Great way to start another my opinions are always fact junk thread. I quit biting at these a long time ago... :up:
You need to have a middle option with Herm, something like "Depends", and no this is not the lead in to another Al Davis joke... I had a favorable opinion of Herm in the first two seasons he coached the Jets and a slightly unfavorable opinion thereafter, culminating in very unfavorable as he gave up on 2005. Herm really is not a particularly good game coach, although he's not as bad as some people suggest. He's not a particularly good manager of talent, including the coaching talent beneath him. He is good at communication with the media and so he gets a bit of a pass on the first two areas listed. There is nothing in Herm's personality that is going to prevent him from winning a super bowl if he manages to land a superbly talented team. His strengths and weaknesses are very similar to Sparky Andersons, although Sparky was definitely a better tactician and more loyal to his people.
It's not so much that he quit on the team as he isn't the first and certainly won't be the last but it's way he quit on the team. I have no love for the guy based on in game decisions and his personel decisions ie; if not for Vinny getting hurt even though we were 1-4 at the time Chad would have stayed on the bench. It all culminates with the Steelers game forget the fact that it was defense and ST that gave us a chance all we needed was the offense to give us one drive and he didn't allow them to win the game. That is why I dislike the guy.
My vote of unfavorable was based almost solely on the way he left. He's still preaching his honesty and integrity in KC. The game in which he handcuffed Bollinger was the game that I truly turned from "he has his moments, he's an ok coach" to "wtf is this moron doing?".
Bingo. Although I will absolutely say that I was willing to forgo his shortcomings up until that Steelers game. After that his blemishes became painfully obvious and were only widened during the 2005 season and during his departure. However, obviously I would base my vote on how I feel now, which is exactly how I felt when he left.
I voted favorable but would have rather had something in the middle. I don't like that we backed into the playoffs those 3 years but then again he is the only Jets coach in history to take the Jets to the playoffs 3 times.
This thread really is just an excuse to start up all of the old arguments once again. I agree completely with your point that this is one guy for whom a middle option is necessary. I've said many times in earlier Herm threads that in my view he was an average-to-slightly above average coach who had taken the team as far as he could, and who would never get them over the top. That being the case, a simple favorable/unfavorable rating simply doesn't apply. The interesting point is that while individuals might have very strong feelings about Herm one way or the other, the board as a whole views him pretty much the same way I do (or at least did when he was here). According to the report card thread on Herm after he left (which gave many more choice options), the board graded him at about a B-, or (like I said) about average.
Herman Edwards is no different than any other candidate that I have done these polls for, and I have done almost two dozen without a "Maybe" option. I am not changing it for Herm. Sorry.
STOP!!!! NO!!!!! We just had a big old herm sucks thread if you feel the need just got there http://forums.theganggreen.com/showthread.php?t=21535&highlight=herm
You got to give the guy lots of credit! He did inherit a team that had talent. But he made the right choices when it counted, in terms of switching to Chad during his first season. We watched a coach learn the game as he went along. With Mangini we have a coach that is far above herm in terms of the fundamentals; and there is a difference player vs. coaches. Herm took us to the playoff's 3 times, all were a monster of a struggle to get to but he did it! Controlling injuries (Martin, chad, Abraham, ect.) some of these things doomed our seasons while others gave us our new stars who will win games for us to come. The fun part is watching herm in K.C. and seeing if the same pattern of bad coaching at critical times continues. Herm Edwards: Not a bad coach! "You play to win the game" Hello!!!!
Since I didn't assign the grade (only reported it based on someone else's poll), I can't really answer that one. I think this is one context where relative performance is the only one that makes sense (since measuring absolute quality of a coach seems pretty impossible to me), but is it relative to other Jets coaches, or relative to all NFL coaches?
You seem pretty sensitive to what are some fairly obvious comments from several people - that we have had about 500 threads evaluating Herm already, and there wasn't much of a need for another one. The distinction between yet another Herm thread and one about Lance Mehl or Marvin Jones seems pretty obvious to me.