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Edit: Is the Ravens owner, Steve Bisciotti, smarter than Snyder?


Mark The Homer

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I am posting this in the stadium forum instead of the NFL forum because I wanted opinions on how people think this unconventional management system would work with the Redskins.

I thought this was a fascinating article I found in the Wash Post this morning. I think it's interesting that, with a horrible season in 2005, the Ravens owner, Steve Bisciotti, instead of hiring a new coach or new FAs, took the unusual step of changing his operation's management structure. Here's a few excerpts:

It was at this point, with the team plummeting to depths it never had known in his time here, that Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti and General Manager Ozzie Newsome walked through the office door with the rough beginnings of a plan. They presented a way of doing business that essentially was different from every other organizational approach in modern football, one that would strip away some of the omnipotence of the head coach, tearing away the only framework Billick knew.

...

The process invigorated Billick, stimulating a sense of intellectual adventure. And a year after they finished designing their new system, he and Newsome point to those discussions as the impetus for changing the culture of their organization. It is perhaps the biggest reason why the Ravens are 13-3 and champions of the AFC North, with a second-round playoff game at home Saturday against Indianapolis.

In the new plan, Billick still is the head coach and Newsome the general manager, but decisions come more from a consensus. Lower-level team employees, such as assistant coaches and scouts, are able to contribute to the process, empowering more people but diluting some of the extreme authority most NFL coaches are accustomed to holding.

Scouts, for instance, no longer have to report to Newsome and hope that important information trickles down to the assistants. Instead, they can call the assistants directly, allowing for better game planning. Likewise, Billick has been encouraged to hold more meetings with players to see how they feel about things as routine as training camp workouts and bus rides to the stadium.

...

But they say the new approach worked well at his company, Allegis Group -- a model built heavily around giving everybody in the organization a say in what is going on. After watching Billick become more withdrawn from his team, Billick and Newsome say Bisciotti felt the Ravens needed to implement it as well.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011002541.html

I wonder how something like this would work with the Redskins?

Discuss.

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For everyone doubting in this thread: your opinions are valid and based in fact. But if Billick wins another SB this year, does this change your opinion?
No it still would not change my mind. Billick is suppose to be an offensive genious but yet he won his first SB with probably one of the best defenses in the league ever and a very mediocre offense. This year again they have one of the best defenses in the league and just because Billick fired Jim Fassel does not mean they are now some offensive superpower. I think if anything there D cordinator Ryan is one of the biggest reasons he has a ring in the first place. Yea there offense may be decent this year but I still dont see how this guy is an offensive genious. Give him our defense this year and then see how well Billick does.

The biggest difference between Gibbs I and Billick is that Gibbs actually was an offensive genious his first go around and his teams had incredible offenses paired up with great defenses, Gibbs teams didnt have to have a D carry the team his offense played a vital role as well getting his 3 superbowls. Not trying to be an ass but seriously just no..

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For everyone doubting in this thread: your opinions are valid and based in fact. But if Billick wins another SB this year, does this change your opinion?

As bad as his offenses have been?

No.

They're going around kawking trash like they have already beaten the Colts, even. They did beat San Diego at home, but realistically the Colts are only the second challenge from a quality opponent they have had all season. It's like being a sophomore in High School and picking on 8th graders, then taking on a Junior.

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This thread went South in a hurry.

Anyway, it's an interesting article. I'm not sure it would work here because by all accounts Bisciotti is a management guru and Snyder is a marketing guru. I'm not sure Snyder has the patience or even the inclination to restructure the organization in such a radical way. And I really doubt that - at 67 - Gibbs wants to so radically alter the structure of the team.

Also, it's still not clear to me exactly what they are doing that is so radical.

Still, it's pretty amazing that a Skins' fan can look at the Ravens for the last ten years , compare them to the Skins over the same period of time, and dismiss them. And I still can't believe we are talking about what Gibbs accomplished in the 80s as some sort of proof of his modern expertise.

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No it still would not change my mind. Billick is suppose to be an offensive genious but yet he won his first SB with probably one of the best defenses in the league ever and a very mediocre offense. This year again they have one of the best defenses in the league and just because Billick fired Jim Fassel does not mean they are now some offensive superpower. I think if anything there D cordinator Ryan is one of the biggest reasons he has a ring in the first place. Yea there offense may be decent this year but I still dont see how this guy is an offensive genious. Give him our defense this year and then see how well Billick does.

The biggest difference between Gibbs I and Billick is that Gibbs actually was an offensive genious his first go around and his teams had incredible offenses paired up with great defenses, Gibbs teams didnt have to have a D carry the team his offense played a vital role as well getting his 3 superbowls. Not trying to be an ass but seriously just no..

What does any of this have to do with the organizational structure?

Somehow, this thread became a comparison between Billick and Gibbs...which is a totally irrelevant discussion.

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What does any of this have to do with the organizational structure?

Somehow' date=' this thread became a comparison between Billick and Gibbs...which is a totally irrelevant discussion.[/quote']Sorry I thought thats what this thread was about, I have not read the article and your title said is Billick Gibbs of the 80's which I would think you mean the way he coaches and what kind of teams he put on the field. I thought this had to do about coaching and not organizational structure, I am not the only one that mis-read what this thread was about, sorry for running away with the topic. But if this thread was comparing the two that is what I believe.

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I hate the Ravens as much as anyone and I wish Peyton and Dungy great success against them this weekend - but, why is everyone so vehemently opposed to having more open lines of communication between the HC ; the FO ; scouts and coaching staff - that was the gist of the article I take it. That is a good idea IMO, and it would seem to benefit the Redskins greatly if we are to believe all of the recent talk of contention that seemingly exists throughout Redskins Park.

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What does any of this have to do with the organizational structure?

Somehow' date=' this thread became a comparison between Billick and Gibbs...which is a totally irrelevant discussion.[/quote']

Because the topic is this:

Are the Ravens the Redskins of the 80s? Is Billick a modern day Gibbs? Why?
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Mark,

your topic is very interesting. The Redskins organizational structure has some serious flaws, but it's my opinion that all NFL teams are badly organized. Even the Patriots, who have been successful, cannot keep their assistant coaches and they would suffer a serious blow in losing Scott Pioli if someone made a better offer.

I don't know enough about Baltimore's reorganization to comment on that; but I see the need for change. On losing teams, assistant coaches are made scapegoats, and the head coach wants to trade draft picks for vets or sign expensive free agents who can help him win now and save his job. Their motives aren't aligned with building for a long term success.

I'm in favor of eliminating the head coach position and giving more responsibility to a defensive coach, an offensive coach, and a special teams coach who might double as the strategist on game day (go for it, don't go for it). It's a modular plan. Hired separately, the parts can be replaced as needed without drastically disrupting the schemes year to year.

I'm thinking of a five or seven person panel of consultants which, by majority vote, would do the hiring and devise the on-field and personnel strategies in broad strokes.

Personnel strategies would begin by planning basic offensive and defensive schemes first. These plans wouldn't change if one of the coaches left. Currently, if you replace a Schottenheimer with a Spurrier, you have to retool and retrain the personnel which takes time.

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I thought the only point of this thread was comparing Bisciotti to Snyder, I don't really see where all this passionate opposition to a better management structure comes from. Comparing the record of the Ravens under Bisciotti to the Redskins under Snyder, I don't see how anyone can completely dismiss this outright.

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