Good start but Lions owner Sheila Ford Hamp needs to know when to stop
By Robert Jones
The right general manager is only the first step
No pressure Sheila, but provided she decides to go the traditional route of hiring a general manager who will make the majority of the organizational decisions like hiring the next head coach, then Sheila’s decision of who that will be is the biggest choice with the most far-ranging ramifications she has ever made.
Sheila has the opportunity to rise above her family name and create a new history moving forward for the Detroit Lions and to follow up on her very positive press conference by giving the fans a reason to return to Ford Field if they are ever allowed back.
The decision of who the next general manager is will have to be carefully made. It should involve looking for a rising star who is a part of a winning franchise not named the New England Patriots.
There is a reason that winning organizations win and others don’t. Generally speaking, good general managers hire good coaches and are able to find talent to fill the roster. The good coaches get the most out of the players and that makes for winning teams.
It’s front office personnel in organizations like that who demonstrate how integral they are to that winning formula that often go on to become successful general managers themselves.
That doesn’t mean they will automatically win a championship, because the competition is tough in the NFL even for the good teams.
But what Sheila Ford Hamp is charged with doing is finding a general manager that can actually build a contender to win it all here in Detroit.
From 2006 until 2014 the Detroit Tigers became perennial favorites to win the World Series. In that time they only made two appearances in the fall classic and didn’t win either of them. In both cases, their opponents (the Cardinals and Giants) played well in the clutch while the Tigers didn’t.
Unfortunately, those Tigers were never able to figure out the final piece of the puzzle to become world champions, but that doesn’t change the fact that they were a league powerhouse and title contenders for basically a decade.
That is the bare essence of what the Lions need to do. At least build a team that is a legitimate contender giving themselves the opportunity to become Super Bowl Champions.
The right general manager is the first step on that journey. However, for those who think that is the most difficult part, there is something the Ford family has proven to have even more difficulty with that will be the absolute key to giving the Lions any kind of real chance.