Want A Really Great New Coach For Kansas City?

Then you have to be willing to part ways with Kansas City Chiefs QB Matt Cassel.

There is one undying, unbreakable rule in the NFL, and really all of the American private sector: if you want someone you’ve hired to succeed, you must provide them reasonable amenities in which to do so.

That’s why franchises across the NFL almost always allow for new head coaching hires to bring in their new QB.  Their entire livelihood with the franchise depends on that position in a way that no other position really provides.

The theme, repeated endlessly: new coaches, new QBs.

Violate the rule at your own risk.  Good luck bringing in a Super Bowl-caliber head coach to a small market franchise for something like an uninspiring $3 million a year and expect him to be saddled with a non-elite QB that he never selected.

If Cassel remains the QB of this team going into 2012, and any searches for franchise QBs are de facto dead in the water for our new head coach, then we will not be getting any new coaches.  We will remain with interim head coach Romeo Crennel for the foreseeable future, or in a radical move, we’d bring in the one head coach who demanded Cassel in Rams’ offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. But it’s not even a guarantee that McDaniels prefers Cassel anymore.

We’ve been over the debate over Cassel a million times on this blog.  It’s not even about Cassel anymore, it’s about general manager Scott Pioli.  If Pioli continues to stubbornly assure that Matt Cassel is the face of the franchise in 2012, we’re not getting a Super Bowl caliber coach any time soon.  This is non-negotiable.

Fortunately, Scott Pioli has shown the ability to admit mistakes, such as dealing his second-ever draft pick as Chiefs executive, Alex Magee, less than two seasons after selecting him.  But admitting defeat on Matt Cassel will require a degree of self-confidence that an inflated ego just will not provide.

Chiefs fans are constantly warned by Pioli’s detractors that he has that ego.  His flexibility with Matt Cassel is a “franchise moment,” and it will either condemn him or vindicate him.