Yahoo! Sports Mike Silver is either making something for the sake of his late night diatribe for his column or else we’re stumbling onto something unexpected for the first time. But as yet another columnist places Kansas City Chiefs head coach Todd Haley on the hot seat and speaks of his possible dismissal, Silver mentions another reason besides the Chiefs on-field disaster this season.
Specifically, Silver addresses a growing tension and inability to get along with general manager Scott Pioli as the main reason why Haley would be ousted. Even more surprising, Silver mentions it with such ease, like it should be common knowledge. He writes:
While Haley on the hot seat will strike most fans as odd – he was a legitimate coach of the year candidate in 2010, his second season in K.C. – people who know what’s going on inside the organization are nodding their heads unremarkably.
That there is a lot of tension between Haley and his boss, general manager Scott Pioli, is the worst kept secret in NFL circles. The fact that they get along like vegetarians and Gates Barbecue shouldn’t be enough to get Haley fired, but the combination of that and a season from hell could certainly do the trick.
It’s surprising that the two wouldn’t get along since it was clear that Pioli was zeroing in on Todd Haley in the first place as his primary coaching candidate. If you think back to the time Pioli was fired, fans and writers were wondering why Pioli kept silent on the coaching candidates coming in while other teams were not only filling their head coaching slots but their assistant roles as well. The reason was because Pioli couldn’t talk to his candidate yet because Arizona, Haley’s former employer, was still playing in the postseason.
Certainly the interview process wasn’t about a couple of phone calls and a face-to-face with Pioli, right? Certainly, Pioli did his homework, hung out with the guy, checked several references and knew his body of work well before he hired him. Certainly Pioli cannot be that surprised at Haley’s demeanor, philosophy and techniques. It’s clear he didn’t even want anyone else.
Yet apparently the tension between the two is the ‘worst kept secret in NFL circles.’ Silver is undoubtedly stretching the story to make a point, but this is the first I’ve heard of any tension between these two in Arrowhead. And if so, that definitely makes Haley a hotter seat than I realized.
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