08-05-2016, 03:35 AM
(08-04-2016, 09:34 PM)CageTheBengal Wrote: I'd imagine since you thought Zampese was a lazy hire then Guenther must've been too?
I thought I would take a quick sec to respond to your assumption. No, I wouldn't say it would be fair to say that I considered Guenther a lazy hire. At least not to the same degree as Zampese. Did it raise an eyebrow? Yeah, probably. I'm not sure I can ever fully trust that they are doing their due diligence when an in-house promotion comes up. And that's just from my perspective. But to each their own.
The reason I didn't have as much issue with the Gunther hire is that his career path is a tad more typical. He didn't come on here until Zimmer came in and he's slowly gained more and more responsibility. Had he not been promoted here he probably would have gotten a look elsewhere.
But Zampese? 13 seasons as QB coach here. T-H-I-R-T-E-E-N. That's a long time to be a position coach. Long, long time. Why was he never hired away? In 13 seasons not a single team gave him a job as an OC. Why is that?
Why wasn't a team, who pays top dollar for their staff, dropping off a truck full of cash to make him their QB coach at least? You mean to tell me he was one of the highest paid position coaches here? Not only did he not get hired away as an OC, he didn't get hired away as a higher paid position coach. That raises eyebrows.
And you know what bothers me most, why didn't we promote him when Brat was fired? Why did we promote him when Jay left? Two times we needed an OC, and he had more seniority than anyone, yet he didn't get the job. Why is that?
And none of this even takes into account how I think of his QB's progress history. Palmer had his best year in year 2, his first full season starting. He, in my mind, got progressively worse. And some may disagree with this, but Dalton didn't exactly make leaps and bounds progress until Hue took over. (Coincidence?) Year 1 to 2 improvement wasn't huge and was to be expected with added experience. Year 2 to 3 wasn't a huge leap. Year 3 to 4 was a huge decline. And then finally last season.
I'm just saying, it's not like he has an unbelievable track record as a QB coach. It's ok, but far, far from great.
It's for these reasons I question the hire, not just because or only that he was in house. Why did he stay in one spot for so long, why was passed over multiple times? Which leaves me with my current question: Was he really the best option of everyone out there or does this team value familiarity more than actual ability?
