Post by MizzouTiger on Jan 19, 2008 12:38:25 GMT -5
www.kansascity.com/sports/chiefs/story/449859.html
Clark Hunt willing to build with young players
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star
The view from Clark Hunt’s Arrowhead Stadium suite Thursday revealed a snow-covered playing field and the harsh reality that while some teams are readying themselves for important weekend games, the Chiefs clearly are not.
Inside, though his long silence and plans to retain general manager Carl Peterson and coach Herm Edwards for at least another season might indicate otherwise, Hunt wasn’t taking that fact well.
The Chiefs’ chairman didn’t rant, rave or scream during his half-hour interview with The Kansas City Star. He calmly and at times eloquently laid out his plans for returning meaningful January games to Kansas City.
Those long-term plans include Edwards and his strategy of rebuilding the Chiefs with younger players. Hunt not only is on board with both, but he enthusiastically embraced them as well.
“I’ve spent a great deal of time thinking about where we are and how we got here and where we go from here, and I do think we have the right coach in coach Edwards to help rebuild the team,” Hunt said, making his first public remarks since the Chiefs finished 4-12, their worst season in 30 years.
“Philosophically, he and I are on the same page, which is to build the team through the draft and develop a young franchise quarterback along the way. I want our head coach to share that philosophy. He likes to and will play young players. It’s one thing to say you want to build a team that way, but if you’re not willing to develop and play those players in a relatively short time frame, you don’t really know about them when their contract comes up. With Herm, those players are going to play and we’re going to know about every one of them.
“I fully appreciate that the team Herm inherited was an old, veteran team. In fairness to him, he needs to be given the opportunity to build the team in his image. That’s what he’s doing. Unfortunately, it doesn’t happen overnight. It does take several years. I’d like to think coach Edwards is someone who could be here for a very long time period.”
Hunt’s mood shifted when asked about Peterson. He spoke of Edwards many times during the interview but mentioned Peterson only when the topic was broached about halfway through.
Where he was expansive on Edwards, he was short on Peterson. Asked why Peterson was returning for another season, his 20th with the Chiefs, Hunt said:
“Continuity there is very important for us this season. As I analyzed the situation, stability in the front office gives Herm and the team the best chance for success in 2008. Carl obviously has a great long-term track record as general manager. Carl has turned around a bad football team before. He’s done it several times, including here in Kansas City, so he knows how to do it. He and Herm work very well together.”
Hunt was then asked whether Peterson would be allowed to finish his contract, which runs for two more seasons.
“That’s a decision we’ll make down the road and not something that’s appropriate to comment on now,” he said. “He has two years left on his contract, and when he and I did his extension two years ago, he did tell me he planned to retire when it was finished. Now, people’s desires can change, but that was his feeling at that time.”
Edwards’ contract also expires after two more seasons. While the coach appeared on much stronger footing with Hunt than Peterson, Hunt said he wanted to see progress from the Chiefs if next winter he is to authorize extending Edwards’ contract.
“I’m going to look to the record,” Hunt said. “That’s the easy one. Are we better from a win-loss standpoint than last year? I also think it’s very important that we make some substantial strides offensively. We can’t be second to last again in the league on offense. I would like to see us play better as the season progresses. This year we had the opposite occur. We got worse as the season went along. We’re going to have a young quarterback and a new offensive coordinator, so I would fully expect us to get better as the season progresses. I want to continue to see us play and develop young players. I’m intent on seeing us constantly feeding the team with talented young players who three, four, five years down the road are going to be starters or contributors.
“I’m a strong believer that continuity at the head coaching position is very important to long-term success. Probably you could point to the Pittsburgh Steelers as the best example of that. They do a great job of drafting players, developing them and playing them, and they have tremendous continuity with their head coaches. They have a system and an approach about how they do it, and it’s important we develop that kind of mind-set here.”
The Chiefs, who finished the season by losing their last nine games, appear a long way from being a playoff team. Hunt said he wasn’t willing to sacrifice next season but understands the reality of the situation.
“I expect us to be competitive this year and to be competing for a playoff spot this year,” he said. “Because we’re going to be such a young team, you could expect us to be better in 2009 than in 2008, which is what you want.
“We’ll be a younger football team. We’ll be an exciting football team. We’ll be much better on the offensive side of the ball. But rebuilding a team is not something that happens overnight. It’s hard to have a 4-12 season and then play in the Super Bowl the next season. I’m sure there are some examples out there where it’s happened, but usually it’s a couple-year process.
“If you look at the Green Bay Packers, what they went through the last few years is very similar to what we’re going through now. They had a lot of veteran guys who either left the team or they had to let them go. They started the process of getting very young. They had a 4-12 season. They had an 8-8 season. Then this year they had a 13-3 season. That’s about where we are.”
