We're losing a lot of our organizational staff here. We've had lots of turnover over the last few years and it's continuing. Is this the patriots being raided by other teams or is there another, more ominous issue here? There have been numerous stories about how underpaid our coaches and scouts are compared to other teams and the stinginess of the patriots towards player contract negotiations probably translates even moreso to negotiations with assistant coaches (which don't get much scrutiny in the press for that matter). Is the patriots organization just not a pleasant place to work anymore, with clashing personalities and a harsh culture? Are our coaches and assistants looking to leave the patriots, and will we have issues recruiting coaches? We promote from within, but this will be a lot of promotion of young, unknown, inexperienced people if we don't hire some real people who know our system...
It had been reported that during the Good Old Days (2001-04), Romeo & Charlie were both underpaid compared to other top DCs & OCs, or even to average DCs & OCs. And ever since the exodus of assistants began, the number of replacements has never equaled the number of defections.
So what we had then were experienced, successful assistants who were relatively underpaid (and felt under-appreciated?) and who were replaced by inexperienced, untested sycophants, who were likely paid even less than their predecessors. But hey, it still beat what they would've received from their Division 3 gig. Not only that, but there were now fewer of these guys around, meaning that those who remained were given even more responsibility for which they were unqualified.
It is also not a stretch to imagine that the same de-evolution has occured in the scouting department. We have heard about those who have left (Lional Vital, Matt Russell, etc.), but what about those who have joined?
There is little doubt that Bill & the Krafts have not devoted as many resources on assistant coaches & scouts as other teams have, or as they should. When taking into account the fact that there is no salary cap over coaches, scouts & executives, there is simply no excuse for this. None.
If Bill's "system" is so damn hard to grasp that he has failed to acquire potentially valuable assistants & scouts - not to mention all those players - then perhaps it's time for ownership to re-evaluate the "system" itself, including its architect.
