They all do it. The NFL is as much a good 'ole boys network as the plantation owners of the south. I think its because of trust, they have to trust the guy implicitly and most will choose people they are already familiar with. MM hasn't done the best job on his assistants, but its not that different from all the other super- awesome- smarter- better coaches around the league.

What MM did differently is to give Zook a year to learn the personnel, schemes and organization so he could hit the ground running.

If you're gonna go "crony", this is the way to do it.

My speculation is that previous ST assistant Chad Morton told MM that "Slocum sucked" and MM sent Chad packing- but not without considering that perhaps ...Slocum sucked.

In comes Zook, a trusted friend who confirms Morton's allegations, and then Slocum is summarily dumped.

And let me say this about Zook, coaches, et al, I do think MM believes in bringing in and shaping guys instead of going through the rehash coaches pile.  I personally think that's fantastic and he's the guy to do it in my opinion.  Where he is learning, and hopefully this is the transition period, is when to cut bait or change tactics.  

I'm more intrigued by Simmons than I am with the Zook when it comes to MM's change in roles and involvement in all spheres of the game.  I do think MM has the ability to shape and mentor coaches at this point but the need for flexibility is becoming apparent and the moves this offseason are promising.

Much like Compers, I don't think Compers is a complete idiot.  I think he is a defensive legend whose mind for defenses is second to none but his coaching abilities are poor at this point.  His abilities to shape his assistants and see the game beyond the scheme is limited.  Like many have said, you can have the best plan in the world but if the talent sucks to execute it doesn't amount to beans.  How about adjusting to and getting the most out of what you have?  Was Winston Moss deserving of the Asst HC tag at one point?  Sure, but it's abundantly clear that time has come and gone.  Same thing with Campen, which is why I'm excited about Solari.  The point being that I'm hoping MM, the true HC, tells Dom it's time to mentor and shape the future of the coaching staff so they build a strong unit that can fully implement and execute when MM delegates.  

So as far as Zook and Simmons, he sees a guy with experience in the ranks and a young guy with intellect and organization.   

This is the real unknown, what will MM create and build?  Are we watching the progression to a pantheon of coaching greats or Waterloo?  That's the intrigue and I for one am willing to grant MM that leeway as he's earned it.  

He's a secret Mooslim.

Good stuff Henry

MM took a Defensive guru and let him run with the D while he immersed himself in the offense.

Over time,  I think MM came to the conclusion that its his team and he needs to have his boot up all the asses instead of just hiring a Bobby April-type and leaving it to him to run the show.

Sean Payton had a similar epiphany in Nawlins after letting defensive guru Gregg Williams run roughshod over his team during Bounty-gate. The idea of hiring a Top Gun assistant and then just letting them call the shots seems problematic.

MM gave Campen a trusted no-ego assistant in Solari, he gave Dom some youth & vigor in adding Montgomery.

And you're right, its a razors- edge fulcrum for this staff going forward....

does he have a big booty ?

Excited about Monty and Satanolari joining the staff.   Zook NSM

http://newsok.com/oklahoma-foo...-die/article/5393448

Montgomery, who just finished his second season in Norman, was promoted to co-defensive coordinator in early January. He's developed a reputation as one of the best recruiters on the Sooners' staff, and was responsible for landing several of the best prospects in OU's 2015 signing class.

He also developed former OU defensive tackle Jordan Phillips into a potential first-round NFL Draft pick and helped make other OU defensive lineman much better

Q: How did this opportunity come about? It seems like it all happened pretty fast.

A: Literally, I was with my wife and kids heading to go do some skiing on Thursday after signing day. I got a phone call from Coach (Bob) Stoops. He said, "Somebody's gonna be giving you a call from the Green Bay Packers." I got a call and they asked if I was interested in an opportunity, and I said yes.

