The Atlanta Falcons have hired Tom Dimitroff, New England's director of college scouting, as their new general manager. His first task will be hiring a head coach. Dimitroff, 40, has been afforded the authority to hire the coach, even though outgoing general manager Rich McKay, team owner Arthur Blank and other team officials have spent the past two weeks interviewing potential coaching candidates. It is believed Dimitroff, as well as every candidate interviewed, provided names of potential head coaches they would like to pursue to replace Bobby Petrino, who resigned before the season ended to coach at the University of Arkansas.
Dimitroff is a highly respected talent evaluator who with the Patriots has worked in the shadow of coach and final decision-maker Bill Belichick and vice president of player personnel Scott Pioli, considered one of the best personnel men in the business. Dimitroff faces a challenging task of re-tooling a Falcons roster that was beset by injury, age and ineffectiveness in finishing 4-12 last season. Despite working behind the scenes for the Patriots since 2002, Dimitroff, who has 18 years of scouting/personnel experience, is well known for his work throughout the NFL. He was considered for the Minnesota Vikings general manager job two years ago.
Before joining the Patriots, Dimitroff worked as a scout for Cleveland, Detroit and Kansas City. He broke into the pro ranks working in the Canadian and World leagues.
His diligence in finding talent — typically late in each round of the draft because of the Patriots' success — is something Blank was searching for after making the decision to replace McKay as general manager three weeks ago. McKay had served as president and general manager since he was hired from Tampa Bay in December 2003.
Dimitroff arrived in Atlanta Monday to begin trudging through the multitude of tasks to try to fix the Falcons. The common thinking is that since he is relatively young, 40, he likely would hire a younger coach to grow with him in this rebuilding process. No one knows if anyone the Falcons have already interviewed - Dallas offensive coordinator Jason Garrett, Tennessee defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, Colts assistant head coach Jim Caldwell - are on his radar.
Dimitroff will have significant, if not total input on hiring a head coach. Such decisions rarely, if at all, are made unilaterally, so Blank, McKay and others likely will give their opinions on coaching candidates. A good thing for Dimitroff is he’s also coming from outside of the organization, where he can comfortably accumulate opinions from other league officials about potential coaches.
Dimitroff also must hire a staff he feels comfortable with and a staff with experience in pro personnel to help with free agency and trades. Dimitroff’s expertise lies in college talent evaluation and he hasn’t been involved in a lot of trades, salary-cap decisions and things of that nature so he is going to need some help. There are several people already employed by the Falcons who are very capable but he might want to hire some people he is aligned with to support him when tough decisions need to be made.
The next few years will tell us if Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank chose well. This much we know: Blank has absorbed a lot of criticism of late. But after being conned by Bobby Petrino, used by Bill Parcells and dancing an illogical dance with Pete Carroll, he bounced back with a reasoned choice, free of emotion, pyrotechnics and clowns with exploding feet. Blank didn’t hire a sideshow. He hired a football guy.
Eight years ago the New England Patriots weren't so good. Then owner Robert Kraft did something radical: He hired a personnel chief (Scott Pioli) known only to hard-core football geeks and a head coach (Bill Belichick) who had been a disaster in Cleveland.
Tom Dimitroff worked for the New England Patriots. For the past six seasons, he has worked for arguably the best owner (Kraft), the best personnel director (Pioli) and the best coach (Belichick) in professional sports. There is something to be said for osmosis.
Personally, this writer is thinking more along the lines of a couple of Atlanta Falcon fans that posted comments on Wyches article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitutioon today.
By dufferdawg
let me get this straight…the Falcons hired a GM with NO experience handling free agency, trades or salary cap issues…??? If his strong suit is evaluating college talent, it sounds like he should REPORT to a GM not BE a GM !!! The abyss known as the Atlanta Falcons grows deeper and darker…
dufferdawg makes a great point on experience and I preferred Tom Heckert of the Philadelphia Eagles for just that reason.
By JCSmalls
I really don’t know what to think. How did Blank and McKay interview like 10 people last week in person and this guy not be one of them. I love the fact that he came from the Pats, but other than College Scouting, how much experience does he have? I would like it if we got Jim Caldwell in here as coach and if (Tony) Dungy retires, we could get a bunch of personnel from the Colts. Setting up our franchise with Colts and Pats personnel would not hurt my feelings.
I agree with JCSmalls. I want Caldwell for Head Coach. He appears to be the best candidate Blank and McKay have talked to that is interested in the job. With Caldwell on board under Dimitroff we might have something.
