00:00Hey, talking about coaches, and here's what I'll say.
00:03Kirby Smart's the most brilliant hire that's ever happened in Atlanta's sports history.
00:08Maybe Bobby Cox, but Kirby's got more championships than Bobby Cox,
00:12and I argue that Kirby's had more success than Bobby Cox on some level,
00:16although Bobby Cox obviously is in the Hall of Fame and part of that run with Sherholtz and that team
00:20and did a phenomenal job.
00:21But, I mean, part of our job is to give opinion, and Kirby Smart and what he's done in 11
00:25years at Georgia
00:27is unprecedented. Two national titles, should have had a third year or two against Alabama.
00:32Unfortunately, that didn't work out.
00:33But regardless of all that, it's just not easy to win, and I don't believe that owners are stupid,
00:40and I don't believe the process of hiring coaches is inane.
00:44Like, I don't believe it.
00:45I believe that what fans don't remember is in the national football league,
00:48there's 31 other billionaires, multi-billionaires, that have hired Harvard MBAs
00:54and hired lifelong professional sports gurus who have been in the business,
01:00and they're all trying to do exactly what you're trying to do,
01:03which is win football games, have coaches keep their jobs, compete at the highest level.
01:08It's hard.
01:09And I don't know, like I say, when guys get hired,
01:14I have no idea if Kevin Stefanski is the absolute football mind that this town needed
01:21at the right time in his discipline and his history and his dad being Ed Stefanski,
01:27who is a former GM in the NBA, a Philly basketball legend,
01:34and his experience in Cleveland, all of that makes him the perfect tire.
01:37I have no friggin' idea.
01:39Just like when Arthur Smith rolled in here, or Mike Smith rolled in here,
01:43or June Jones rolled in here, or Dan Reeves rolled in here,
01:46or Jim Moore rolled in here, or Raheem Morris rolled in here, or any of them.
01:51I have no idea from the press conference, from my interviews with them,
01:55I'm not smart enough for that, right?
01:58I was good at listening to a guy and figuring out if he could be good on the radio
02:02and whether or not he should be on our old radio station when I was the boss there,
02:05or coming up with good promotions to put radio station talent and our audience together
02:11and probably pretty good at selling in that space.
02:13And I'm talking about where my 10,000 hours have been, right?
02:16My 10,000 hours is in football or trying to figure that out.
02:20So knee-jerk reactions just don't make any sense.
02:24Did I think Kirby was the perfect tire?
02:26Of course, he was the friggin' defensive coordinator for multiple national championship teams.
02:32He went to Georgia, and he was under Nick Saban's tutelage.
02:36It looked on paper like the greatest tire ever.
02:38And guess what?
02:39It was, right?
02:42But I just gave you, Sandra, since I've been to Atlanta, right?
02:47Oh, boy.
02:47Since I've been to Atlanta.
02:49No, just Jerry Glanville I wasn't here for.
02:52I was here for June Jones, knew him well.
02:54I don't think anybody would say that was a great hire.
02:57He was coming out of that Mouse Davis offense run and shoot type thing, whatever.
03:02After that, I think Dan Rees provided everything you could ask for in a head coach.
03:06Oh, yeah.
03:07Level of stability and professionalism and everything that you don't know we've ever had here.
03:11Then it was Jim Mora.
03:12He gets fired.
03:14Dan Rees, he got fired.
03:15June Jones, he got fired.
03:17Mike Smith.
03:19Falcons had never had back-to-back winning seasons.
03:21Falcons were not any factor whatsoever.
03:24Matt Ryan arrives in town the same time as Mike Smith and the same time as Thomas Dimitrov.
03:29It was a great run, particularly for Thomas because he stuck around after for Dan Quinn.
03:37So Dimitrov was here for multiple NFC Championship games.
03:41Dimitrov was here for a Super Bowl.
03:43Dimitrov was here for the Matt Ryan era way longer than Smitty, right?
03:47I remember being at that press conference.
03:48Why'd you fire the coach but not fire the GM, right?
