Let's hear it for one Kevin William O'Connell

Agree. We really struck gold with this one. He's not just a great culture guy, he's a great Xs and Os guy too. It's rare to have both. He's also a great communicator and is terrific in front of the camera. Among all the feathers in KAM's cap, KOC is probably the biggest.

The organization was targeting and rumored to be heavily interested in O'Connell before they ever hired KAM. In fact, some people wondered if they'd hire KOC first or KAM. Not sure I'd put this in the KAM pile, other than strictly as window dressing.

Interest is not a hire. They were interested in Harbaugh too. After KAM was hired there was a three-week period that included interviews with 4 candidates. It was from that pool that KOC was selected. To not give the guy who hired him credit for hiring him is just silly. If the coach had failed, you can bet the GM would've gotten the blame.

Yep, he hired him. But its not like he had to work very hard at it, did O'Connell even take another interview? lol, KOC wanted to come here and the Vikings wanted him: this existed before KAM was hired. Nothing silly about it. I'm glad they got it done. You know I'm not a KAM hater, so there's no agenda here. You want to give him a home run but he was already standing on 3rd base.
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Purple culture: strong.

KOC interviewed with Houston as well. Whether or not KAM had to work hard at it is beside the point. There are always a pool of likely candidates. Hell, not a single leaf has fallen on my lawn yet and we already have a good half dozen head coaching candidates for 2025. Ben Johnson, the OC in Detroit, is considered the front runner. If the Jags or Panthers hire him and go 4-0 next year, would we not give their GM credit for the hire simply because he was an obvious candidate? There was a process and several interviews, and from that KAM chose O'Connell over Bowles, Morris and Harbaugh. Right now that looks like a big W.  

I don't know the details of how or why Harbaugh was nixed, but can you imagine how different this team would be right now if we had hired him to coach a team with Jefferson and Addison? I mean he's turned Justin Herbert into Mr. Handoff. Herbert has fewer passing yards than Box Nix and Will Levis. I'm sure he'll turn things around there, but no thank you.

[b]No, unlike some, you don't have an agenda, but my goodness, I don't know why so many hesitate to give our GM credit for hiring the current odds on favorite for coach of the year.[/b]

We just look at it differently. Harbaugh is a good coach, there's little doubt about that. And I think the Chargers as a team have bought into him and his style. But yeah: he's going to run the football...at all costs. KOC was my number one choice as a fan, no one I wanted above him.

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