One thing was clear at the end of Romeo Crennel's interim period as head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs this season: he was the clear player's choice in the locker room. And fans had warmed up to the idea as well after the team took down the mighty Green Bay Packers and even handled Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos at season's end. The Chiefs, in other words, showed signs of life against playoff teams, and that makes a major difference .
That was enough to give Crennel the job and others agree that they made the right move. The latest column from Seth Wickersham at ESPN points out the off-season coaching hires and Wickersham says the Chiefs made the best move they could have made in promoting from within.
Wickersham writes, "Like [Jeff] Fisher, Crennel is a so-called retread, which means that he's held a previous NFL head-coaching job. It's an undervalued trait. According to NYU, hires with previous NFL head-coaching experience win 57 percent of their regular-season games and 52 percent of their playoff games in their second jobs. It makes sense: Most coaches cannot be choosy their first time around and often walk into awful situations. (See: Cleveland.)
"But remember, they have to be good retreads. One of the most important factors in retreads was whether factors outside of their control reasonably contributed to their losing. NYU analyzed the win-loss records for each coach's team three years before his hiring and three years after his departure. It's safe to say that Crennel was not the only reason that the Cleveland Browns have lost; the Browns have won 14 games since he was fired. He was the best candidate the Chiefs could have hoped for."
The Chiefs pl