They flew me in Sunday after we got back from vacation and I met with them on Monday. I was offered a job on Monday, so I came back and visited with my family and Coach Stoops. It was an amazing opportunity.

in 2011, Bobby April had been with the Eagles for a year, plenty of time to roll out his awesomeness on STs

The eagles ranked # 17, while Slocumsucks crew was at # 8 per football outsiders

In 2012, the eagles STs came in at # 25, while Slocumsucks crew was at 19

You lose twice in your preferred scenario and that's why April moved on

That's also why I implore the fans to dig deeper than the "known names" or  mcginn meme's that are thrown around like skittles on Halloween.

Guhline has never been accused of being smart or a diep thinker

Report: Ex-Packers ST coach gave explicit instructions for onside kick

 

Former Green Bay Packers special teams coordinator Shawn Slocum gave explicit instructions to his players before the pivotal onside kick attempt in the NFC Championship Game, ESPN.com's Rob Demovsky reports. 

 

"If your name isn't Jordy Nelson or Micah Hyde, don't try to field the ball," Slocum reportedly said before Seattle's onside kick attempt with 2:13 left in the game.

 

Tight end Brandon Bostick attempted to catch the ball, but it bounced off his hands and was recovered by the Seahawks. Seattle scored on that possession to take a 22-19 lead. Green Bay forced overtime with a field goal late in the final seconds but lost in overtime. 

 

Slocum was fired on Jan. 30, less than two weeks after the Packers' loss. Bostick was released last week and claimed by the Vikings on waivers. Minnesota head coach Mike Zimmer joked that he wouldn't put Bostick on the onside kick team.

quote:

Guhline has never been accused of being smart or a diep thinker

Re: Slocum, BFD. What were his instructions on the Seahawks' fake field goal? Since that wasn't conveniently leaked I guess we can presume they didn't include:

1) Look out for the fake;

2) Seahawks' outside protector is a backup OT who played some TE in college and who was catching passes in pre-game;

3) Look out for the fake;

4) We aren't going to try a FG block since Seattle hasn't had one blocked for 33 games;

5) Look out for the fake;

6) We aren't going to try a FG block from the defensive right side since our season-long tendency has been to rush Jones and House hard off the outside there and any capable Seattle scouting/coaching will cover that;

7) Look out for the fake;

8) "AJ, if they try a fake with a pass, you must cover the receiver as you're the only man back";

9) LOOK OUT FOR THE FAKE.

The more we learn about Bostick, the happier I am he's 1.) Gone. 2,) A Viking.

But let's assume for a moment Slocum indeed told him and the rest of the unit unless your Hyde/Nelson, don't go for the fuc**** ball. That Slocum already knew this kid had poor practice habits, had very limited playing time, that MM refused to let him on the field as a TE unless he had no other choice,  and you were placing him on the most critical play of the year speaks what an IDOT Slocum was for putting him in this position at all.

So I take that to mean that you DO know? You were there with McCarthy through the whole process and you know for sure he didn't even make a 10 minute phone call or even a text to gauge the interest of other available ST coaches? That's confirmed by you, correct? 

It's not complex, but I think you're over simplifying the whole process. Yeah coming to an organization with their schit together is very enticing, but McGinn's line "Aaron Rodgers mere presence is enough to lure ANY assistant to GB" is a big load of crap. While I definitely think having a franchise QB like Rodgers is very attractive, it doesn't alone guarantee that coach wanting to join this team. One guy McGinn named just picked the other team in the Bay Area, you think not having to move and start fresh in a new city didn't factor in? Plus we don't know what his history with Jack Del Rio might be, they could be old friends or had worked together. The other guy got promoted to the same job with the team he was already with...coaches and players he already knew and again didn't force him to move. There's 1,000 reason why a coach would accept or turn down an opportunity, but having a franchise QB doesn't guarantee you any assistant you want. 

You want to rip McCarthy over how he handled a coaching search when you know absolutely nothing about how the process unfolded. You only know the conclusion. 

