We Should Promote Ireland to GM and Loomis to CFO (1 Viewer)

[marccooper]

We just had one of the great drafts of any team this decade and possibly of all time. Two of our players made the pro bowl as rookies despite not having a top 10 pick, and two others have been quality starters all season, one potentially pro bowl worthy. Despite a high number of injuries we have been able to plug in the holes and keep winning.

The problem is that our GM is a great accountant, our assistant GM Jeff Ireland did most of this, and we will lose that assistant GM this offseason or next if our success continues despite any contract extensions that keep his low title. Mickey Loomis is perhaps the best accountant living in the world today, but we do play football, and if we won't give the GM title to a great football GM we are never ever ever going to be able to keep a great football GM, and when we lose one, they will take many good scouts with them.

The solution is very simple. Loomis is currently titled executive vice president and GM. Simply promote Loomis to CFO or some other upward title and promote Ireland to GM. Many teams have have similar structures. The Jaguars actually have a President who is not related to the owner, an EVP of Football Operations, AND a GM, by keeping all their valuable assets with a title of GM or higher they are more likely to retain them.

I guess there is an argument not to upset the apple cart, but we have to live in reality. It is unlikely we can keep Jeff Ireland as Assistant GM for the long term, unless he starts performing worse. If we change his title to GM, it is likely we can keep him. What does it hurt? Loomis knows he does not have a football background and is a finance and business guy. Would Loomis really be hurt by being called CFO and getting a small raise?

To me, if we want to continue winning, this is the thing to do. Its so easy. We should just do it.

 

[Cajun Chat]

We just had one of the great drafts of any team this decade and possibly of all time. Two of our players made the pro bowl as rookies despite not having a top 10 pick, and two others have been quality starters all season, one potentially pro bowl worthy. Despite a high number of injuries we have been able to plug in the holes and keep winning.

The problem is that our GM is a great accountant, our assistant GM Jeff Ireland did most of this, and we will lose that assistant GM this offseason or next if our success continues despite any contract extensions that keep his low title. Mickey Loomis is perhaps the best accountant living in the world today, but we do play football, and if we won't give the GM title to a great football GM we are never ever ever going to be able to keep a great football GM, and when we lose one, they will take many good scouts with them.

The solution is very simple. Loomis is currently titled executive vice president and GM. Simply promote Loomis to President and promote Ireland to GM. Many teams have this structure. The Jaguars actually have a President who is not related to the owner, an EVP of Football Operations, AND a GM, by keeping all their valuable assets with a title of GM or higher they are more likely to retain them.

I guess there is an argument not to upset the apple cart, but we have to live in reality. It is unlikely we can keep Jeff Ireland as Assistant GM for the long term, unless he starts performing worse. If we change his title to GM, it is likely we can keep him. What does it hurt? Loomis knows he does not have a football background and is a finance and business guy. Would Loomis really be hurt by being called President and getting a small raise? Would Benson be hurt by calling Loomis President, does he think people think Benson is heavily involved day to day in minor details?

To me, if we want to continue winning, this is the thing to do. Its so easy. We should just do it.

Dennis Lauscha is the President of the Saints and Pelicans. He is widely known to be the man in charge underneath Mr. Benson.

 

[marccooper]

I did not see that because when you look up the Saints staff on their web page, Lauscha is not listed at the top under executives and is about 100 names down in Administration which for some reason is seperate and listed below many other categories. I changed my post to suggest the title of CFO.

Anyhow, we have to be creative if we want to win. Finding excuses is not creative. There is no sound reason why we cannot give I primary football talent evaluator the title of GM and promote our finance guy to some other title if that helps keep both.

Dennis Lauscha is the President of the Saints and Pelicans. He is widely known to be the man in charge underneath Mr. Benson.

 

[John L]

I’m not sure if there’s a league rule against creating another executive level position for Loomis., But I’ve been saying this for years that Loomis should move into a front office position and give the GM duties to someone who is more of a football person. Loomis is a numbers guy and basically does what Payton and the other scouts tell him to do.

If we need to do this to keep Ireland this is a no brainer.... unless the league prohibits it

 

[JWDtrey3]

I think you only need to make that move if you are trying to keep another team from poaching Ireland

 

[Swimmer]

Hey marccooper - This is one of the most intelligent, creative and sound ideas I've heard about strengthening our front office. Really good stuff. Thx!!!

 

[LombardiGras]

I support this message

 

[MLU]

We just had one of the great drafts of any team this decade and possibly of all time. Two of our players made the pro bowl as rookies despite not having a top 10 pick, and two others have been quality starters all season, one potentially pro bowl worthy. Despite a high number of injuries we have been able to plug in the holes and keep winning.

The problem is that our GM is a great accountant, our assistant GM Jeff Ireland did most of this, and we will lose that assistant GM this offseason or next if our success continues despite any contract extensions that keep his low title. Mickey Loomis is perhaps the best accountant living in the world today, but we do play football, and if we won't give the GM title to a great football GM we are never ever ever going to be able to keep a great football GM, and when we lose one, they will take many good scouts with them.

The solution is very simple. Loomis is currently titled executive vice president and GM. Simply promote Loomis to CFO or some other upward title and promote Ireland to GM. Many teams have have similar structures. The Jaguars actually have a President who is not related to the owner, an EVP of Football Operations, AND a GM, by keeping all their valuable assets with a title of GM or higher they are more likely to retain them.

I guess there is an argument not to upset the apple cart, but we have to live in reality. It is unlikely we can keep Jeff Ireland as Assistant GM for the long term, unless he starts performing worse. If we change his title to GM, it is likely we can keep him. What does it hurt? Loomis knows he does not have a football background and is a finance and business guy. Would Loomis really be hurt by being called CFO and getting a small raise?

