Tag Archives: Scouting

Twelve ‘Football People’ the XFL Should Target

26 Friday Oct 2018

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On Thursday, we at Inside the League pointed out a couple of the Alliance of American Football’s hires for their central offices, to wit, two men with a strong NFL background (Director of Player Personnel Russ Giglio and Executive V.P. of Football Operations Trey Brown) and another with ESPN ties (Senior Administrator of Player Personnel Joey Roberts).

When you factor in the hires of Bill Polian, Tony Softli and Bill Kuharich to the AAF’s central command, plus the dozens of former NFL GMs and scouts who’ve been hired by the eight league teams, you start to wonder if there will be anyone with experience left for the XFL, which launches in 2020, to hire.

Of course, it’s not as easy as simply Googling “NFL scouts fired.” How do you sort through the self-promoters? How do you know who is worth another shot vs. who totally blew it and doesn’t need to be recycled? Which ones have the energy and patience to be associated with a football startup? And while most people with NFL jobs are loathe to give up their jobs, how do you know which ones might be willing to take a risk?

There will certainly be new scouts, officials and executives that come available by the end of the year, but here’s where I’d start as the league begins to look for real ‘football people.’ However, here’s a dozen people (in no certain order) that warrant consideration if the powers-that-be don’t want to wait.

  • Jeff Bauer, former Director of College Scouting, Jets: Jeff got washed out in New York when Mike Maccagnan took over as GM. He’s no longer in the league because he didn’t play the game — the ‘you scratch my back’ game; he was a DB at Iowa State — and he was never a self-promoter. He’s a guy who kept his mouth shut and did his job. He’s loyal and deserves another chance.
  • Blake Beddingfield, former Director of College Scouting, Titans: Blake has had opportunities, but not the right one yet. He’s highly organized, smart and knowledgeable about scouting as well as the business of football. He’d be an excellent hire.
  • Cody Cejda, Director of Football Operations and Strategy, Northwestern: Cody is the only name on this list without NFL work experience, but he’s a consummate professional, well-connected and highly organized. To succeed, the XFL might have to take a few risks. Cody would be well worth it.
  • Mark Dominik, former GM, Bucs: My understanding is that Dominik has been conducting interview prep from his base in Tampa since he left the Bucs. People with experience running NFL front offices don’t grow on trees.
  • Ray Farmer, former GM, Browns: We all know things weren’t pretty in Cleveland. However, I know Ray as a progressive thinker who was already trying to crack the analytics code when he was dumped in Cleveland, and he’s got an impressive resume.
  • Matt Manocherian, Director of Football Development, Sports Info Solutions: If you want to succeed in today’s pro football environment, you need to do things differently. Matt brings NFL scouting experience (Browns, Saints) as well as a tremendous handle on what analytics can tell you about today’s prospects.

OK, we lied. For the other six candidates we like, you’ll have to wait for our Friday Wrap, which comes out at 7:30 p.m. ET. You can register for it here.

Of course, there are several others that are prominent in the media, such as ex-Browns GM Michael Lombardi of The Ringer, former Eagles Director of Pro Personnel Louis Riddick of ESPN and others. On the other hand, they may see how things have worked out for their former media associate, Jon Gruden, and decide to stay the course. There’s also former Niners GM Trent Baalke, who’s working with the NFL and likely cooling his heels, waiting on another NFL opportunity.

Don’t forget: there’s plenty more to talk about in the business of pro and college football (plus six more men the XFL should be considering), and we do that each week in the Friday Wrap. It’s free, it’s full of information on the business of the game, and it’s read by literally thousands of people in the business as well as others who will be part of its someday. Here’s last week’s edition. Register for it here.

What Would a Scouting Association Look Like?

19 Friday Jan 2018

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Last week in this space, I wondered why there was no society for people in personnel and scouting. There’s no trade association where people can meet and network, and maybe even get job tips. This seemed to spark interest, so I thought I’d flesh out what I’d think such an organization would involve and offer to members.

Here are my thoughts.

