Arrowhead Pride Talks with Chiefs Owner Clark Hunt (Part Two)

The second part of this Q&A with Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt was scheduled to run yesterday but the team made eight roster moves so our attention was diverted.

You can read part one here.

Again, many thanks to the folks involved in setting this up.

Part two of the Q&A after the jump.

Joel Thorman: Early on in the GM search process, you said the Pittsburgh Steelers were kind of the model franchise.  From an ownership standpoint, what is it about the Rooney family that you respect and wish to emulate?

Clark Hunt: First of all, I have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for the Rooney family, and clearly, the Steelers are one of the model franchises in all of professional sports - as evidenced by their success.

We want to make decisions that help our football team for the long term, which is something the Rooneys and the Steelers have done extremely well over the years.

Thorman: At what point in the process of searching for a new GM, did you realize Scott Pioli was the guy?

Hunt: I've said this on a number of occasions that from early on in the process, it was apparent that Scott was going to be a good fit for us. I believe that Scott is the finest player personnel executive in the National Football League. The more we talked, the more it became clear how closely our philosophies meshed.

Scott has been mentored by some extremely successful individuals during his career, and his track record speaks for itself. Scott has been everything I anticipated he would be, and I'm excited about the direction he's taking the Chiefs.

Thorman: How do you achieve the balance between letting the people in football positions of leadership run the show versus having your say/input as an owner?

Hunt: One of the many things that has impressed me about Scott is his ability to communicate his vision and his plan for our football team. We speak almost every day about the direction of the team on a number of levels.

Certainly there are issues where he will seek my input, and I appreciate that. But Scott's area of expertise is running our football operation, and I have a great deal of trust in his ability to make decisions that are in the best long-term interests of our the Chiefs.

Thorman: How involved are you, or your staff, when it comes to the new CBA negotiations?  Is there anything you can say to us, as fans, that will ease our worries about the possibility of not having football in 2011?

Hunt: I would really prefer to defer to the Commissioner on that topic. Right now we are focused on the 2009 season, and we are doing everything possible to help the Chiefs improve on the football field this year and beyond.

Thorman: Matt Cassel's success on the field has been well-documented, particularly in the last year.  What's been your experience with him off the field?

Hunt: Matt is a very bright young man who is passionate about football. I know Coach Haley has praised his work ethic and his willingness to lead by example throughout the off-season and training camp. To me those are the sort of intangible qualities that consistently manifest themselves in the top quarterbacks in the league.

We're pleased to have a player of Matt's caliber with the Chiefs, and we're excited to watch him and the rest of our team develop under Coach Haley.