Semi OT: Pioli's Paranoia? (merged X2)

[RobertWeathers]

Semi OT: Pioli's Paranoia?

We've all worked in jobs (particulary in high-tech) where our employer was a bit on the anal side. This article paints Pioli on par with the CIA.

I wonder how much Pioli has implemented in KC that was done in Foxboro?

My take is that he is going a bit overboard and many of the axed employees have an agenda.

Since Scott Pioli was hired as general manager in January 2009, life for many inside the Chiefs’ front office has been marked by massive staff turnover, fear and insecurity about how closely they are watched. Numerous current and former staffers paint a picture of constant worry — and, in a few cases, of alleged age discrimination. Three former department heads sued the Chiefs in 2011, though the team has denied wrongdoing.

Pioli’s background was with the New England Patriots, a team known for its devotion to privacy and bending the rules. As he promised, the environment changed. Some said it changed too much.

This one is funny..

During his first year, Pioli noticed a candy wrapper in a back stairwell and waited to see how long it took to be picked up. About a week passed, and it remained in the stairwell. He placed the wrapper in an envelope, and during a meeting of department heads, Donovan, then the team’s chief operating officer, brandished the wrapper as evidence of the attention to detail that Chiefs employees had grown to ignore.

This one too...

But many saw Pioli as the face of the new way — and of overreaction. Melton said she frequently took the brunt of Pioli’s outbursts on such matters as the temperature in his office, the radio signal in the weight room, and how much the organization spent annually on coffee.

Pioli pored over former president Denny Thum’s call log, a former high-ranking employee said, before Thum was asked to resign in September 2010 after 36 years with the team.

This past year, Haley stopped talking on the phone and repeatedly checked his office for listening devices. After being fired, Haley didn’t respond to interview requests; many former staffers said they signed confidentiality agreements upon being let go.

Arrowhead anxiety: Turnover off the field causes concern - KansasCity.com

 

[MoLewisrocks]

The paranoia isn't Pioli's...

http://www.patsfans.com/new-england...-apparently-parallel-lack-accountability.html

 

[RobertWeathers]

The paranoia isn't Pioli's...

http://www.patsfans.com/new-england...-apparently-parallel-lack-accountability.html

Sorry didn't see your post yesterday.

I think the truth is somewhere is the middle.

-Lots of PO'ed ex employees with an axe to grind.
-Haley is nuts.
-SP is a 1st time org leader and is putting his stamp on things. He may have gone overboard on a few items and will learn that true accountability and attention to detail isn't achieved by calling out people who drop candy wrappers. (if true).

We heard similar stories out of CLE when BB took over. Many of them were created by the mediots who were now denied the level of access to the team that they had previously.

 

[Sean Pa Patriot]

ot- oh boy this is worse than spygate...

boy haley and pioli really didnt like each other huh???


Watergate meets Arrowhead, allegedly | ProFootballTalk

 

[Mogamedogz]

Re: ot- oh boy this is worse than spygate...

I don't even think OJ was bigger than Spygate in sports media.

 

[Rob0729]

Re: ot- oh boy this is worse than spygate...

I always thought Haley was a paranoid head case and this article confirms this. Why would anyone believe anything Haley said when he chewed Jim Harbaugh out this summer for running up the game in a GD preseason game?

Haley has some serious mental issues and he probably planted this story to get back at Pioli for firing him. I am sure that Pioli isn't the most fun guy to work for, but tampering with Haley's phone and bugging his offices?

 

[IllegalContact]

Re: ot- oh boy this is worse than spygate...

he sounds like he's afraid of his own shadow.......

who would ever hire this guy again? or is he already in business somewhere?

does it ever bother you when the automated voice says 'this phone call may be recorded'

in an NFL front office, why would you not assume you are being bugged anyway? on top of that, you signed on with a GM....why would you not be 100% in that court anyway?

its one of these things that you should not have anything to worry about unless you are guilty of something.....sounds like he is guilty of something

 

[nabwong]

Re: ot- oh boy this is worse than spygate...

No this is not bigger than spygate, even if true, cos no one gives a rat's ass about Todd Haley. Lol

 

[Rob0729]

There is speculation Haley may end up with the Jets. Whoo boy, that could be a problem because Haley might accuse Rex of stealing his sandwich out of the fridge. It might something like this Friends episode:

5X9 TOW Ross's Sandwich - YouTube

 

[MoLewisrocks]

I realized early on that Scott had made a HUGE mistake when I saw Haley treating the franchise tagged QB his GM had just traded for and signed to a long term deal publicly like some jag brought in for a competition while the troubled and dropsie prone but talented WR was being talked up. Coaching polar opposite to BB. And Pioli was allowing him to become the one voice in KC. That voice can't be an egotistical loose cannon, that's not how the system works. Then there were the veteran defections like Gonsalez who couldn't get the hell out of there fast enough and eventually Waters (who felt marginalized and scapegoated by the regime - I bet he could tell some tales and I bet he got some references before landing here). Then there was the chaos on offense as Haley fired Gailey on the eve of the season and the whole offense floundered while Matt took an unnecessary beating because Haley didn't want to run the ball even though he had the weapons to. Then Charlie and RAC came in and stabilized the whole thing only to have Charlie bail in a bizarre backwards lateral move. This season with a puppet OC you had Cassel screaming at the sidelines because they couldn't get plays in.

