The No. 1 requirement for coaching the Broncos is tougher than wrestling a bear.
Itap keeping happy. And that ain’t easy.
So let this be a warning to Kyle Shanahan, Vance Joseph and whoever else interviews for one of the toughest coaching gigs in sports. Denver is among the few places in the United States where a championship football team is considered a birthright.
The coach that takes this job has to understand apountry will love Elway and the local NFL team forever but loves its coach only if he’s hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. While maximizing the potential of young quarterbacks and will undoubtedly be a big deal to the next coach in Denver, it will be no more crucial than embracing the culture of pro football here.
“The coach has to understand what this team means to this community, what this team means to its fans,” team president Joe Ellis said. “This market has a special relationship with the Broncos. And our organization feeds off that relationship. It feeds this culture, with all its expectations of winning and doing things the right way. Thatap something the next head coach should understand.”
There’s no mistaking who’s the boss around here. Itap Elway. He’s tough on coaches, and has been ever since he ran Dan Reeves out of town.
Less than a year after taking the Broncos to XLVIII, John Fox was shown the door by Elway. In the year after winning Super Bowl 50, couldn’t sleep, made himself sick and told his longtime friend on Christmas Eve that he could no longer do the job.
Calling Elway a coach killer would be going too far. But, in apountry, Elway is 50 feet tall and made of Teflon. If the offensive line stinks or bolts town for Houston, rather than blame sticking to Elway, all the grief rolls downhill and lands squarely on the coach’s shoulders.
“This is a great place to work, but the expectations are high,” Elway said as he waved a fond farewell to a tearful Kubiak. “Those expectations have been set by Mr. (Pat) Bowlen a long time ago. Everybody that comes here, whether itap a coach or a player, understands the standard is to be able to compete for world championships. Does it add a little more (pressure)? Sure it does.”
Remember when Josh McDaniels strutted into Denver, arrogantly believing he was going to teach us all the Patriots Way? What a knucklehead. He was doomed to fail from his first step on the practice field at Dove Valley.
Shanahan grew up in apountry, the son of our beloved mastermind, Mike. As a quarterback and defensive back at Colorado from 1990-94, Joseph got his advanced football education in apountry. Itap no accident these two guys are on Elway’s shortlist of coaching candidates. They don’t require a seminar to explain what apountry is all about.
There was a telling little moment during Kubiak’s farewell, when he got ready to thank the fans. But before Kubiak did, he paused, turned to vice president of public relations Patrick Smyth and made certain he addressed those adoring fans properly. “Is it apountry or Nation?” asked Kubiak, well aware that getting it wrong is considered sinful.
You don’t mess with apountry. Before a coach walks the NFL sideline wearing orange, he had better know the lay of the land.
Elway is the king of apountry.
Every day, in every way, the next coach in Denver must obey Rule No. 1 of apountry:
Keep Elway happy, or you won’t be around here for long.
