Choosing the boss needs to be looked at

WIGGINS World

NFL teams need to re-examine the method most of them now use to hire head coaches - that of plucking offensive or defensive coordinators off highly successful ballclubs.

This trendy modus operandi is clearly not working this season. In fact, it's failing miserably.

Recent hires off the New York Giants, Arizona, New England and other staffs have fallen flat on their faces this campaign.

In St. Louis, there's Steve Spagnulo who was hailed as a defensive genius for his work with the New York Giants' Super Bowl winning defence.

His Rams are a woeful 1-9 and being pounded with embarrassing regularity.

Meanwhile, Kansas City, under Todd Haley, was 2-7 before this Sunday's upset of Pittsburgh (hey, on any given Sunday).

Haley was the offensive coordinator for high-scoring Arizona when the Cardinals made their amazing Super Bowl run last season. But KC's sputtering O is a clear indication Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald and Co. made Haley more than he made them.

Tampa Bay's Raheem Morris was originally groomed to take over as the Buccaneers' D-coordinator this season.

Instead, the hot and young Morris was boosted all the way up to head coach when Buc management determined their team needed to hear a new voice in place of snarky Jon Gruden.

But Tampa Bay, at 1-9, has reminded many of the winless expansion Bucs (whose coach John McKay, when asked about his team's execution, snorted "I'm all in favour of it!")

Then there's Cleveland's Eric Mangini, a former frat brother in college to Bill Belichick and then his Super Bowl defensive coordinator in New England.

I am loathe to call any team consisting of players with NFL talent "horrible", but collectively that's just what Mangini's 1-9 Browns have been.

Of the new hires, only Josh McDaniels (ex-Pats offensive leader) of fast-fading Denver has a winning record, thanks mostly to his DEFENCE, however.

The thinking in making these coordinators head men was this: they'd successfully coached half a team and knew about winning; so were ready to turn around a full squad of losers.

Clearly, some re-thinking is in order.

A coordinator enjoying success on a winner doesn't automatically mean he can replicate same with a full 53-man squad.

The reason is two-fold.

First, he doesn't always enjoy the same calibre personnel in his new situation. Trust me, good players make good coaches more than vice-versa - you can't make chicken salad out of chicken sh, err, feathers.

Then there's the administrative end of the ballclub to consider.

Without a hands-off owner and solid personnel men - scouts and procurement execs - I don't care how good an Xs and Os man a coach is or how great a motivator he might be, he's not gonna win.

Granted, NFL reclamation projects take a while and these rookies deserve appropriate time to complete the task.

But this notion of a co-ordinator instantly spreading his one-side-of the ball magic across the board is clearly being blown to bits this season.

So what are the hiring alternatives?

Going the retread route (Wade Phillips, Dick Jauron and Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs) has yielded sketchy results.

Competent collegiate hires haven't worked either (see Ex-Miami coach Nick Saban and Bobby Petrino in Atlanta).

Gambling on promising NFL position coaches can be hit (Philadelphia's Andy Reid was Brett Favre's QB coach in Green Bay) or miss (Washington's Jim Zorn, a quarterback mentor in Seattle).

And promoting from within doesn't always pay dividends (examples: Oakland's Tom Cable and Jim Mora, Jr. of 3-7 Seattle).

Standout ex-pro players are no guarantee, either - the jury's still out on Mike Singletary at San Francisco and Jack Del Rio in Jacksonville.

One thing's certain, however: teams need to ditch the "hot coordinator" method.

Hiring an NFL head coach is your basic crap shoot. Due diligence and going with your gut on a guy - pedigree or no - is the only logical recourse.

That and lots of prayer.

Email Dave at davwigg@gmail.com