Not trying to defend Slocumb but if not Bostick, then who goes out there?  I assume you need six or so TE/LB-sized guys on the onside attempt.  Peppers and CMIII aren't going out there. That doesn't leave a whole lot of options.  It's not like Slocumb has his choice of the roster.  He's kind of stuck with whoever MM tells him is available for special teams.  

Bostick is a professional.  You should be able to tell him once, "do not try to catch the ball" and that should be enough.  If it's not, then he's what you call an uncoachable player.  Yes, Slocumb was a trainwreck, but the blame on the onside kick was 100% Bostick.  The 7 blocked kicks and fake FG conversion?  Lot of that's on Slocumb.  But onside kick was on Bostick.  

Not everything that happens on a football field is the coach's fault.  Sometimes players just do stupid things.  

I think that's the point.  They, or more specifically Slo-dum, should have known who could be trusted and who could not.  Bostick was a perennial tease, which means that he had a lot of talent but no brain and was a flake on his assignments.  Where was Dick Rodgers, just to give you one example?  I would guess that if you told him not to touch the damn ball and to smash his body into any Seahawk coming his way, he would've done that.  Hell, if the guy in that spot was not supposed to touch the ball, then put frickin Tretter or a different OL or even a LBer out there if all they're going to do is block/hit the first thing they see.  

To me, this comes back to the possibility that MM was already thinking about what plays to run on offense with the ball back instead of WTF was going on with the onside kick.  Perhaps if he was involved in STs more he would've wondered why in the hell that clown was on the field.  Let's not forget the importance of this play - if GB recovers the kick, they go to the Super Bowl - simple as that.  

Yes, Bostick is a bum for doing this, but it's not as if it's some unforeseeable gaffe from an otherwise assignment-sure and dependable player.  

Sometimes players just do stupid things. 

Some more than once.

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this one.  If I screw up, it's not my bosses fault; it's mine.  Yes in some way you can trace it back to the day my boss hired me and didn't appropriately train me, but at the end of the day I'm a grown man, a professional, and I f**ked up.  It's blaming our parents, our teachers, our bosses, etc.  Bostick was coached correctly (based on accounts I've read), and he f**ked up on something so basic it can be explained in 5 words: ignore the ball and block.  If Bostick could't understand that, then it's TT's fault for ever allowing him to be on the roster and MM's fault for ever activating him on game day.  

Was there an attempt?  Did the promotion go to Zook rather handily?   Pretty much starts and ends right there. 

And because it's funny.

I'm certainly not absolving Bostick.  IMHO he got what he deserved.  I'm just saying that as a manager in any context, putting someone who's known to be a ****-up in a position to **** up when the stakes are at their highest = management also deserves some of the blame.  

Yes, but what Slocum actually said was, "Unless your name is Hawk, you should definitely not cover the open receiver, otherwise you should not fail to do so."

I think we've just discovered the root cause of Slocum's failure as a coach.

Or Bostick could have caught the freakin ball, a simple, no need to practice move that just about anyone could achieve.  Locate ball, jump, put hands up, look it in, squeeze....game over.

Bostick recruiting on twitter this afternoon.

You Coming To Minnesota??? @BoyKinHeCatch

Hilarious.  I would say yes.  

You ever get the feeling that the spermheads are a "players" organization?  

Apparently, Mr. Boykin has not handled his demotion very well. major sulking

His UDFA insecurities were a part of what helped him work so hard to make the team and those same insecurities have turned him into a Captain Queeg per the reports that I read. Mentally, he really fell off a cliff post-demotion

I don't think he's a Packer much longer and perhaps that's why bostick is pitching woo on tweeter.  

Oh so McCarthy described the whole process in great detail to you during your weekly wine and manicure sesh? Was there enough time to get your toes done or was the description so short that it didn't seem worth it?

Pitching woo? Was he in the Parlour when he tweeted?

McGinn did his homework and he says MM never called any of them...and the real question is : Why would he ?

