Time for Deliberating Is Past; Chargers Need to Make a Move

Two conflicting sayings come to mind as I assess what is or is not happening with the Chargers’ search for a coach to replace Al Saunders.

“Haste makes waste,” says one.

“He who hesitates is lost,” argues the other.

The Chargers, you see, do not seem to be in any hurry to hire a new boss. They are approaching this decision as if they were choosing a mate for life.

Indeed, it makes sense to be deliberate.

Alex Spanos, the owner, and Steve Ortmayer, the director of football operations, will be measured according to the success or failure of the man they find. It is a bit more critical for Ortmayer, because the hired help is a bit more likely to be fired than the owner.

However, the search has started to drag on just a bit, and it is now getting to the point where prolonged hesitation could start eroding the staff that is already in place.

The surviving assistant coaches, and they have all survived thus far, can be excused if they are just a little bit confused and antsy about exactly what is going on.

For one thing, the rumored leading candidate, Marty Schottenheimer, apparently carries considerable baggage in the form of a complete staff of assistants he would like to accompany him to his next position. This has to be more than just a little unsettling to the assistants already in place.

Schottenheimer’s candidacy, by the way, is a study in contradiction.

To begin with, Saunders was unhitched because he failed to establish rapport with those above him, particularly Ortmayer. Schottenheimer is no longer in Cleveland because he and owner Art Modell came to a “mutual agreement” that they could not agree on how to structure the coaching staff.

Consequently, the Chargers are considering replacing one coach who clashed with superiors with another.

Schottenheimer’s supposed inclination to keep his staff intact also runs counter to the Chargers’ professed determination that at least some of their current assistants must be retained in the interest of continuity.

The bottom line with Schottenheimer, in truth, is that the Chargers might not be his first choice regardless of whether they bend to his every whim. Schottenheimer could well opt for Kansas City, where Lamar Hunt is one of the most respected NFL owners. Spanos has yet to prove he can run a football franchise as well as he runs a construction company.

While the Schottenheimer situation continues to have the hang time of the Goodyear blimp, other names continue to be bantered about.

If the Chargers want a man with head coaching experience, a fellow like Dan Henning is available. The problem with hiring a man with previous head coaching experience, of course, is that this might be called recycling.

The alternative is elevating an assistant coach to the No. 1 job. The challenge here is to identify the right assistant, which Spanos thought he had done when he replaced legendary Don Coryell with Saunders.

Interestingly, the two assistants mentioned most frequently from outside the organization are both defensive coordinators, George Seifert with San Francisco and Floyd Peters with Minnesota.

This is interesting because the strongest candidate from within the current staff is probably Ron Lynn, also a defensive coordinator.

Lynn is a rather hot commodity right now, because the Charger defense was a very strong part of a very weak team. Other teams, notably the Raiders and Indianapolis, have him on their short lists for replacing departed defensive coordinators.

Here is what Lynn must consider:

1. Letting the other opportunities slip away, and hoping he becomes the head coach here.

2. Letting the other opportunities slip away, and hoping whoever is hired here elects to keep him.

3. Taking one of the other opportunities rather than taking a chance on Options 1 and 2.

Lynn has these options and, maybe to a lesser extent, so do all of the other assistant coaches who are watching and waiting. They all will get to a point where they have to make a decision, even if the Chargers haven’t.

At this point, it does not make a lot of sense to procrastinate much longer. The Chargers originally announced that they would bide their time in order to ascertain exactly who might become available, but no new names are likely to hop into the hopper in late January.

There are reports that Bill Walsh will resign as San Francisco’s coach after the Super Bowl, but anyone who would dream that he would come here should be subjected to drug tests.

Consequently, it is the Chargers’ time to make a move just to get everything and everyone settled in place.