Bengals Next HC: Bill Cowher?

[Benton]

(10-25-2017, 02:44 PM)Wyche Wrote: In all seriousness, whoever it is will have to be a good scout.  So, you will need to take that into consideration.  I like your suggestions of those NFL assistants, but one would have to look deeper at just how many responsibilities these guys have.  To have any semblance of a chance to succeed, you would have to be one helluva multi tasker, unless someone splinks Mikey in the head with a shovel, and he regains consciousness as a different man that is.  

That's honestly the only reason I am intrigued by the possibilities of a really good college coach that doesn't run gimmicky offenses (if there are any of those left around).  These guys would have a leg up on knowledge of top draft prospects and late round steals.  I'm pretty sure Franklin DOES run the read option, but I do like his ability to work with what he's got and make it successful.  His ability to right a ship quickly interests me.

I had an hour drive this morning and spent 53 minutes of it thinking about where the heck the Bengals should look for their next coach. Not will, but should. 

And that answer is: college.

But... the list of coaches who jump from college to the pros with any real success is short. Yeah, I agree. You can toss out names like Kiffin and Spurrier and Petrino. Plenty of reason why this approach is going to majorly fail. 

On the other hand, we know the Bengals aren't going to spend a ton of money expanding their scouting department. They aren't going to do more interviewing or watch more tape. They might tack on a couple interns or add on a rare position over the next decade, but unless we have another skid like the 90s, we're going to roll with the same structure. So, no new positions.

Which means whoever becomes HC is going to have to know how to scout himself, and be well read on college players and programs. It's not enough to say "That's a SEC kid, he's worth a look." He's going to have to be able to say "we need receivers, WRU has an outstanding position coach that's been building up late round picks who are producing tons of yards; start looking at their tape." 

It's not likely to happen, and coaches like that historically haven't transitioned well. But there's got to be somebody at that level that would translate well to the NFL, and give us an ability to draft better.