Clark Hunt willing to build with young players
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star
The view from Clark Hunt’s Arrowhead Stadium suite Thursday revealed a snow-covered playing field and the harsh reality that while some teams are readying themselves for important weekend games, the Chiefs clearly are not.
Inside, though his long silence and plans to retain general manager Carl Peterson and coach Herm Edwards for at least another season might indicate otherwise, Hunt wasn’t taking that fact well.
The Chiefs’ chairman didn’t rant, rave or scream during his half-hour interview with The Kansas City Star. He calmly and at times eloquently laid out his plans for returning meaningful January games to Kansas City.
Those long-term plans include Edwards and his strategy of rebuilding the Chiefs with younger players. Hunt not only is on board with both, but he enthusiastically embraced them as well.
“I’ve spent a great deal of time thinking about where we are and how we got here and where we go from here, and I do think we have the right coach in coach Edwards to help rebuild the team,” Hunt said, making his first public remarks since the Chiefs finished 4-12, their worst season in 30 years.
“Philosophically, he and I are on the same page, which is to build the team through the draft and develop a young franchise quarterback along the way. I want our head coach to share that philosophy. He likes to and will play young players. It’s one thing to say you want to build a team that way, but if you’re not willing to develop and play those players in a relatively short time frame, you don’t really know about them when their contract comes up. With Herm, those players are going to play and we’re going to know about every one of them.
“I fully appreciate that the team Herm inherited was an old, veteran team. In fairness to him, he needs to be given the opportunity to build the team in his image. That’s what he’s doing. Unfortunately, it doesn’t happen overnight. It does take several years. I’d like to think coach Edwards is someone who could be here for a very long time period.”
Hunt’s mood shifted when asked about Peterson. He spoke of Edwards many times during the interview but mentioned Peterson only when the topic was broached about halfway through.
Where he was expansive on Edwards, he was short on Peterson. Asked why Peterson was returning for another season, his 20th with the Chiefs, Hunt said:
“Continuity there is very important for us this season. As I analyzed the situation, stability in the front office gives Herm and the team the best chance for success in 2008. Carl obviously has a great long-term track record as general manager. Carl has turned around a bad football team before. He’s done it several times, including here in Kansas City, so he knows how to do it. He and Herm work very well together.”
Hunt was then asked whether Peterson would be allowed to finish his contract, which runs for two more seasons.
“That’s a decision we’ll make down the road and not something that’s appropriate to comment on now,” he said. “He has two years left on his contract, and when he and I did his extension two years ago, he did tell me he planned to retire when it was finished. Now, people’s desires can change, but that was his feeling at that time.”
Edwards’ contract also expires after two more seasons. While the coach appeared on much stronger footing with Hunt than Peterson, Hunt said he wanted to see progress from the Chiefs if next winter he is to authorize extending Edwards’ contract.
“I’m going to look to the record,” Hunt said. “That’s the easy one. Are we better from a win-loss standpoint than last year? I also think it’s very important that we make some substantial strides offensively. We can’t be second to last again in the league on offense. I would like to see us play better as the season progresses. This year we had the opposite occur. We got worse as the season went along. We’re going to have a young quarterback and a new offensive coordinator, so I would fully expect us to get better as the season progresses. I want to continue to see us play and develop young players. I’m intent on seeing us constantly feeding the team with talented young players who three, four, five years down the road are going to be starters or contributors.
“I’m a strong believer that continuity at the head coaching position is very important to long-term success. Probably you could point to the Pittsburgh Steelers as the best example of that. They do a great job of drafting players, developing them and playing them, and they have tremendous continuity with their head coaches. They have a system and an approach about how they do it, and it’s important we develop that kind of mind-set here.”
The Chiefs, who finished the season by losing their last nine games, appear a long way from being a playoff team. Hunt said he wasn’t willing to sacrifice next season but understands the reality of the situation.
“I expect us to be competitive this year and to be competing for a playoff spot this year,” he said. “Because we’re going to be such a young team, you could expect us to be better in 2009 than in 2008, which is what you want.
“We’ll be a younger football team. We’ll be an exciting football team. We’ll be much better on the offensive side of the ball. But rebuilding a team is not something that happens overnight. It’s hard to have a 4-12 season and then play in the Super Bowl the next season. I’m sure there are some examples out there where it’s happened, but usually it’s a couple-year process.
“If you look at the Green Bay Packers, what they went through the last few years is very similar to what we’re going through now. They had a lot of veteran guys who either left the team or they had to let them go. They started the process of getting very young. They had a 4-12 season. They had an 8-8 season. Then this year they had a 13-3 season. That’s about where we are.”