03:51Well, Dimitrov's sitting there.
03:53But he got fired.
03:55And Dan Quinn, who brought us to a Super Bowl and they won a playoff game the next year, he
03:59got fired.
04:00And then Arthur Smith came in here, not winning any press conferences, but solid-ish, and he got fired.
04:08And Raheem Morris got fired in two years.
04:10So does that mean Arthur has not to pick coaches?
04:14That's just the profession.
04:16I don't know what's a great hire for minute one.
04:19I think we're looking back there.
04:20I think we could agree.
04:22Ree, you tell me Dan Reeves was the perfect hire at the perfect time for Arthur Blaine.
04:26And Mike Smith was, too.
04:27He was the perfect hire at the perfect time when you put that in.
04:31Dan Quinn then fell on deaf ears.
04:33It all happens to transition.
04:35There's a reason that, on average, nine coaches are turned over in the NFL every year.
04:41This year it was 10, and the Falcons were one of them yet again.
04:4510 is tied for the most ever in the NFL.
04:48So to figure it out that you got it wrong as quick as they did, they were not sticking
04:53around with Raheem and company anymore.
04:56He did too many warning signs.
05:00Too much.
05:01You know, two years is really short for any head coach.
05:06But when you were four and nine last year, it was over.
05:10When you had players revolting and your wide receiver room blow up and you fire your coach
05:16early on.
05:18And I don't know.
05:19It just didn't seem buttoned up and they weren't willing to give him any longer.
05:22Yeah.
05:22And now the change comes.
05:24And we knew behind the scenes, especially Stake, they wanted Stefanski from the jump.
05:29Stefanski was their guy.
05:30And then I couldn't help, and I don't know if you feel this way, Stake, we're watching
05:34quarterbacks.
05:34So you're in Cleveland Browns' room because of Flacco as one of the characters in the show.
05:39And there's Stefanski.
05:41And they're picking all those quarterbacks on the night of the draft.
05:44Shadour and all the drama.
05:46And I thought, oh God, I hope they got it right.
05:49Because we don't know yet.
05:50Well, I'll say this.
05:51He's 46 and 58, Stefanski, overall in his head coaching career.
05:56So he didn't come in here with this massive winning.
05:58Yeah, why would he be winning with those quarterbacks in that roster?
06:02Like, I don't know.
06:04Bill Belichick's got, what, nine Super Bowls and he had a losing record in Cleveland.
06:09Guess what?
06:10You got the greatest player of all time as your quarterback.
06:14Do you think that helped?
06:16Do you think that helped Mike Smith and Dan Quinn that Matt Ryan was their quarterback?
06:19Do you think Arthur Smith would have lasted longer if the first day he got here, Matt Ryan
06:24was in his prime?
06:25Arthur Smith got Desmond Ritter and Marcus Mariota and I don't know what year.
06:32And Matt Ryan, maybe his last year, right?
06:34And Raheem got Kirk Cousins and Michael Penix, right?
06:39And Kirk Cousins wasn't ready to go.
06:40I grabbed a couple of teams, right?
06:43Miami Dolphins after Don Shula.
06:46And I don't think any of these guys are dumb.
06:48I'm just telling you, this is their group.
06:51Jimmy Johnson, Dave Wanstead, Nick Saban, Cam Cameron, Tony Sperano, Joe Philbin, Dan Campbell
07:02as an interim coach.
07:03He didn't give them the job.
07:05Adam Gase, Brian Flores, Mike McDaniel, right?
07:10That's their group over the last 50 years.
07:13I mean, are they dummies in Miami?
07:18I don't know.
07:18There's some very uncompelling hires.
07:20You know who you skipped over with the Falcons was Bobby Petrino.
07:23Oh, right.
07:23Yeah.
07:24Bobby Petrino.
07:26Yeah.
07:26Now that case.
07:27And let me just pivot to what's going on.
07:29And we had a conversation off the record yesterday with somebody who's getting calls from these
07:34agencies that are literally their job is to go find me a head coach.
07:39Do all the vetting.
