Pat B really impressed in 1st meeting with McDaniels
By Mike Klis
The Denver Post
Posted: 07/26/2009 01:00:00 AM MDT
Pat Bowlen (Denver Post file photo)Related Articles
Jul 26:
Pat Bowlen needed 14 years to fire Mike Shanahan and only two hours to replace him.
The search to replace Shanahan as Broncos coach had moved to a conference room at the Biltmore Hotel in Providence, R.I. It was a Sunday morning, Jan. 4.
As team owner, Bowlen led a Broncos committee that also included his right-hand man Joe Ellis, and football executives Brian Xanders, Jim Goodman and Jeff Goodman.
Sitting before this group was Josh McDaniels, the 32-year-old offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots.
"It was two hours and Pat, frankly, cut the meeting short by saying, 'I want to know how interested you are in being the head coach of the Denver Broncos?' " Ellis said.
Bowlen then explained he had others to interview. He also encouraged McDaniels to gather questions of how the Broncos' operation works.
There was no magic moment that led the Broncos to hire McDaniels as their new head coach. It wasn't one thing he said, or how he looked. An eight-year apprenticeship under Bill Belichick didn't hurt, but it was McDaniels' straightforward manner and presentation that sold Bowlen.
"Pat said, 'I'm going to go through the process, but I want you to know I'm interested and we're going to talk some more,' " Ellis said. "(McDaniels) was the leader in the clubhouse at that point."
The following Thursday, Bowlen had Ellis fly back to Providence to meet with McDaniels for a one-on-one session, this time at the Renaissance hotel. This time, it was McDaniels who initiated the questioning. Ellis figured it would be a two-hour meeting. It lasted 5-1/2 hours.
Did McDaniels know he had the job at that point?
"I thought I had an opportunity to maybe get asked to take it, but I did not think I had it," he said. "At that point, I had not talked to (wife) Laura thoroughly enough to say I would have taken it. That wasn't the set up, anyway. It was, 'Take a few days, if anything else comes up, make sure we call one another and
Pat will call you on Sunday.' "
For his initial presentation to Bowlen and company, McDaniels smartly began with defense. He wanted an attacking style. Given the way the Broncos were so putrid the previous 2-1/2 seasons on defense, McDaniels immediately had Bowlen's attention.
"One of the things that stuck out was how small we were," McDaniels said, meaning the Broncos, not the Patriots, who whipped Denver 41-7 in a Monday night game last October. "In our game, we ended up with Boss (Bailey, a 232-pound outside linebacker) at the end of the line of scrimmage. They were really more of a finesse, smaller type of a front seven."
Said Ellis: "What happened on that Sunday morning was eye-opening to Pat. He was very impressed with how Josh was extremely clear and concise in communicating his plan for winning.
Not once during the interview did we look at this guy and say, 'Wow, he's young.' Not once
http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_12916145
Reply With Quote
