Quote:I voted for Mularkey, because it was the one move on that list that was a glaringly obvious fail the second it was announced. Alualu was a head-scratcher, but the draft is full of those and Mayock loved Alualu to the point that I was willing to give him a shot. I hate the Anger pick, did then and always will, but I didn't have a set "instead of" player in mind. There's no way Gene was going to draft a QB that high, as much as most of the scouting world loved Russell Wilson. Honestly, if it wasn't Anger, Gene probably would have drafted Brandon Marshall based on "info" that suggested Marshall wouldn't be there in the fifth round.

 

As has been pointed out, though, had Gene hired a guy who could coach his way out of a paper bag, there's an outside chance that he'd still be climbin' in our windows, snatchin' our draft picks up and trying to waste 'em. Bearing that in mind, I'll gladly tolerate the year of Mularkey in exchange for the current leadership structure. Speaking of the Gene-ius, did he ever land an NFL gig, or did he spend a Thursday in May shouting at his TV because the Jaguars took Blake Bortles while Tom Savage was still on the board?

 

You just described in the second paragraph why it wasn't a big deal.  Also, if I'm not mistaking, not only were there not a lot of stand out head coaching candidates at the time (nobody seemed to have a clue who it was going to be), but it's possible the top coaching candidates didn't want to coach under that situation anyway.  

 

I have a feeling Gene Smith isn't in football right now by choice.    Not saying people are banging at his door, but I don't think he's in any hurry to get back.  

 

I really like Gene Smith.  And still today I like the conviction in his decision making.  People always use the term "the smartest man in the room", but I admired that he made all the unpopular decisions despite all the criticism.  It ultimately didn't work, but I still respect him for that.  

---