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re: A look back at the Mike Ditka hire. At the time, who did you want as the new head coach?
Posted on 5/24/21 at 1:21 am to Athis
Posted on 5/24/21 at 1:21 am to Athis
quote:Buddy D, RIP, was all over hiring Ditka at the time. I kinda bought into it at the time.
Wasn't Buddy Diliberto all for hiring Ditka? I guess Buddy would call himself a squirrel in this move.
Finks/Mora were a great combo for the Saints, considering the Saints hadn't make the playoffs prior to that regime. But losing playoff game after playoff game took it's toll as well. Ditka was legendary at the time with his playing career, SNL skits, and the '85 and mid 80's Bears. We saw how it turned out in hindsight.
As an aside, it's still pretty funny to me that Jim Haslett is the first coach to win a playoff game with the Saints. I was lucky to be at that game and many heartfelt thanks to Az-Zahir Hakim for the best muffed punt.
It was also interesting at the time, there was a lot of discussion on Haslett/Saints and Saban/LSU as to whom the better coach was since they landed around same time. Hindsight is always an interesting thing.
1
Posted on 5/24/21 at 9:03 pm to drizztiger
I was excited about the hire. Proven winner with Chicago. Interesting to wonder how he would’ve done had he not made RW trade. I mean couldn’t be worse.
Posted on 5/25/21 at 1:27 am to Suntiger
quote:
At the time, I remember Mike Ditka being a home run hire.
I remember Buddy Diliberto being really enthusiastic about Ditka, and whipping up some very brief enthusiasm. "Home run" is an oversell. I somehow knew it was a terrible idea.
Posted on 5/25/21 at 10:02 am to Akit1
quote:
Interesting to wonder how he would’ve done had he not made RW trade
Bad. The drafting under Ditka was horrible.
1997 is one of the worst drafts in Saints history.
Naeole was a Guard drafted #10 overall (not a bad career but way too high for him).
The 2 second round picks were Rob Kelly (12 career starts) and Jared Tomich (18 career starts and 10 sacks).
Troy Davis was the tiny RB drafted in the third round (446 career rushing yards).
Danny Wuerffel was taken in the fourth round.
1998 brought us Kyle Turley in the first round and was a good pick.
The second round brought Cam Cleeland. 54 catches his rookie season but only 39 more plus injuries in the next 3 years with the Saints.
The rest of the draft brought in players few even remember...Fred Weary, Julian Pittman, Wilmont Perry and more scrubs that rarely if ever played.
Then 1999 brought us Ricky Williams followed by a total housecleaning.
During the Ditka years the only drafted players worth anything were Turley, Naeole and Ricky.
This post was edited on 5/25/21 at 10:03 am
Posted on 5/25/21 at 3:15 pm to Paul Allen
Saints GM Bill Kuharich was over his skis in the job at the time of the hire.
Hand-picked successor to Jim Finks, he was GM from 1996 to 2000 when the Chiefs did us a solid and poached him.
The Peter Principle at work.
Benson's default position was cheap and needed to be instructed how to spend wisely.
While Ditka didn't come cheap, he was lazy and the game had passed him by.
Cheap and lazy are not a good recipe for success.
Randy Mueller (Kuharich's successor) wasn't much better in his two year stint ('00-'02).
Loomis has been the right man for the job since '02.
Having CSP & #9 for the majority of his tenure in the job hasn't hurt.
Hand-picked successor to Jim Finks, he was GM from 1996 to 2000 when the Chiefs did us a solid and poached him.
The Peter Principle at work.
Benson's default position was cheap and needed to be instructed how to spend wisely.
While Ditka didn't come cheap, he was lazy and the game had passed him by.
Cheap and lazy are not a good recipe for success.
Randy Mueller (Kuharich's successor) wasn't much better in his two year stint ('00-'02).
Loomis has been the right man for the job since '02.
Having CSP & #9 for the majority of his tenure in the job hasn't hurt.
Posted on 5/25/21 at 9:46 pm to Paul Allen
during the ditka years, saints would have been undefeated had the game only lasted for three quarters.
so much awfullness...so many quarterbacks named billy joe.
heath shuler was an absolute bomb and the Danny Wonderful pick showed the depth of Ditka's arrogance and cluelessness--that he could make Danny into an NFL qb. just as you cant make a ho a housewife, you cant make a system qb into an NFL starter.
We picked up damaged goods in Vodka Collins, but then he goes and wins a superbowl with Fassel. go figure.
La Roi Glover and Sammy Knight were two bright lights of that era. the rest is a blur of really bad qb play, no name running backs (until Weird Ricky) like that guy we got from Seattle and past their prime veterans like Eddie Kennison and Ashley Ambrose.
the days when you could still go buy a ticket at the box office right before kickoff and the local games were blacked out.
so much awfullness...so many quarterbacks named billy joe.
heath shuler was an absolute bomb and the Danny Wonderful pick showed the depth of Ditka's arrogance and cluelessness--that he could make Danny into an NFL qb. just as you cant make a ho a housewife, you cant make a system qb into an NFL starter.
We picked up damaged goods in Vodka Collins, but then he goes and wins a superbowl with Fassel. go figure.
La Roi Glover and Sammy Knight were two bright lights of that era. the rest is a blur of really bad qb play, no name running backs (until Weird Ricky) like that guy we got from Seattle and past their prime veterans like Eddie Kennison and Ashley Ambrose.
the days when you could still go buy a ticket at the box office right before kickoff and the local games were blacked out.
Posted on 5/26/21 at 9:05 am to midcitycid
Does anyone remember that kicker for denver who would kick field goals without a shoe on his kicking foot
Posted on 5/26/21 at 12:38 pm to Chalkywhite84
quote:Nope, never heard of that.
Does anyone remember that kicker for denver who would kick field goals without a shoe on his kicking foot
Rich Karlis (Wikipedia Link)
Posted on 5/27/21 at 10:52 am to soccerfüt
quote:
Randy Mueller (Kuharich's successor) wasn't much better in his two year stint ('00-'02).
He wasn't? Wasn't he Executive of the Year in 2000? And then I remember him unloading Ricky in '02.
It was the baby-sacrificing that got him in trouble, not personnel.
Posted on 5/29/21 at 9:08 am to USMEagles
quote:
He wasn't? Wasn't he Executive of the Year in 2000? And then I remember him unloading Ricky in '02.
He was. Just remember the mass exodus before the 2002 season. Lost Roaf, Glover and Johnson.
Posted on 5/29/21 at 9:19 am to Akit1
Where did Roaf end up? For some reason I thought he played his entire career with the Saints.
Posted on 5/29/21 at 10:29 am to Paul Allen
Kansas City for this Dick Vermile , Trent Green teams that lit it up
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