So valuable, yet so expendable

Mar 27, 2008, 2:26:24 AM by Jonathan Rand - FAQ

Putting the Chiefs’ linebackers under the wing of defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham seems like a fine idea. This position area has been a Cunningham specialty throughout his coaching career, and one at which coach Herm Edwards wants to see much improved play.

Plus, while Cunningham is screaming at the defense in general, now he’ll also have the linebackers to scream at in particular.

Hiring assistants is one of the most important decisions head coaches ever make. Good assistants coax the most out of players. Good coordinators devise sound game plans and their play calling sometimes make a difference on Sundays. The most successful coordinators are hard to keep because they’re obvious candidates for head coaching openings.

Which begs the question: why are such valuable people so expendable?

Cunningham, though in his 11th season as a Chiefs’ head coach or assistant, has had six stints, including two in Kansas City, during 27 NFL seasons. Yet, by league standards, that’s a pretty stable employment history.

Being an NFL assistant coach is, in several respects, a great job. Salaries are good and coordinators earn more than head coaches once made. You don’t have to take the brunt of the heat for losing, or handle all the responsibilities that fall into a head coach’s lap.

On the other hand, you practically live in your office during the season and there’s guilt by association. When the head coach gets fired, the entire staff is eligible to get axed, too. And head coaches in recent years have become more prone to fire assistants if the offense, defense or special teams isn’t performing to expectations.

Just when an assistant’s wife has decided where to hang all the pictures, she’s packing them again. The Chiefs once had an assistant, Pete McCulley, who changed jobs so often that he kept all his houses and created a mini-empire of rental properties.

Mike Solari, who spent two forgettable seasons as Chiefs’ offensive coordinator under Herm Edwards, has been hired in Seattle as offensive line coach, his long-time specialty. “It was a little bit of a coup when we were able to hire him,” Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said.

Al Saunders, former coordinator of the Chiefs’ league-leading offense, went to Washington with great fanfare in 2006 but was fired after two seasons. He was promptly scooped up by Rams coach Scott Linehan and given a three-year contract to run the offense.

So are these guys getting rewarded for failure? No. Coaches, like players, can suffer from being miscast. Solari is one of the NFL’s most respected line coaches, but his shot as a coordinator didn’t work out, and he was fired after 11 seasons with the Chiefs.

Assistants can get saddled with talent too weak for anybody to look good. Or they’re stuck with a situation in which their ideas just don’t fit.

Mike Martz was a brilliant offensive mind in St. Louis as a head coach and assistant, and as Dick Vermeil’s offensive coordinator in 1999 helped the Rams win the Super Bowl. Martz, however, was fired after two years as the Lions’ offensive coordinator because his pass-happy offense put too much pressure on a weak defense.

Yet no sooner was he fired in Detroit than Martz was hired to take over San Francisco’s offense, the league’s worst last year. “There’s no one more creative, as far as using personnel that allows us to be productive on offense,” 49ers coach Mike Nolan said. “He’s got one of the best minds in all of football.”

Such is the NFL merry-go-round of assistant coaches, where one man’s discard is another man’s treasure.

The opinions offered in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the Kansas City Chiefs.

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A former sportswriter and columnist in Kansas City and Miami, Rand has covered the NFL for three decades and seen 23 Super Bowl games. His column appears twice weekly in-season.