home games will be in the Louisiana Superdome in downtown New Orleans. For their home preseason games, one will be played in Shreveport, La., and the other in Jackson, Miss., to allow completion for Superdome repairs.
That is a major plus for the Saints. So, too, was the free-agent signing of quarterback Drew Brees from San Diego. A “big touch” is the way Payton describes it.
Payton has early ties to Eastern Illinois University, just like Broncos coach Mike Shanahan. Payton’s pro coaching background, all offense inclined, includes stops with the Eagles (1997-98) and Giants (1999-2002). He found pro football “contagious” and “seductive” from the start and realized that becoming an NFL head coach was his goal.
But how can a coach ever prepare to clear the wreckage of the Saints and New Orleans?
Payton will attempt to do it with flexibility in his offense and persistence in his job. He will find what his players do best and milk that. Just like the city he inherits, it must be done block by block.
“It will be ongoing,” he said. “Ever-changing.”
Staff writer Thomas Georgecan be reached at 303-820-1994 or tgeorge@denverpost.com.
