It isn’t because Greater Atlanta has close to 1.2 million black inhabitants.
It isn’t because the black community needs a role model to rally around and point their children to after the debacle with Michael Vick.
It isn’t because it would create a new ground-swell of support for the team and fill seats in the Georgia Dome.
It isn’t to try to lessen the disparity between the numbers of black and white head coaches in the NFL.
It isn’t because I think it would be politically correct to do so.
The reason that Atlanta needs a black head coach is because the best man for the job, Mike Singletary, just happens to be black.
I have several reasons to believe that he is the man for the job:
He is a man of integrity and character. After the scene Tuesday with Bobby Petrino running out of town like his hair is on fire, Atlanta needs someone trustworthy. He was considered for a position as the head coach at his alma mater Baylor, but he passed on it because it was November and they wanted him to leave his job as linebackers coach for San Francisco in the middle of the season to take the post – something he refused to do saying “I finish what I start and keep my commitments before moving on to something else.” How refreshing is that in light of what has just happened and what seems to happen in College Football each year?
He is a great teacher and leader. He was a fierce player, vocal team leader, Super Bowl winner and consensus HOF pick. Few people command as much respect by simply walking in the room and he knows how to communicate with professional football players; a skill that Petrino sorely lacked. He was the one who taught Ray Lewis, Peter Boulware and Adalius Thomas the ropes at Baltimore, sending them all to the Pro Bowl. He teaches with great passion and energy and is able to help his players reach their full potential.
He’ll attract top flight assistants; and we all know that a coach is only as good as his staff. It doesn’t take a genius to be a head coach. It does take someone that knows how to surround himself with competent people and manage their efforts effectively. When Halas hired Ditka in Chicago in 1982, people thought he has lost his mind. Mike Ditka was a fiery ex-player with no administrative or head coaching experience whatsoever. Mike retained great Defensive Coordinator and future NFL Head Coach Buddy Ryan and landed Offensive Coordinator Ed Hughes who patterned his offense after Tom Landry’s 70’s Dallas teams. Long story short…it worked out. The situation in Atlanta is just as sparse as it was in Chicago back then and I believe Mike Singletary is the man who may be able to pull off the same thing that Ditka did in Chicago , making the team a winner again.
He has been where the Atlanta players are right now. No, he hasn’t been on a team that lost its star quarterback to prison just before the start of the season and their head coach 13 games into his first season - nobody has. He has, however, been on a Chicago team that was in turmoil and wasn’t just being beaten by teams in 1981, but humiliated. It took an improbable three-game winning streak at the end of the ’81 season just to bring their record to 6-10. There’s no question that the Atlanta team is deflated and hurt. They are not going to respond well to another coach like Patrino who will try to intimidate and bully the players around. Singletary is the man that can help that healing process and lead by the virtue of the respect he commands for the career he has had and with his motivational talents he has honed speaking all over the country for corporate and civic organizations during the off-season.
I don’t discount the talents of Dallas Offensive Coordinator Jason Garrett or former Washington Redskin and current assistant head coach at the University of Arizona Russ Grimm; both have been named as candidates for the job and both of which I think will eventually become good NFL head coaches. I just believe Mike Singletary to have the right background and skill sets to help repair a very damaged Falcons team.
The bottom is about to fall out in Atlanta and the SEC is about to become an even tougher conference.
After just 13 games, Bobby Petrino, who was brought to Atlanta as head coach because it was thought that he would be able to help Michael Vick raise the bar and truly realize his potential, resigned as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons and took the vacant position as the head coach of Arkansas.
The Falcon players are livid because he did not and still has not addressed the Atlanta players of coaches directly. Most are calling it a classless move.
The University of Arkansas is ecstatic because they just landed what is thought to be one of the brightest offensive minds in football.
There is no word yet on who will take over as Atlanta's head coach for the remainder of the season.
I don't know how to feel about this one. On one side I don't blame him "gettin' out while the gettin' is good"; on the other hand I think it showed a lack of class and respect for him to not address his team about his decision.
