NFL.com
"I think it was the worst decision I made, quite honestly," Harlan told Green & Gold Today on Tuesday, via ESPNMilwaukee.com.
I agree. After they fired Rhodes after one season, it seemed like nobody wanted to touch the job with a ten foot pole. I suspect there were various reasons for this, one among them being that Rhodes apparently handed the keys to the franchise to his starting QB. So Sherman was a pretty good hire at that point. I don't think he was quite ready, but there weren't many takers for the position.
I don't think he reigned in the QB very well. But I think Sherman's main failing as a coach was that he brought in all his buddies as assistant coaches. Which wouldn't have been a big deal, but they all kind of sucked. Tom Rosseley especially. I also thought he unfairly scapegoated Ed Donnatell.
But yeah, his biggest failing was as a GM. LOL. If Grady Jackson hadn't fallen into his lap that year after being outright released due to weight issues, he'd really have been screwed. Remember when he drafted James Lee? LOL. Then there was the infamous pic of him sleeping at the combine. LOL.
"I was concerned that if a new man came in from the outside, (Sherman) might have trouble getting along with him, ..."
This concern turned out to be valid. It seemed like a blow to Sherman's ego when Ted was hired. You can't have that in an employee. It's not personal, it's about business.
Then there was this:
Harlan pointed to the long, contentious holdout of cornerback Mike McKenzie in 2004 as a breaking point. Sherman was frazzled heading into the season, according to Harlan, who stripped the coach of GM duties and named Ted Thompson to the role in 2005. No regrets there.
“Winning is not a sometime thing, it is an all the time thing. You don't do things right once in a while…you do them right all the time.”