Former Bears GM Advises Where Ryan Pace Should Focus Coaching Search

People to this day love to slam former Chicago Bears GM Jerry Angelo. It's understandable to a degree. His final run of drafts in 2010 and 2011 were a disaster and remain a key reason why the team has plummeted to the bottom of the NFC over the past few seasons. At the same time the man was responsible for the second-biggest run of success the franchise has had in the Super Bowl era. So maybe he deserves a little credit. Angelo was responsible for drafting future stars like Charles Tillman, Lance Briggs and Matt Forte. However he'd be the first to say his most important move was hiring Lovie Smith to be head coach in 2004. In the three seasons prior to that decision, Angelo was 24-24 as GM. After hiring Smith he went 71-57 including a trip to the Super Bowl and three division titles. He knows exactly the kind of pressure Ryan Pace is under this upcoming offseason. Everybody believes a change at head coach is all but certain. It's a decision Pace can't afford to get wrong. Dan Pompei of The Athletic asked Angelo on how he might attack such a colossal task. The answers were revealing.

Former Chicago Bears GM says it's best to be where others aren't

Angelo offered an intriguing hint regarding where the Bears would be wise to focus in 2018. Of course it didn't involve another trip to the CFL like with Marc Trestman, but still down an avenue that the franchise has actually never gone before. At least not in the modern era.

"Pompei: Are there any assistant coaches, former head coaches or college head coaches that you think would make a good NFL head coach? Angelo: Absolutely, there are always going to be deserving candidates from each group you mentioned. I would look hard at the colleges now.  Long-time NFL coordinators usually attract the most interest and have the best ratio for long term success. Their experience, as coordinators, seems to be the best predictor."

Reading into that it feels like Angelo is saying this:  everybody will be focused on the coordinators next year. Why not use that as a chance to get a head start on what could be a rich pool of college coaches. Keep in mind that the Bears have only hired a college coach to head their franchise once. That was in 1930 when they brought up Lake Forest head coach Ralph Jones for the job. George Halas knew him well, having played under him when he was an assistant at Illinois. Jones went 24-10-7 with an NFL championship in 1932 before Halas took over again.

College coaching route has been a mixed bag

The truth is taking college head coaches straight to the NFL has brought both good and bad results in the past. Chip Kelly had some early success in Philadelphia but became a disaster over his final three years. Steve Spurrier, Bobby Petrino and even the immortal Nick Saban dominated college only to find disappointment in the pros. At the same time there is a hefty list of college coaches who were outstanding upon the jump up the ladder. Tom Coughlin, Pete Carroll, Dick Vermeil, Jimmy Johnson, and Bill Walsh all ended up winning Super Bowls after productive college runs. It's all about whether they find the right situations for their styles to work. That is something Angelo harped on.

"I want to know their strengths, the type of leaders they are, players they developed, their work ethic and the assistant coaches they want to hire at the key coaching assistant positions. These are some of the things I’d look for initially. Then I want to know this: “Are they going to be a good working partner?” No one can do it alone. The job is too big for any one person. So being a good working partner is as important as anything. It’s not about hiring the coach with the best resume. Plenty of those types failed. It’s about hiring the best coach, who is going to be the best partner. It’s a professional marriage. If it fails, so does the organization."

It's true. Carroll was a failure with both the Patriots and Jets in the 1990s. It was only after his run at USC and finding a good fit in Seattle that his NFL career blossomed. The same must happen for Pace. He must not only find an accomplished coach, but one who shares many of the same philosophies.