Clark Hunt Flawless in Landing Andy Reid

It seems like it’s been weeks already but amazingly it was just two days ago that Andy Reid was named the new head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs. Friday’s news coincided with the team parting ways with GM Scott Pioli, but that’s another discussion we will get into in a upcoming article (hopefully sooner rather than later).

He may not be Superman but Clark Hunt showed some super-hero skill this week. (Photo Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports)

While I question Clark Hunt’s methods as they relate to his handling of Pioli, it’s impossible for me to find fault in how our CEO has handled the transition from Romeo Crennel to Andy Reid.

Hunt acted quickly and decisively on both fronts and, if overzealous reports and speculation are to be believed, swooped in and stole a head coach away from the Arizona Cardinals. Personally I think it’s laughable that anyone reported Reid to Arizona was a 95% probability since he never actually met with team and their ownership is substandard at best, but that’s the way it goes in today’s day and age of reporting.

Regardless, the fact is that Reid immediately became a hot commodity when the Eagles let him go and it was Clark Hunt’s leadership and decisive action that will have Reid roaming our sidelines and not another teams on Sundays for the foreseeable future.

Consider some of the notable moves that Clark Hunt accomplished in just a matter of days:

• Showed a willingness to change the reporting structure of his organization
• Realigned responsibilities of various top positions
• Quickly identified the coach he wanted to hire
• Instead of waiting for that coach to come to them, boarded a plane with other team officials and traveled to Philadelphia
• Met with said coach on for over nine hours
• Signed the coach to a five year contract that will make him one of the highest paid in the NFL
• Gave the coach complete authority over personnel decisions

These are huge moves for any business owner to make and obviously all of them made a huge impression on Andy Reid and his agent Bob LaMont. Mike Garafolo and Jarrett Bell published an article on USA Today with the following:

"LaMonte said that as the talks progressed with the Chiefs, Reid quickly decided that he did not want to engage in a bidding war with the other teams that he talked with, the Arizona Cardinals and San Diego Chargers.“The bottom line was that there was only one job that he wanted.” LaMonte said. “That’s why we didn’t fool around.”"

The hiring of Reid could very well blow up in the Chiefs face and go badly, but there is no question that Clark Hunt’s handling of things this week as it relates to the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs has been nothing short of flawless and spectacular. Sometimes the right moves have the wrong results but as things stand today he’s made all the right moves with respect to the team’s head coach.

For the portion of the fan base who has recently criticized Clark Hunt for not caring about winning, for not being willing to spend, for not being committed to the organization or community, or for a slew of other things I’ve heard around town, you probably want to find a new whipping boy for your complaints. Whether this hiring pays off I think it’s safe to say that the Chiefs CEO has more than adequately debunked and silenced those criticisms.