To me, if we want to continue winning, this is the thing to do. Its so easy. We should just do it.

Unless Ireland is title-driven, what does this change?

 

[Saints#34]

Unless Ireland is title-driven, what does this change?

Exactly. This is very overblown. Maybe he cares about his title, maybe he doesn't. What he probably cares about is his role, authority and compensation. We as fans have no idea what that currently encompasses.
Titles are just words. Keeping him in the same position and changing his title to "GM" doesn't change anything but the word. Why would he care that much about that?

If we lose Ireland it will be because someone is offering him a larger role that he's interested in. The title will be irrelevant.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RaginSaint93]

Make it happen Ireland does have a nice ring to it

 

[crosswatt]

Perspective. Let's see if we can find some here.

Loomis has worked in professional football for over thirty years. He's not the accountant. Khai Harley is.

Ireland was fired from Miami after a few poor drafts. Loomis was the GM and complicit with a decade of above average drafts, that ushered in the greatest success the franchise has ever known. Now Ireland has done a wonderful job in conjunction with Payton and Loomis, and the newly added analytics layer with the hiring of Ryan Herman. But it's an organizational process improvement, not only the admittedly exceptional work by Jeff.

And we want to blow it up because we have no clue how an actual NFL front office actually works? Yeah, maybe not.

 

[superchuck500]

Unless Ireland is title-driven, what does this change?

I think that title is a pretty big deal - it would make Ireland the GM and perhaps keep him here longer than he would be at his current position and GM offers keep coming in.

I don't think there's any prohibition on moving Loomis to some other executive title, but where you have to be careful is where there were discretionary responsibilities to "make the call" that rested with the GM . . . as there usually are. Yes, the GM acts in service of the ownership and executive structure but that doesn't mean that the GM isn't free to make a wide range of decisions - they don't run every single thing by the ownership structure. If you were to keep that orientation in place, the GM (and those responsibilities) would become Ireland's and not Loomis's. That might not be the role Mickey wants, and he might actually be quite good at it . . .whereas Ireland is unproven. I think it's do-able as long as everyone is on the same page about it, and stays on the same page about it - but often that's just not the case.

Another thing about those executive jobs like president, or CFO, is that they typically deal with a much broader range of issue associated with the franchise - not just managing the football team. An NFL franchise has all sorts of associated contracts, leases, governmental issues, etc. that are handled by the overarching executive staff, but not within the role of the typical GM, whose job it is to manage the football team itself.

 

[MLU]

Exactly. This is very overblown. Maybe he cares about his title, maybe he doesn't. What he probably cares about is his role, authority and compensation. We as fans have no idea what that currently encompasses.
Titles are just words. Keeping him in the same position and changing his title to "GM" doesn't change anything but the word. Why would he care that much about that?

If we lose Ireland it will be because someone is offering him a larger role that he's interested in. The title will be irrelevant.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I will say it means a lot to some, but there is no doubt his role on this team. Almost immediately they turned to him to straighten things out. He has taken a lead role in the talent evaluation of this organization and he works well with the entire group. He has a voice and it is heard loud and clear and is valued. I'm sure he is well compensated, too.

Personally I have learned that when you get older, titles and paychecks mean less and finding a place where you fit and are valid mean more.

 

[MLU]

I think that title is a pretty big deal - it would make Ireland the GM and perhaps keep him here longer than he would be at his current position and GM offers keep coming in.

I don't think there's any prohibition on moving Loomis to some other executive title, but where you have to be careful is where there were discretionary responsibilities to "make the call" that rested with the GM . . . as there usually are. Yes, the GM acts in service of the ownership and executive structure but that doesn't mean that the GM isn't free to make a wide range of decisions - they don't run every single thing by the ownership structure. If you were to keep that orientation in place, the GM (and those responsibilities) would become Ireland's and not Loomis's. That might not be the role Mickey wants, and he might actually be quite good at it . . .whereas Ireland is unproven. I think it's do-able as long as everyone is on the same page about it, and stays on the same page about it - but often that's just not the case.

Another thing about those executive jobs like president, or CFO, is that they typically deal with a much broader range of issue associated with the franchise - not just managing the football team. An NFL franchise has all sorts of associated contracts, leases, governmental issues, etc. that are handled by the overarching executive staff, but not within the role of the typical GM, whose job it is to manage the football team itself.

Loomis holds the title of GM, but he doesn't behave like a traditional GM. He oversees the inner workings and communicates with Lauscha and Benson. Talent evaluation and acquisition is deferred to Loomis and Ireland. Contracts are run by Harley. Loomis is the guy that Benson trusts so he holds the title.

You know what changes if they make Ireland the GM tomorrow? He has to order new business cards. Other than that, his job won't change from what he's already doing.

Loomis and Lauscha would need new cards too, just to facilitate the new letters jumbled to describe new job titles while everyone goes back to the same office to do the same job.

 

[Optimistic Ozzy]

Loomis holds the title of GM, but he doesn't behave like a traditional GM. He oversees the inner workings and communicates with Lauscha and Benson. Talent evaluation and acquisition is deferred to Loomis and Ireland. Contracts are run by Harley. Loomis is the guy that Benson trusts so he holds the title.

You know what changes if they make Ireland the GM tomorrow? He has to order new business cards. Other than that, his job won't change from what he's already doing.

Loomis and Lauscha would need new cards too, just to facilitate the new letters jumbled to describe new job titles while everyone goes back to the same office to do the same job.

I'm cool with this analogy, as long as SP is put in the mix, and I MEAN put in the mix.