Bottom line, if you can get someone from that Ron Wolf tree of scouts/executives, you are doing good. Those guys you are wanting in Seattle, Todd......Ron Wolf tree.
If we hypothetically like Fitterer's potential, how about serenading an experienced HC like Cowher and giving him greater authority in order to minimize Fitterer's potential risk as an inexperiinced GM so that we can just let him do what he does best- draft a strong roster. I think if you give Cowher a physical, Seattle-caliber team to work with he would know what to do with it and could find the right staff to get the most from it. Then again, this is Fitterer's 4th year with Seattle as Director of College Scouting so he could very well be ready to have the training wheels removed.
IMO, it's pretty much a waste of time to include any hypothetical that includes Cowher or Jon Gruden. If they wanted to coach in the league again it would have happened by now. Also, the track of records of past Super Bowl winners with a subsequent team, just off the top of my head, isn't very good.
Cowher as a coach is not a bad idea, but I would not want any of the old geezers making personnel decisions. He'd need to be limited to locker room. THe guy from Seattle is great because he drafts playmakers from college, not acorns. I'd rather pair him up with a college coach like the one from Baylor who will run some exciting stuff. Then Cowher can come in and be a DC if he pleases, otherwise, no.
okay, so how about a pair of experienced coordinators instead?..... perhaps with David Shaw as HC considering the physical 3-4 type of defense he runs at Stanford. Shaw-Fitterer could be a good mix.
Honestly, I do not expect Shaw is going to leave Stanford anytime soon. My idea is an experienced head coach with some degree of success, but just fell short of the big prize so are still hungry, paired with a good up and coming personnel man. JMO, for head coach: Lovie Smith, very good W-L record and been to one Super Bowl. Could bring instant credibility to the team. Needs a good young OC to go with him though, and not Mike Tice. Ken Whisenhunt, also proved that if you give him some tools can get the job done. Cards should have won that SB that he and Warner led them to. Jack Del Rio, was competitive in a tough division with a poor GM getting him players. That is my short list anyway. Perhaps not quite as creative as some of the others. GM, my #1 choice if he wants the job has been and still is Eric DeCosta. Whomever is hired, I hope it is someone with a background on the personnel side, more than on the admin side of things. You make a good case for Scott Fitterer, and I could live with that choice too. Some have mentioned Ruston Webster and he would also be a very suitable choice IMO too. However he is under contract to the Titans as GM so do not expect him to be leaving there.
I think you have to be all encompassing on this. Why not get someone from Green Bay? I understand the angle you are coming from, but the fact is, John Schneider went to Seattle from Green Bay. Prior to his first stint in Seattle, Scot McCloughan was in Green Bay. Will Lewis got his start in scouting in Green Bay. I'm not sure where Fitterer got his start, but he was brought to Seattle by Mike Holmgren, who was from Green Bay. Green Bay has three potential GM candidates waiting in the wings: Director of Collegiate Scouting Brian Gutekunst, Director of Pro Personnel Eliot Wolf (Ron's son), and Director of Player Personnel Alonzo Highsmith.
Shaun Herock with the Raiders is Ken Herock's son, and he worked in the Packers scouting department prior to going with Reggie McKenzie to Oakland this past year.
I don't mind being all encompassing in the search. It's just that for me, if it's between two promising up-and-comers, one from Seattle and one from Green Bay, I'd prefer the one from Seattle who better understands Seattle's template, their system, and already displays the ability to find talent that best fits it b/c IMO Seattle's template is the one that best fits us, not Green Bay's. Personally, I'd rather do it that way than bring in a Packers guy and ask him to build a Seahawks type team. Go right to the source. You asked, "why not get someone from Green Bay". Well, if the Seattle guys have Green Bay influence to them as you mentioned, then wouldn't hiring them essentially qualify as getting someone from Green Bay? IMO, with all things being equal, what would be better than hiring a Green Bay guy would be hiring someone with ties to or influences from both Seattle & Green Bay. Two for one. I get what you're saying about these Seattle guys having spent time in Green Bay, but the truth is Seattle was a collaborative effort that stretched beyond Green Bay, so I believe you might be lending too much credit to Green Bay for Seattle's success. IIRC John Schneider & Pete Carroll desired to create a bigger, stronger, nastier Seattle team rather than recreate Green Bay 2.0, and that's the same philosophy McCloughan successfully employed with transforming San Fran's D, the likes of Schneider hadn't seen in Green Bay his previous 9 years. Had it not been for McCloughan's time spent honing his philosophy in San Fran and learning from mistakes there, I'm not sure he, Schneider, and Carroll could've established the same Seahawks team overnight the way they did. I don't understand your Holmgren-Fitterer reference b/c Holmgren is unrelated to Seattle's current success, and the Seattle blueprint that Fitterer is scouting for is unrelated to Holmgren. In fact, Seattle's scoring defense during Holmgren's 10 year tenure ranked 17th on average, so I'd say Fitterer is more influenced by McCloughan via San Fran than anything Green Bay related, and likewise I'd say McCloughan's stamp on Seattle is more influenced by his prior time in San Fran than Green Bay. Will Lewis only spent 1 year as a Green Bay scout and that was in 1997 so I'm not sure that carries a lot of weight. Pete Carroll was never a Packers guy. I think it could be argued that part of McCloughan's downfall in San Fran was due to coming from a QB-driven Green Bay organization and trying to duplicate that success despite not having a Brett Favre behind center. He hired Green Bay's current HC Mike McCarthy as his Offensive Coordinator who had previously served as the OC of a pass-happy New Orleans team, and before that was Green Bay's QB coach [for Brett Favre]. At one point he turned to Mike Martz. To me, it initially seemed like he went with what he knew and placed too much emphasis on developing a passing game. So for me personally, I'd be hesitant to hire a Green Bay lifer like Gutekunst, Eliot Wolf, or Highsmith who only know the Green Bay way when we currently don't have a QB performing at a Favre/Rodgers level. Give me the guy who has learned how to win on the back of a great defense and a strong ground game, especially if he's familiar with Green Bay's QB-driven way.
