Friday, May 10, 2002

ProFootballWeekly.com asks personnel expert Joel Buchsbaum for his thoughts on the hottest topics in football. 

Mueller fired as Saints general manager

Saints owner Tom Benson asked general manager Randy Mueller to resign Thursday. When he refused, he was fired. Mueller, who took the Saints from a 3-13 record to the NFC West title and their only playoff victory two seasons ago, was fired for not communicating well enough, according to Benson. Benson said he was unaware of the decision to trade RB Ricky Williams this spring and could tell Mueller was not communicating by walking around Saints headquarters this spring. Mueller’s meeting with the Falcons for the general manager position also did not sit well with Benson. He said he originally told the Falcons they could not talk to Mueller, but Mueller asked to go. Falcons general manager Harold Richardson resigned Thursday, but Benson and Mueller said it was a coincidence.

Buchsbaum: Everyone in the Saints’ organization was shocked when Randy Mueller was fired yesterday by owner Tom Benson. However, knowing Benson’s track record, no one really should have been that shocked considering how he tends to change his opinion of people very quickly. The ideal choice to replace Mueller would be former Eagles GM Tom Modrak, currently working for the Bills. When Modrak was the Eagles GM, the finalists for the head-coaching job were Jim Haslett, the Saints current head coach and Andy Reid, who got the job. Modrak and Haslett can work very well together, and Modrak is one of the league’s best personnel people. He also has outstanding people skills. What he doesn’t have is the Wall Street look and the fancy, young, tailored-down appearance that the new NFL executives tend to have. What he does have is the great football savvy and knowledge that it takes to build a championship football team.

Sunderland may be headed to Redskins

Marv Sunderland resigned as the New York Giants' director of college player personnel to spend more time with his ailing mother according to the Giants. Sunderland, who directed the team's preparations for the NFL draft, will remain as a special assignments scout. He spent four seasons with the Giants. Sixteen of the 23 players he helped select in the first three rounds of the draft are still with the team. Two more are on other teams. Sunderland, 57, said the move was the right thing for him and his family although other sources say that disagreements in the front office had more to do with Sunderland’s decision.

Buchsbaum: Former Giants director of college personnel Marv Sunderland, who resigned recently because of all the in-fighting around him although he did get along very well with GM Ernie Accorsi, right now seems to be cooling his heels. However, many people expect him to go with the Washington Redskins once he has a chance to think about it. He is very highly respected around the league and when he was with the Jets, he worked with Ron Nay, who currently is one of the Redskins’ top college scouts. The Redskins obviously realize they made a mistake hiring so many young scouts with no prior experience and let three go, creating at least one salary opening, which Sunderland can fill and really upgrade the team. They already have Nay, who is highly regarded and Joe Mendes still has an extensive and very impressive scouting background.

Legendary coach Devine dies at 77

Dan Devine died at his home in Tempe, Ariz., on Thursday at age 77 after a long illness. Devine went 172-57-9 (a .742 winning percentage) over 22 seasons at Notre Dame, Missouri and Arizona State. As a college head coach, he had just one losing season. He also coached the Green Bay Packers for four seasons, going 25-27-4. Devine was elected to the National Football Foundation's college Hall of Fame in 1985. He went to Green Bay in 1971. After going 4-8-2 in his first season, the Packers won the NFC Central at 10-4 the next season. But they fell back to 5-7-2 in 1973 and 6-8 the next year. His final and greatest coaching tenure occurred at Notre Dame, where he replaced Hall of Fame coach Ara Parseghian in 1975. In five seasons under Devine, the Fighting Irish were 53-16-1 and won three bowl games.

Buchsbaum: The death of Dan Devine brings back many memories. Devine was an excellent, excellent college coach at the University of Missouri, where he made the Tigers a national power. However, after going to Green Bay with the power of both coach and GM, he fell on hard times because Dan Devine, the GM, often undermined Dan Devine, the head coach. In one of the worst deals in NFL history, desperate to save his job, Devine gave the Los Angeles Rams three first-round draft picks, a second-round pick and a third-round pick spread out over two years for QB John Hadl. Hadl had once been one of the game’s best quarterbacks, but everyone that saw him in L.A. prior to being dealt felt he was on the verge of losing his job to James Harris and that his arm had lost its zip.

The Archives
2001 - 2002 Season