Shane,
First of all I apologize for my over=reaction to your comment.
I guess maybe that was just a result of being a little gun-shy from all the attacks from some of the "dark side" gang.
If you check the "Will the Cards step up" thread, there are back to back posts between Cardiac and myself that I think sum up my feelings and enumerate some of my "research" results.
Basically the more I studied and learned about Dennis Green, it becomes evident to me that he is first and foremost, a political animal whose ego needs to be fed.
He is a great talker. Seems to always have been.
The problem is:
1. ) History has shown he is not a good disciplinarian at all.
2,) His historical record reveals that he does delegate authority very well, as far as the day to day, on the field coaching responsibilities. The problem always seems to be though, if things are going good, he has to have the limelight and get the credit for the success...kind of like John Gruden has been accused of by some. If he doesn't get what he feels is his share of the credit (which is usually nearly all of it), then he will typically create a scene and find a way to eliminate the imagined usurper.
If things don't go well, his historical reaction is to deny responsibility or culpability and find a scapegoat to deflect the criticism too. He can be the classic "smile in your face, but undermine you or stab you in the back the minute you turn away."
I spent a lot of time tracing his history back. If one closely looks, I think you will see that even though he a disciple of Bill Walsh, he is not quite as tight in the "fraternity" of most of the other major ones. Namely George Siefert, Mike Holmgren, Ray Rhodes, Sherman Lewis, (edited to add: Andy Reid),and a few others. Take a look at my "coaching connections, part 2,...year 1999 and observe closely, the shuffle in head coaches and staff that year between Philly, Green Bay, and Seattle, and all the "Walsh disciples" involved.
He does not have a history of developing assistant coaches at all.
In fact, he has always had trouble maintaining much extended loyalty from any.
Probably his most successful disciple would be Brian Billick. There is only 1 asst coach of his that ever stayed with him for an extended period of time...that being Richard Solomon. And if you check back, One of the things that contributed to Red McCombs (Vikings Owner) chasing him when he did was Green's reluctance to fire Solomon as McCombs requested.
When Green was "let go" the whole situation there had degenerated to a total mess. He would hire some experienced coaches, but seldom did they stay in Minnesota long. He has one of the highest turnover ratio's in staff I've ever seen. He was constantly shuffling and hiring "little known" names on and off the staff, many never seem or heard from again, other than their short 1 or 2 year stint with him.
Examination shows that often (not always) you would see coaches making "horizontal" moves to other teams (horizontal meaning...going somewhere else in the same position) or sometimes even "stepping down a notch". Like I said Brian Billick is the one seemingly major exception. He is quick to take credit for Tony Dungy, but Dungy only spent 4 years under Green before going to Tampa Bay. Dungy was tutored intitially by primarily Marty Schottenheimer, and Chuck Noll, to some degree.
He was already a "hot item" when Green hired him away from under Marty.
I think Foge Fazio probably exemplified the where things really were when he, along with 5 other coaches left in 2000. Fagio had been DC for 4 years (after being hired to replace Dungy). Fazio is a well respected, stand-up veteran coach.
He resigned saying things had pretty much deteriorated beyond repair in Minnesota, due primarily to lack of long term continuity and proper planning, AND mismanagement of "cap" allocations/spending.
The word out of Minnesota when Green finally got the axe from McCombs was that he (Green) was going to fire his OC and DC, Sherman Lewis, and Emmitt Thomas, whom were both highly respected coaches whom he had hired to counter the exodus that occured the year before.
As usual Green was ready to make them the scapegoats for what was going on. He refused to accept any responsibility for it.
