Ed Snider insisted on Monday that the Flyers don't need a "fresh perspective."
Just when you thought it was safe to enjoy the Eagles win over the Giants that moved them into a tie for first place in the NFC East, rock bottom struck back. The Flyers 0-3-0 start forced the exit of Peter Laviolette as head coach, the fourth coaching casualty this year for Philadelphia sports.
As the Flyers ushered in the next head coach, assistant Craig Berube, an interesting exchange took place between Flyers chairman and owner Ed Snider and Inquirer columnist Mike Sielski. Sielski suggested the Flyers needed a “fresh perspective.” Snider quickly shot it down.
“No, we don’t need a fresh perspective,” Snider said. “We have a pretty good culture, and we know who we’re dealing with.
“We haven’t won a championship, but we’ve been in the Stanley Cup Final a lot of times, and we’ve been in the playoffs a lot of times, and the culture is to win. Thirty teams are trying to win the Cup, and we’re doing our damnedest to do it. That’s our culture.”
The more you watch, the more you made the connection – each Philadelphia sports team is like the next. Jeffrey Lurie owns the Eagles. David Montgomery owns the Phillies. Josh Harris owns the Sixers. Snider owns the Flyers. All of them are businessmen and simply own the team.
As much as Snider wants to say he has input, his input usually is about putting fans in the stands and getting more people to watch his hockey team and basketball team. That also goes for Montgomery, Lurie and Harris.
Next are the general managers: Paul Holmgren, Sam Hinkie, Ruben Amaro Jr. and Howie Roseman. Their job is to assemble the coaching staff and players. What has been the result in the past calendar year? All four teams missed the playoffs and four head coaches are out of a job.
Finally, it is a reflection on the players the teams currently have on the roster. The Phillies won 79 games this season, their first losing season since 2002. The Eagles started 3-1 in their final season under Andy Reid then proceeded to lose 11 of the final 12 games. The Sixers are in the process of going “winless for Wiggins” and the Flyers missed the playoffs for the second time in the past 18 seasons in a lockout-shortened 2013 season.
With each coaching change, the tune is the same.
“This isn’t a blame game,” Amaro said after announcing the Phillies had fired Charlie Manuel in August. “I’m not here to blame Charlie Manuel for our issues. I think we all have some responsibility in that regard. My job is to think about what we can do to get better in the future, and I believe this is one of the steps to try to move this thing forward.”
“The final decision to fire Andy was today, there’s been a lot of leaning in that direction over the last month, when we were 4-8 and I faced up to the fact that we weren’t going to be improved over last year at all, that I was heavily leaning in that direction,” Lurie said after firing Andy Reid in January. “I literally informed Andy this morning at nine in the morning. I really believed this season with our talent, I thought we would be a double-digit win team.
“Where did it go wrong, it’s a great question. If you had point to anything, it’s when you’ve had as much success as we’ve had, and are so close to winning a Super Bowl. At some stage, you have an opportunity to think that the next move, even if it’s not consistent with all of your previous moves, will be the one that gives you the chance to win the Lombardi Trophy.”
Each Philadelphia sports team is in shambles. Take a good look around. The longest-tenured head coach has two career wins. The active coach with the most wins has 20.
As long as the owners and general managers refuse to believe a “fresh perspective” is needed, they are totally naïve to the situation surrounding them.
First of all, isn’t the hiring of a new head coach a fresh perspective, a new voice? Secondly, if these teams are doing things “the right way” as Snider suggests, why aren’t they playoff teams? Why are they struggling to assemble sound rosters? Why can’t they hold down a coach?
What happened with Laviolette is the same thing that happened with Charlie Manuel. It was a mercy killing. It was a way to place the blame. It won’t change the results, not as long as the same general managers are employing the same players.
The Sixers may be on the right track to that fresh perspective. Following the sale of the team from Snider to Harris, there has been a new energy surrounding the Sixers. That is even more evident now as the team attempts a rebuilding process.
It may make for an ugly record this season, but the Sixers focus behind new head coach Brett Brown is to get back to a winning environment.
For Hinkie, that has meant some serious risks in terms of keeping people interested now, like his trade at the NBA Draft shipping Jrue Holiday to New Orleans. In return, the Sixers added seventh overall pick Nerlens Noel as well as their own draft pick at 11th overall, Michael Carter-Williams.
There is a future there. The goal for the Sixers is not to win now but maybe five years from now, as Noel and MCW build a reputation.
Still, on the forefront, there are many questions. Is there an end in sight to the struggles Philadelphia sports are facing?
The problem is easy to see and hard to solve. A fresh perspective is exactly what is needed. A new process to get back to the top in each respective sport is what is hindering Philadelphia sports. They are trying to win using old methods.
The issue with solving that problem is that you can’t just simply get rid of an owner. In the case of all four Philadelphia sports teams, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. And as long ownership of any of the Philadelphia teams is set in their old ways or fail in trying to invent new ones, nothing will change.
Kevin Durso is a contributor for Flyerdelphia. You can follow him on twitter @KDursoPhilsNet.
