Yesterday while being grilled about the possibility of adding Charlie Weis to the Kansas City Chiefs offensive coaching staff, head coach Todd Haley said, "Ultimately, the staff is my decision."
The speculation of course was centered on whether Haley would be making the final call on coaching changes or if GM Scott Pioli would be involved. More than likely, it was a team effort but both Haley and Pioli have said on numerous occasions that the coaching staff is the responsibility of the head coach.
That said, Chris Mortensen of ESPN included in his report regarding the Haley/Weis marriage that it was Haley, not Pioli, that pushed for Weis' arrival.
"Yes," Mort began, "Scott Pioli is the general manager of the Chiefs, and we all know Pioli was in New England as well, but I'm told Haley is the one that really pushed for this. Haley really opened up the lines of communication with Weis very early on, especially after Charlie was dismissed by Notre Dame."
One of the question marks in the Weis hiring is whether Haley will be able to allow him to the autonomy that he's used to to run the offense.
"Haley's going to be hands off with the offense in Kansas City," Mortensen reports.
As to whether his reputation has been hurt with his experience at Notre Dame?
"No," Mortensen says, "because what they certainly remember is that he did not fail on the offensive side of the football with Notre Dame. Even this year, if you watched Notre Dame, you know their failures were on the defensive side of the ball. That lies at the feet of Charlie as the head coach.
"In terms of being a very capable top notch offensive coordinator, I don't think Charlie's reputation was hurt at all."