MM had already made the move to hire Zook a year ago; it makes no sense to do that and then turn around and chat up the ST pros in 2015. I believe Zook confirmed what MM and others suspected, but were reluctant to acknowledge. Slocum sucks.

The decision on Zook taking over STs began in Feb 2014 and if McCarthy intended to hire one of the ST pros, he wouldn't have brought in such a seasoned "assistant".

MM needed somebody in that ST room that he trusted and he trusted Zook to give him an honest appraisal.

McGinn is just a year late with his story. If MM intended to hire one of those ST guru guys he wouldn't have taken his sweet time at the end of the season.

But this decision was done months ago. That's the reason MM wasn't in a rush

But nobody told McGinn and apparently he's not too happy about it, hence the hatchet job.

So, for two out of 9 years, Slocum owned April? Sounds like MM fired a future Hall of Fame coach to me. 

I am too lazy to look it up. Perhaps you and IC can look deeper to see what April's units typically finished at. With a combined IQ of 200, your work should be impressive, especially the part done by your 150 IQ.

Well, we can speculate till we are blue in the face. The point is, did MM hire the right guy? I hope so. We also know he didn't hire the guy with the best resume. Time will tell. Can't say I've been too terribly impressed with MM's ST. hires to date though.

That could be Satanori. My point is simply that it's not fair to criticize McCarthy for this move because 1) we don't know exactly what McCarthy did or didn't do in regard to this coaching search and 2) we have no frickin idea how good of an ST coach Zook will be. Sure you can look at his time in Pittsburgh, but that was over a decade ago and it's not uncommon for coaches to be successful even if they weren't in the past. Our HC ran a terrible offense in San Fran for 1 year and has run one of the greatest offenses in NFL history since coming to GB. Coaches evolve and change. Before we label Zook as a terrible hire, let's see how he does. 

GD, whether MM called The other coaches or not should be really easy to prove, for a reporter of McGinn's stature. Whether McGinn checked his sources on the matter is a different matter. One thing for sure. Those coaches were hired BEFORE MM fired Slow cum.

I just randomly picked 2 years with the super-progressive-much -smarter Head Coach Chip Kelly. I don't have the time nor the interest to look up every single season, but I think you're silly to say he has a better resume without even... you know...looking it up

April has had seasons at the top of the list, Slocum never did.

But April also had many years of sucking, ( sometimes worse than Slocum) which is why he had 8 jobs in 15 years.

IF he was as awesome as McGinn paints him, no team would ever let him go.

But they all did. And going from the Raiders to the Jets isn't exactly the cream of the crop is it ? Wouldn't a super-awesome ST guy have his pick of good teams given how important it is ?

I'm calling BS on the article, not because I think Slocum is good or that April is bad- I just think Bob is full of schit in the way he lays it out. MM made his choice in 2014, this is just the next step in that decision. Pretty dum to rip MM for being tardy with his 2015 recruiting when in fact it took place a whole year earlier.

No clue how it will work out, but Bobby April has worn out his welcome on 5 NFL teams since MM arrived in GB. For a team that values continuity, he wouldn't be high on the list

Either way, its all just a bunch of speculation

guhline...looking to get knuhwledge

Shut up. I am not. Book learning makes my head hurt.

I checked out April's record using the Football Insiders' efficiency ratings. Pretty impressive in parts and blah at other times. Twice he was voted special teams coach of the year and 4 times his units were number 1, using Football Insiders' metric. His units were in the top 10 6 times. However, they were also in the 20's and 30's 8 times.

This is not the Bill Walsh of special teams, but he has had some superb units. Curiously, when he left the Steelers he was replaced by Ron Zook. After inheriting April's no.5 rated teams, Zook dropped that unit to a no. 21 ranking. 

BTW, only 3 times were April's units inferior to MM's special teams units.

quote:

Book learning makes my head hurt.

Wanna teach me how to do it right, Fedya?

Thanks a million for doing the leg work on him. April has a sterling reputation, unlike Slocum. I doubt Slocum finds another gig any time soon, while April always lands on his feet