Rastak
11-11-2007, 06:43 AM
Interesting Silverstein article
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=684787
I thought Harlan had supreme power.....anyway, here is pft.com's take. Not sure it's really causing any problems but Silverstein seems to think there's a fair amount of angst.
PACKERS PRESIDENT SEARCH CAUSING PROBLEMS
As the Green Bay Packers continue to search for a replacement for team president Bob Harlan, Tom Silverstein the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that there are concerns regarding the process.
The primary fear is that Harlan apparently is being frozen out of the process as it approaches its conclusion. Leading the way is the team's board of directors and its seven-member executive committee. Most significantly, the eleven-person search committee formed for the purposes of finding Harlan's successor has opted to no longer include the outgoing Harlan in its meetings.
Apparently, the worry is that the board of directors and the executive committee are preparing to manage the publicly-held corporation that runs a football team like a publicly-held corporation that makes soap or cars or tube socks.
Silverstein writes that, as a result of Harlan's exclusion from the search process, folks throughout the football operation are worried that the board will try to expand its influence, and that the new president will be someone with little or no football experience. "That scares people in the football operation because that person will be responsible for determining the fate of the general manager and head coach," Silverstein writes.
But so what? Every time a pro football team is up for sale there's a chance that the new owner will have little or no football experience. And the new owner will be responsible for determining the fate of the G.M., the head coach, and every other employee in the building. The fact that the Packers don't have a single owner doesn't mean that they shouldn't have a single person who holds that power, regardless of whether the person has prior football experience.
We'd all love to do our work without any oversight or accountability. The fact that the Packers don't have a tangible owner doesn't mean that G.M. Ted Thompson or anyone else in the front office should be exempt from having someone in position to peer over their shoulders. And while Thompson might prefer to be able to use Harlan as a conduit for steering the selection process toward someone with whom Thompson would be comfortable (such as Titans G.M. Mike Reinfeldt), the best interests of the franchise are served by avoiding a too-cozy relationship between president and General Manager.
And Thompson's inability to influence the outcome through Harlan be the root of Silverstein's story. Reading between the lines, it strikes us as an effort by Thompson and company to get the football-crazed public (and the team's shareholders) motivated to complain to the board members about ignoring Harlan and potentially turning the team into another corporate enterprise.
The only danger is that the folks on the board of directors are likely smart enough to see through what's going on, and it might prompt them to try even harder to ensure that the new president will have true independence.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=684787
I thought Harlan had supreme power.....anyway, here is pft.com's take. Not sure it's really causing any problems but Silverstein seems to think there's a fair amount of angst.
PACKERS PRESIDENT SEARCH CAUSING PROBLEMS
As the Green Bay Packers continue to search for a replacement for team president Bob Harlan, Tom Silverstein the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that there are concerns regarding the process.
The primary fear is that Harlan apparently is being frozen out of the process as it approaches its conclusion. Leading the way is the team's board of directors and its seven-member executive committee. Most significantly, the eleven-person search committee formed for the purposes of finding Harlan's successor has opted to no longer include the outgoing Harlan in its meetings.
Apparently, the worry is that the board of directors and the executive committee are preparing to manage the publicly-held corporation that runs a football team like a publicly-held corporation that makes soap or cars or tube socks.
Silverstein writes that, as a result of Harlan's exclusion from the search process, folks throughout the football operation are worried that the board will try to expand its influence, and that the new president will be someone with little or no football experience. "That scares people in the football operation because that person will be responsible for determining the fate of the general manager and head coach," Silverstein writes.
But so what? Every time a pro football team is up for sale there's a chance that the new owner will have little or no football experience. And the new owner will be responsible for determining the fate of the G.M., the head coach, and every other employee in the building. The fact that the Packers don't have a single owner doesn't mean that they shouldn't have a single person who holds that power, regardless of whether the person has prior football experience.
We'd all love to do our work without any oversight or accountability. The fact that the Packers don't have a tangible owner doesn't mean that G.M. Ted Thompson or anyone else in the front office should be exempt from having someone in position to peer over their shoulders. And while Thompson might prefer to be able to use Harlan as a conduit for steering the selection process toward someone with whom Thompson would be comfortable (such as Titans G.M. Mike Reinfeldt), the best interests of the franchise are served by avoiding a too-cozy relationship between president and General Manager.
And Thompson's inability to influence the outcome through Harlan be the root of Silverstein's story. Reading between the lines, it strikes us as an effort by Thompson and company to get the football-crazed public (and the team's shareholders) motivated to complain to the board members about ignoring Harlan and potentially turning the team into another corporate enterprise.
The only danger is that the folks on the board of directors are likely smart enough to see through what's going on, and it might prompt them to try even harder to ensure that the new president will have true independence.