  • You can’t start an affinity group without establishing guidelines. I’d want to develop a ‘club’ for people who either (a) currently had jobs in scouting, (b) at one time had held jobs in scouting at the NFL level, or (c) were currently working personnel jobs at FBS schools. This makes for a rather limited group, and perhaps this would be expanded, but to me, the group loses its identity if half of the members are wannabe scouts rather than actual ones. Maybe I’d open it to people working in scouting in indoor leagues and overseas leagues, as well. I’d have to think about it some.
  • Obviously, any kind of serious interest group has its own seminar or convention. Any serious gathering of scouting professionals would have such an event. Choosing a date would be important, so we’d have to schedule it at a time that members of college personnel staff could attend. I’ve been chewing on this schedule and looking at potential times. It looks like the best chance to bring everyone together would be late July or early August, immediately before players return for camp.
  • Seminars would have speakers from the game that could address topics related to scouting and evaluation. We set up the template for that earlier this month with the College Gridiron Showcase Scouting Academy presented by Inside the League. We’re working on getting the film for that event and putting it online. We had four former scouts that spoke about the job of scouting and the life of a scout, and it was outstanding.
  • We already have several interviews with scouts on my site, Inside the League. We’ve interviewed former Cowboys scout Jim Hess, who helped ‘discover’ QB Tony Romo; former 49ers scout Oscar Lofton, who has some good stories about legendary DC Deion Sanders; former Saints scout Barrett Wiley, who describes how Saints Hall of Famer Rickey Jackson had a role with his getting a job in scouting; and several others. These are all quite lengthy, relaxed and conversational. They are a lot to listen to for most general football fans, but I’d think this kind of video (or podcasts) might be a key part of a society for scouting enthusiasts.
  • Every organization worth its salt has to have some kind of awards as a way of bringing its members together. I’ve always wondered why no one honors the team that has the best draft each year. That would seem to be a fun way to unite members and give them something to debate. We’d definitely make that an annual ritual.
  • Naturally, any such organization would also provide some kind of jobs network. I’m the first one to say that finding employment in scouting is not very linear, and quite different from other jobs. Still, to be an honest organization, we’d have to at least give it a try, and we would.
  • There’d be a cost to join, but we’d keep it low. I’d think $75 would be affordable for most anyone.
  • As we moved forward, I’d expand the number of people eligible to join, or maybe start alternative groups for aspiring scouts, students, etc.

What do you think? Do these ideas seem valid? Am I way off base? Is it a good start, but you think I might be missing something? Please let me know on Twitter or even via email. Thanks for reading.

Week 2: More Sights, Sounds and Notes from the Road

20 Friday Jan 2017

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It was another week on the road for me with two all-star games, the Tropical Bowl (played in Daytona Beach) and the Shrine Game (St. Petersburg) played in Florida. Here are a few things I thought interesting from this week.

  • I got to tour IMG Academy in Bradenton on Tuesday. In many ways it gave me a chance to see the future of athletics; it was an unbelievable place. You might have seen my tweet, which included an attempt at a panoramic shot of the place. The picture doesn’t do the place justice anyway. By next year, it will include 700 acres of  fields, stadiums, classrooms, parking lots, auditoriums, cafeterias, scenic ponds and lakes, weight rooms, roads, pathways and green space. Yes, even with all of this, there’s plenty of green space, in addition to hundreds of students from literally all over the world dressed from head to toe in IMG-logoed, Under Armour attire.
  • There are two things I’ll remember most. One, when a draft prospect arrives, the first thing IMG officials do is test his sweat to measure the electrolytes he loses. Then they design a concoction at the Gatorade Sports Science Institute (which is right there on the grounds, one of three in the world) and voila! He’s got his own specific Gatorade blend, and it’s available whenever he wants it. That’s pretty cool. The other thing was that IMG has developed a combine — for e-sports. Yes, the good people at IMG have even figured out a way to make money off the nerds who aspire to go from their mother’s couch to a stadium somewhere, where other nerds will pay money to watch them play video games.
  • One thing I always hear from scouts is how disappointed they are in the lack of talent at the various all-star games. The older scouts, especially, lament the fact that fewer stars play in the Senior Bowl, Shrine Game and lesser games. There’s a good reason for that — most of those would-be seniors are already in the NFL — but the fact remains that some of these games have grown a little stale. That’s why it was so refreshing this year to see the Shrine Game involving assistant coaches from  all over the NFL as the assistants for this week’s game. It brought a new energy to this week’s workouts.
  • Here’s another big plus: referees were on site to throw flags during the team portions of the drills. It made everyone sharper and gave every workout a game-like intensity. This was one of the better Shrine weeks in recent memory.
  • One longtime friend told several stories about former Miami (Fla.), Oklahoma, Louisville and Florida Atlantic head coach Howard Schnellenberger, who has also coached several all-star games. As the story was told, Schnellenberger was not so adept when it comes to pop culture, especially the music scene. One time, he proudly announced to his coaches that “one of the hottest band in music” would be playing at the stadium at a future date. The band? “Trickshot!” he proudly exclaimed. When he got blank stares from his staff, he excoriated them for living closed, uncultured lives. “You guys gotta get out more and live life,” he urged them. Of course, the blank stares were warranted, as the band was really Cheap Trick.
  • Another time, the Rolling Stones were playing Louisville’s football stadium, and shortly before the show, Schnellenberger found a member of the band’s entourage checking out the school’s trophy case. “Hold it! Hold it! Hold it!,” said the coach with outstretched arms. “If you’re with the band, back in the visitors locker room!” When the band member obliged, another coach chided him with, “Coach, do you know who that was?” When Schnellenberger was told it was Mick Jagger, he responded with, “well, he didn’t know who I was.”