Like Bill always says, mistakes will kill you. And Pioli made a doozy right out of the gate. He also may have made a mistake in selecting KC as his first solo job too. I get he wanted a stable family owned franchise ripe for a turnaround as his base, but this second generation one came complete with wacko media who worshipped their emotional coaching toadys and a delusional fan base who always saw their return to the glory days as just around the corner. A lot like JETS fans. A total rebuild didn't appeal to them. Haley's arrogance and impatience did. They saw him as opposed to Scott and/or Matt as their savior out of the gate. Save the Schottenheimer/Vermeil tease years when they won a lot except when it mattered - yet remember foldly, they are at 42 years and counting - just a year less than the JETS have been waiting for a return to the Super Bowl.

They are so disillusioned no one has even updated their Wiki page noting Haley has been fired...LOL I feel for Scott and Matt but in the end we got Josh back and had Scott not gone to KC when he did that likely wouldn't have happened since he probably wouldn't have had any reason to use a #1 on Tebow after jettisoning Cutler.

Not sure Scott can recover from his first three year coaching mistake in that environment. But he will have other opportunities, which isn't a given for Haley on the heels of this article. Much like Mangini, his reputation as a self absorbed backstabber will prove highly toxic. Which is one reason I'd love for the JETS to give him a shot.

 

[patchick]

Wow, that article lumps a whole lot of stuff together and tars it with the same brush. They lead with Haley's apparent belief that Pioli & co. had broken into his personal phone -- that would be a federal offense, no? Then they smoothly segue into a new executive evaluating and replacing many long-term middle managers over the course of his first few years with the company. That may not give you a warm fuzzy feeling but it's perfectly permissible, and no evidence of "paranoia."

The overwhelming impression I come away with is of a team that had been run as a cozy family business, with lots of job security and not a lot of accountability, that got a rude awakening when a new boss arrived with a very, very different way of doing business.

Does it sound like fun being a non-football staffer under Scott Pioli? Nope. Do I believe that he hacked his coach's phone and has employees devoted to monitoring hallway microphones? Nope.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Article is written from one viewpoint, understandable as the team chose not to have Pioli respond. And when you wrestle with pigs...

That said, I've been involved managing turn around situations. By definition in a failed enterprise, things need to change. The culture needs to be changed. Easy to say, very difficult to do. As much of senior and middle management is let go, often there are suppressed gems of people to be kept and sometimes promoted but most former leaders need to go. This produces discontent among the troops as it is really gauche for the new management to publicly explain why former management icon Bozo the clown was let go. Management's no comment gets misinterpreted. Folks judge too much from words and too little from deeds. Journalists with no business experience invariably come from the human anguish angle.

Agree that Pioli made a glaring error with Haley. Easy for those of us not in the thick of it to see. In the heat of turnaround with so many issues, all high priority, it's tempting to grasp at a less than optimal but seemingly stabilizing move. Big mistake with Haley.

 

[Patspsycho]

Wow, that article lumps a whole lot of stuff together and tars it with the same brush. They lead with Haley's apparent belief that Pioli & co. had broken into his personal phone -- that would be a federal offense, no? Then they smoothly segue into a new executive evaluating and replacing many long-term middle managers over the course of his first few years with the company. That may not give you a warm fuzzy feeling but it's perfectly permissible, and no evidence of "paranoia."

The overwhelming impression I come away with is of a team that had been run as a cozy family business, with lots of job security and not a lot of accountability, that got a rude awakening when a new boss arrived with a very, very different way of doing business.

Does it sound like fun being a non-football staffer under Scott Pioli? Nope. Do I believe that he hacked his coach's phone and has employees devoted to monitoring hallway microphones? Nope.

What do you think of the gum wrapper on the stairway thing? Do you think that was completely fabricated?

 

[tobias funke]

What do you think of the gum wrapper on the stairway thing? Do you think that was completely fabricated?

I don't think it's fabricated.

Nor do I think there's anything wrong with it.

Pioli didn't scour surveillance footage to find out who dropped the wrapper. He left it on the ground and saw how long it took to be picked up to make a point to the entire organization. He didn't single anyone out for it, he just used it as an example of the air of nonchalance that had settled in the building.

