Posted by bambi2godzilla on 8/2/2007, 11:28 am Walsh says quarterbacks don't get enough specialized attention. Before the draft in April, he worked with Collins, Rob Johnson, Chad May, John Walsh, Danny O'Neil, and Steve Stenstrom. Walsh also tutored wide receiver J.J. Stokes, subsequently the 49ers' first-round pick, on running patterns. Collins' draft stock supposedly had been dropping because of the well-publicized ''hitch'' in his delivery before Walsh worked with him. Walsh says it was no big deal, and Collins got it out of his system within a day and a half of concentrated work. Walsh and his students focused on footwork and other mechanics, went through drills designed to find secondary receivers and studied film of Montana. ''We here respect (Walsh's) opinion greatly, and we certainly solicited his opinion on Kerry Collins, and that carried great weight in our (draft) decision,'' Panthers General Manager Bill Polian says. Collins says he ''got a lot out of'' the time he spent with Walsh. But not all the quarterbacks who spent time with Walsh -- at a reported cost of up to $ 30,000 -- were successful projects. Browning Nagle, the only experienced NFL quarterback Walsh tutored this year, says Walsh did wonders for his confidence. Nagle was cut by the Colts in the offseason but was signed last week by Atlanta. And Johnson declined to talk about his time with Walsh. A source close to Johnson says Johnson thought Walsh's camps were going to be even more exclusive than they were. It didn't help Johnson's outlook when, expecting to be drafted higher, he slid to the Jaguars in the fourth round. But that was still better than some of the others, like John Walsh (seventh round, Bengals) and he said Bill Walsh ''helped me a lot.'' Bill Walsh blames the salary cap for the way some quarterbacks dropped in what was touted as a quarterback-rich draft. He says teams are hesitant to invest early picks and, thus, big salary-cap dollars, in players who require development. The theory goes that the teams would lose the guy to free agency just when they needed him. ''That chemistry is not very good for developing quarterbacks,'' Walsh says. Even more than developing quarterbacks such as Montana, however, Walsh remains best known for developing lasting success. It has been so long now that many may not remember, but the 49ers, to put it kindly, were the Bucs of their day when he took over. Their organization was in disarray, the team was awful and the immediate future looked bleak because poor trades had deprived the 49ers of future draft choices. Within three years, however, after drafting future Hall of Fame players Montana and Ronnie Lott, Walsh's team won the Super Bowl. That's why Shanahan, who already had assimilated Walsh's offense, was picking Walsh's brain on organizational matters this spring after leaving the 49ers for Denver. Shanahan, likewise, inherited a team low on draft picks. ''Since he's not coaching, he can really give clinics, and a lot of people are interested in that, because not too often will they get that type of insight,'' Shanahan says. Similarly, Lurie, even before Walsh got involved in trying to put together a deal to hire Dick Vermeil, spent hours in sessions with Walsh in his office and on the telephone. ''He was one of the first people I sought out to really analyze what San Francisco has done and apply that to the 1990s,'' Lurie says. ''He's just such a clear-thinking, organizational guy in terms of how to set the organization up right for success, and what the priorities should be, that he was a natural to want to talk to.'' Based on the corporate contacts he has made in motivational speaking, Walsh says he has developed even stronger concepts about personnel management and organizational techniques. Among Walsh's advice to eager pupils in the NFL: # Stay ahead of the hiring curve by developing a list of young, creative minds. ''You need to make an ongoing study of the young people who are being trained,'' Walsh says. ''It's not done (in the NFL) near to the extent it is in the corporate world.'' # Develop a plan and philosophy for the short and long terms -- and stick with them. ''The long-term planning in the NFL isn't comparable to the business world. Everybody wants to win now. You have to have a very strong agenda that will help you through the ebb and flow of the NFL season. If you have three coaches in 10 years, you keep voiding each plan as you go.'' # Document virtually everything. Walsh says this is a must for legal questions that may arise regarding contracts, medical issues and dismissal of employees. ''It's also important to know where you've been and what you've done,'' he says. ''At Stanford, I had a coach assigned to write down the key, salient points from every meeting and we made a journal out of it. I found this to be an excellent instrument for long-range evaluations.'' # Keep your staff on the cutting edge, which is critical in the volatile age of free agency. He says the league could learn a lot from the business world, which provides workshops and seminars for its employees, and universities, which have continuing education programs. ''But sports has nothing of the kind -- you either learn by doing it or watching it,'' he says. ''A lid is put on it.'' He points to former coaches such as Tom Landry and Chuck Noll as sources who are underutilized, and says the NFL could pick up valuable management tools from the corporate world. But as busy as Walsh is these days, it is unclear whether all these little jobs will be enough to satisfy him. One friend says it's one thing to give advice and coach quarterbacks, but how is Walsh going to get his satisfaction when the season begins? Even Walsh concedes that he does not want to remain a consultant for the rest of his life. He talks about ''conceivably, going to an NFL team at some point in a management role.'' But what team? Where? When? Walsh has had opportunities to get back into the league, but he doesn't want to leave northern California. He acknowledges that limits his options but still talks like a man who expects to be back on the inside again at some point. ''It wouldn't be based on what financial returns there'd be,'' he said. ''It's not like the biggest offer I'll take, or if it's out of sight, then I'll do it. It's not that at all -- just the best environment to develop or continue or nurture a winning franchise. ''The city would have something to do with it, but I haven't thought about where or what or when or anything. I think there is bound to be a point in the future where I would like to think I'll join an NFL team in a management role, but it doesn't have to be next year. It could be at any time. And I wouldn't have to have absolute control and all those kind of things. That's not nearly as important as the people.''
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If Walsh could have done only one thing among the many jobs he has taken this year, it would have been the camps he ran for quarterbacks. Walsh, who long has felt the NFL does a poor job of training and nurturing its quarterbacks, talked about this as far back as 1989, when he left the 49ers. But when he became an announcer for NBC, the network wouldn't let him run quarterback camps, and when he was at Stanford, he couldn't.
# Do whatever it takes within the bylaws of the NFL to win. Be creative in your personnel pursuits -- for example, be willing to wheel and deal on draft day -- and have people who can master and manipulate the salary cap and contracts (see Carmen Policy, 1994). ''Things have changed so much in the league since I left,'' Walsh says. ''You have to have a multifaceted staff -- an expert in every area.''
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