The Atlanta Falcons could be nearing the end of their search for a general manager. The Falcons interviewed Philadelphia Eagles General Manager Tom Heckert for the job Monday in Atlanta and are scheduled to speak to one more prospective candidate this week — perhaps as soon as today. Following this week's round of interviews, an offer could be made, possibly before the weekend. Owner Arthur Blank said the Falcons plan to hire a GM before hiring a coach.
Heckert
Heckert appears to be the leading candidate. He's the only one of three candidates to be interviewed in Atlanta by the Falcons' search committee, led by Blank. Heckert came solidly recommended by the Eagles. He has a solid track record with the draft and in personnel acquisition and development. Two years ago he agreed to become general manager of the Minnesota Vikings, only to have the Eagles make him their general manager in order to retain him.
McKay
In searching for existing Gemeral Manager Rich McKay's replacement, the Falcons are pursuing candidates with experience in personnel evaluation, acquisition and development. Heckert is the only prospect thus far who is, or has been, a general manager. Heckert does not have final say on personnel decisions in Philadelphia. Coach Andy Reid has that authority.
The Atlanta Falcons' quest for a new general manager will resume again Monday when officials meet with current Philadelphia Eagles GM Tom Heckert.
Heckert, 40, comes highly recommended for the job by Eagles' owner Jeff Lurie and he would become the third known candidate to meet with Atlanta owner Arthur Blank and team president Rich McKay about the position. The interview is likely to be conducted in Atlanta, unlike interviews earlier this week with Green Bay director of pro personnel Reggie McKenzie and Packers' personnel analyst John Schneider, which took place in Green Bay.
The potential move would seem like a lateral one for Heckert on the surface, but iit clearly represents upward mobility, since he would oversee the Falcons' football operation. Heckert has the general manager title in Philadelphia, but it is head coach Andy Reid who holds so-called "final say authority" on personnel matters.
In seven seasons with the Eagles, Heckert has engineered very productive drafts, and has built an impressive track record as a talent evaluator. Philadelphia promoted him to general manager in 2006, when the Minnesota Vikings considered him for the same position.
Before joining the Eagles in 2001, Heckert worked in the Miami Dolphins' personnel department for 10 years. His father was also a longtime Dolphins personnel official.
Internet, Sports Talk Show and TV Buzz out of Philadelphia reaching Atlanta is that this is almost a done deal. Buzz is often wrong. But this is the strongest Buzz I have heard to date regarding who will most likely be the new GM for the Falcons.
Eagles fan here (Route36West) I just wanted to let you guys know that two credible Philly sources are reporting that Heckert is going to be offered the job imminently and will accept the job. It isn't a 100% lock, but both sources said that all indications are it is going to happen.
Joey Harrington had what some would call a snapback week on Sunday in the Atlanta Falcons 20 - 13 loss to the Tennessee Titans in Nashville. He had stretched for the last two weeks posting impressive stats against the Carolina Panthers and the Houston Texans. But against Tennessee he snapped back to his poor performance level exhibited at Minnesota and Jacksonville. What is it with him and road trips? Is he not staying hydrated on the plane?
Atlanta Coach Bobby Petrino had this to say about Joey's performance on Sunday. "I think he took a lot of hits and, toward the end of the third quarter, I felt like he wasn't completing passes that he normally completes. Offensively we're not close to what we need to be to win a game. There were a lot of missed opportunities and that's disturbing to me because I really felt like we were climbing the ladder and getting better each week... Then we took a big step back yesterday and basically got handled up front and they were the team that was more powerful and more aggressive."
Speaking of up front, do you not see that you need help on the offensive line Bobby? Petrino wasn't optimistic about a speedy return of starting left tackle Wayne Gandy. Gandy, a team captain and 14-year veteran, injured his knee in the fourth quarter and was taken off the field on a cart. Petrino said he and right tackle Todd #### underwent MRI exams Monday. I think we need some better lineman and at a minimum some healthy ones.
And with all due respect to friends of Renardo Foster, he isn't the answer.
I was pretty hard on Atlanta Falcon's Cornerback DeAngelo Hall in an earlier post. After further review, I have to give him some credit.
Audio from videos of the Falcons game with the Carolina Panthers clearly show that the referees calls on Hall were questionable. But I am more impressed with the video of his post game press conference. His words do not necessarily quote well. But his demeanor is most professional. I'll have to give him credit for that.
Now, suck it up DeAngelo. If the hand check is legal, fine. But stop the "jawing" and you will not run the risk of getting the penalty called I am an old schooler. I don't like looking at all the "jawing" anyway.
If you have to do it. Learn to be a ventriloquist.
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Heckert
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