Great idea, IMO.

 

[patchick]

What do you think of the gum wrapper on the stairway thing? Do you think that was completely fabricated?

No, I don't -- but I do think that's a story that can easily be spun any way you like it. After all, it's evidence that nobody gave so much as a cursory sweeping of a stairwell for weeks on end. It's likely that was representative of a generally sorry state of maintenance services in the facility.

So suppose it's clear that your stadium maintenance crew is sorely lacking and you need them to shape up or ship out. Do you go into a meeting and say "generally speaking, your work isn't good enough, how about improving"? Could you really expect results from that? Suppose instead you walked in and said "Look, this same friggin' candy wrapper has been sitting in the hallway for WEEKS! How about we start seeing some basic standards here, fast?"

So a disgruntled employee says "OMG, he went ballistic over one stupid candy wrapper! See what a micro-managing freak he is!" But of course it's not really about that candy wrapper at all.

 

[MSU]

Haley is crazy, but Pioli also comes across as a gigantic douche if even some of these things are true.

 

[AQPE]

Winning will be the best revenge for Pioli. I like what I saw in their defense, especially later in the season. Having RAC as head coach, being rid of Haley, having their younger players on the d-line with another year of experience, and getting Berry back next year will all be positives on the defensive side. Meanwhile, being rid of Haley, getting Cassel, Charles (RB), and Moeaki (TE) back, and getting Baldwin in his second year should all be positives on the offensive side. They will be competitive next year in that division, Haley will be back in obscurity, and Scott will have the last laugh.

 

[hlywoodjp]

If he wants to act like a megalomaniac, he better start winning fast because he doesn't appear to be making many friends. They are 21-28 in his first 3 seasons. They spent the entire last decade being mediocre with the occasional good year, but he shouldn't be portrayed as some shining white knight coming to save a clueless franchise that was consistently terrible.

 

[captain stone]

I realized early on that Scott had made a HUGE mistake when I saw Haley treating the franchise tagged QB his GM had just traded for and signed to a long term deal publicly like some jag brought in for a competition while the troubled and dropsie prone but talented WR was being talked up. Coaching polar opposite to BB. And Pioli was allowing him to become the one voice in KC. That voice can't be an egotistical loose cannon, that's not how the system works. Then there were the veteran defections like Gonsalez who couldn't get the hell out of there fast enough and eventually Waters (who felt marginalized and scapegoated by the regime - I bet he could tell some tales and I bet he got some references before landing here). Then there was the chaos on offense as Haley fired Gailey on the eve of the season and the whole offense floundered while Matt took an unnecessary beating because Haley didn't want to run the ball even though he had the weapons to. Then Charlie and RAC came in and stabilized the whole thing only to have Charlie bail in a bizarre backwards lateral move. This season with a puppet OC you had Cassel screaming at the sidelines because they couldn't get plays in.

Like Bill always says, mistakes will kill you. And Pioli made a doozy right out of the gate. He also may have made a mistake in selecting KC as his first solo job too. I get he wanted a stable family owned franchise ripe for a turnaround as his base, but this second generation one came complete with wacko media who worshipped their emotional coaching toadys and a delusional fan base who always saw their return to the glory days as just around the corner. A lot like JETS fans. A total rebuild didn't appeal to them. Haley's arrogance and impatience did. They saw him as opposed to Scott and/or Matt as their savior out of the gate. Save the Schottenheimer/Vermeil tease years when they won a lot except when it mattered - yet remember foldly, they are at 42 years and counting - just a year less than the JETS have been waiting for a return to the Super Bowl.

They are so disillusioned no one has even updated their Wiki page noting Haley has been fired...LOL I feel for Scott and Matt but in the end we got Josh back and had Scott not gone to KC when he did that likely wouldn't have happened since he probably wouldn't have had any reason to use a #1 on Tebow after jettisoning Cutler.

Not sure Scott can recover from his first three year coaching mistake in that environment. But he will have other opportunities, which isn't a given for Haley on the heels of this article. Much like Mangini, his reputation as a self absorbed backstabber will prove highly toxic. Which is one reason I'd love for the JETS to give him a shot.

I agree with the overall premise, and I don't mean to pick nits, but: wasn't Gonzalez traded to Atlanta for a 2nd-rounder? If so, then that was another mistake by Pioli, because Cassel sure could've used him as a security blanket during his first year there in '09.

 

[NinjaZX6R]

I agree with the overall premise, and I don't mean to pick nits, but: wasn't Gonzalez traded to Atlanta for a 2nd-rounder? If so, then that was another mistake by Pioli, because Cassel sure could've used him as a security blanket during his first year there in '09.

Gonzalez didn't want to be there. He wanted a trade.