What is at the core of this argument has nothing to do with impatience and everything to do with timing and perception.
I will always go back to the Kurt Warner debacle because in essence it manifests how poorly the Cardinals treated the most important and pivotal decision they had to make in the last 10 years.
You can say---yeah, but they signed him---but---how different would things have been if they had made the commitment to Warner quickly and emphatically, rather than to have had Warner and everyone else twisting in the wind. I maintain that it would have made a world of difference because Warner would have felt duly appreciated by the organization---and he wouldn't have had to go through the season with a bad taste in his mouth.
With Warner it wasn't so much about the money---it was about the recognition and the commitment.
Remember that to that point, Warner hadn't even gone into one of the last few season as the named starter.
Remember too that Warner and his agent tried to get a new deal done the previous off-season and the Cardinals were not interested in doing so. The Cardinals still believed that Matt Leinart was the man, not Warner...even after Warner had lit up the scoreboard in ways the Cardinals hadn't seen in ages....with one arm, no less.
What we had in Warner was special---not the type of thing you want to flirt with.
We now have the same in Ray Horton---what he has done with the once pathetic and hapless Cardinal defense is special.
The vibe surrounding the defense is now special---and should not be flirted with.
I am not sure if you have considered this, but there's a chance that if the Cardinals want to hire McCoy or some other OC candidate that he would insist on hiring his own people and his own staff.
It actually is smart for a new head coach to think that way---
I accepted a head coaching position once where I was told that the incumbent DC would be retained---and the DC had been one of the finalists for the HC job.
That was a huge mistake on my part---the DC, feeling spurned by the school and the AD for not getting the HC job did all he could to divide the team and to question every decision I made. He even went to all kinds of parents to lobby for their support.
Now---we would assume that Ray Horton is professional enough not to do something like that---but---let's be real---he will be bitterly disappointed if he does not get the job---and he will feel indignant about it, seeing as he has the players' trust and he's been slugging it out with them in the trenches while the newbie HC was coaching somewhere else.
We are talking about human nature here.
Then---we are talking about player allegiances---many of Horton's players will be siding up with him on this...especially if the new HC doesn't command their respect the way Horton does.
The Cardinals could become more divided as a team than ever---
Again it is only human nature---it's called having someone's back.
Lastly---you may not have finished reading my post because I proposed that the Cardinals hire Horton and then engage in a full-scale OC search that they can conduct as a team (Keim. Licht and Horton).
I did not think Horton's choices (if MJ was accurate) were the best he or the Cardinals could do.
But at this point I do think that Ray Horton is the best candidate for the HC position. He brings special to the table---and I believe he would galvanize all the players on the team, offense and defense---which is exactly what we need.
Waiting and losing out on McCoy would, imo, be a mistake---timing wise, because Horton then would appear to be what he appears to be right now: a fall-back option.
That doesn't work for holding onto "special."
Special needs to be treated as such.