07:40Do all the interviews.
07:41They charge millions and millions of dollars and they do have dogs in fights because they
07:46are tied to all this agents, these agents and Sexton and this one's a, so I go back
07:51to the Bobby Petrino of, of the kind of guy he is to go and even speak to him.
07:56And he's this offensive genius in this quarterback whisper.
07:59I get it.
08:00But for him to have won the room, I can't imagine what he did that day of, of thinking
08:06this is going to be our NFL head coach.
08:08Yeah.
08:09Bobby Petrino.
08:10I think Rich McKay was replaced by Thomas Dimitrov because of that hire.
08:14I mean, that hire and, and there's no way that you couldn't have figured out that that
08:20guy isn't good with people.
08:21You know, when you have a guy that won't speak to his players, Algie Crump has told us the
08:25story.
08:26Summertime stops by the office, wants to meet his new head coach.
08:29Summertime.
08:30So one of your top five players.
08:32And Bobby Petrino has his secretary come on and say, he can't meet with you.
08:36Can't talk to you.
08:37When he puts his head down and won't say good morning.
08:39In the hallway, they were told, don't, yeah, he's, he's not going to say good morning.
08:43He's going to have his head down and he won't say hello.
08:44Don't bother talking to him.
08:45Yeah.
08:45But by the way, if he was a great coach, no one cares about that, but he did show himself.
08:50So my point being in hiring, you don't know.
08:53He, Rich McKay and company went all in on a Bobby Petrino hire.
08:57I totally get Raheem.
09:01Raheem is energetic, says all the right things, a politician on some sorts, but that's part
09:08of it.
09:09Won a Super Bowl.
09:09Yeah.
09:10Yeah.
09:11As the defensive coordinator.
09:12He won a Super Bowl.
09:13Yeah.
09:13With, with Sean McVay.
09:15Yeah.
09:16Head coach, was a head coach in Tampa where, you know, he learned his lessons.
09:22He had, had some experience of what that looked and feels like.
09:26When you're in interviews, when you're Raheem, we really want you.
09:30And, and the first thing those guys have to do when they get to this next level is tell
09:34us who your coordinators are going to be.
09:36So for Raheem to come in with two brand new coordinators, I really felt like that room,
09:43you had the power to say, Raheem, we're all in on you, but we need some experience.
09:46You got to get proven coordinators because that was really his downfall.
09:51Yeah.
09:52Jimmy Lake, his buddy.
09:53Who was fired first and then the, the, he had Zach and Zach was a brand new play caller
10:00and everybody's questioning the offense.
10:01No, that's a great point.
10:02So I don't know that it's a great point, but I just always.
10:04But it's a great point because, because like, you know, if you're guilty of anything, it's
10:09not being fooled by Raheem, but it's letting him tell you, because Raheem Morris was the
10:13number one candidate.
10:14I mean, if I had one more, if there wasn't one more coach that said, this guy's ready
10:17to be a coach, you know, head coach, Sean McVay is the number one coach in the national
10:20football league.
10:21He loved Raheem.
10:22He said, this guy's been the best for us.
10:24My point is, it's such an inexact.
10:26I have no idea.
10:27I think it's even more inexact in the, in college, in the college ranks of, because it's so much
10:34more, you know, you can go get the players, but there's a certain pedigree.
10:38Herbie is one of how many?
10:39You could count eight that is that guy and the rest of it, your hope, what does Kurt
10:44Signetti do this year?
10:46Oh, I mean, Kurt Signetti, come on.
10:47He's had two years.
10:49What he's done in two years is more than anybody ever could have imagined in history.
10:53So, yeah, I don't know if you have any thoughts.
10:56404-726-0929.
10:59404-726-0929.
11:01Is there anybody that you thought right away, I can tell what this is, or you were wrong
11:06about it?
11:06Admit you were wrong about somebody because some of these coaches are like, oh, that was
11:09terrible.
11:10That press conference that higher, that guy's never won, he's never coped, blah, blah, blah.
11:14And then you look up, you know, like, damn, that's something.
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