Buffalo Bills' Chan Gailey Names New Coaches

It was announced today on www.buffalobills.com that the Bills have now named seven coaches as part of Chan Gailey's initial coaching crew for the Buffalo Bills. Of course as Turk Schonert learned last season, just because you have a contract, doesn't necessarily mean you will see the first week of the season with the team.

But Schonert's experience is the exception to the rule. Out of the seven coaches, five of them have prior experience in working with Gailey, primarily from either the Georgia Tech staff, or the Kansas City Chiefs staff. Gailey said that he was not planning to hire a bunch of big names, and he was correct, as he held true to his word. 

For all of the details of their experience, please refer to Chris Brown's write up at the Bills web site here: http://www.buffalobills.com/news/article-3/Gailey-hires-five-for-staff-retains-two/609ade44-355c-4c8e-8d12-e28749931a34

You may recall that Ralph Wilson had recently announced that the entire coaching staff was free to locate new employment, and quite a few of them have already landed on their feet. But there were several people that were still available, and two of them are coming back.

The two returnees are coaches that did a solid job last year for the Bills, and as a result, have been retained by Gailey to continue their fine work. The holdovers are: George Catavolos, defensive secondary coach and Bob Sanders, (pictured in this article) as the Defensive Line Coach.

It had been widely speculated that Sanders, who does have defensive coordinator experience, could be Gailey's number one coach on defense, but no word yet on who the defensive coordinator will be.

For what it is worth, there was a report recently that Dan Reeves had publicly proclaimed that he would be delighted to work on Gailey's staff, if Gailey had a need for his help.

We have not heard any public reply from Gailey about Reeves, and since the NFL had not kicked his name around for a head gig for the last ten years, I seriously wonder if you want a name as big as Dan Reeves looming in the background and looking over your shoulder.

Regarding the five new coaches, here are the hires and their area of responsibility:

Curtis Modkins (offensive coordinator and running backs coach), Bob Bicknell (tight ends coach), Joe D'Alesandris (offensive line coach), Giff Smith (defensive assistant coach), and Kevin Patullo (offensive quality coach).

Coming in to this announcement, there were certain coaching hires that I thought would be crucial to the Bills. Those were, the offensive and defensive coordinators, the offensive line coach, the quarterbacks coach, the linebackers coach, strength and conditioning coach, and the special teams coach.

Why were these spots so critical? Because they were the areas that stuck out the most last year on a Bills team that was a disappointment to the fans and to ownership. These areas need to become better if the Bills hope to return to the playoffs. The other positional coaches, while still holding an important job, have either more established players or less of a challenge on their hands.

Since Chan Gailey has already gone on the record as stating that he will be calling the plays for the first two years at least, that makes the offensive coordinator, Curtis Modkins, truly that, being a coordinator. He doesn't have to worry about calling plays or drawing up the scheme. He just has to coordinate all 11 players on offense to be on the same page with each other. That should keep him pretty busy.

We are expecting to see plenty of new faces on the 2010 Bills team. However, it would be nice to see the same people coordinating both sides of the ball for three years or more. Maybe this is the regime that will bring some stability and continuity to the Bills organization, that truly needs it.

Still left to figure out is who will be the defensive coordinator, (is it possible that Sanders could be named to the job later on?), the special teams coordinator, the QB coach and the strength and conditioning coach.

Out of the seven hires, George Catavolos will see the least amount of turnover, unless George Wilson does not come back, and/or if Donte Whitner is deemed as an expendable bargaining chip and goes in a trade.

Likewise, Bob Sanders should have most of the defensive line returning, but it is possible that Aaron Schobel hangs up the cleats and not every defensive lineman is guaranteed to be returning due to contract scenarios.

The coach with the biggest job ahead of him is new offensive line coach Joe D'Alesandris. Can we call him Joe D for short? Seems to me there was another guy involved with the offensive line that was called Joe D, and he turned out to be pretty good, so let's hope history repeats itself. I am referring to Joe DeLamielleure of course.

D'Alesandris and Gailey will have to find a way to sort through all the bodies that were part of the Bills offensive line in 2009, and figure out who they want to stay and who could be part of the rotational plan for key backup roles.

You have to figure the Bills will take a left tackle in either the first or second round. Add that player to the mix of returning players like Eric Wood, Geoff Hangartner, Andy Levitre, Brad Butler, Demetrius Bell, Richie Incognito, Jonathan Scott, Jamon Meredith, and Kendall Simmons. Gailey is known for finding a way to utilize the skills of his players and creating an offense that works with what he has available to him.

So, the real question is, what are these guys best at, and is it something that will consistently move the football next year? Each passing week, a little more of the plan continues to fall inio place. Keep checking in to see how things continue to develop for the new regime.