What does a GM need to be?

[CanadianCat]

Lots of comments on why we don't like our GM cause he was a radio personality (valid) but what is a GM and what does it take to be successful?

 

Honestly I think a GM needs to be like a good CEO that can manage multiple departments and be the face of the team. They don't need to be a scout or a cap guy they need to know how to manage SME's (subject matter experts) and let the experts do their work. A successful team is one that can handle the draft, free agency, football operations and the cap. The GM doesn't need to be the best at any one of these, they just need to be able to bring them all together... 

Think about real life examples at your work. When the best person at whatever they do is promoted you lose all that experience at that position. Now they moved to a management role which takes away from what they were really valuable at. I honestly don't care what background the general manager comes from so long as they have a proven record of managing successfully....

[Mr. Scot]

Saying a GM doesn't need to be good at scouting or cap management is like saying a quarterback doesn't need to know how to hand off or pass.

[The Lobo]

He needs to know what talent is. He needs to know strengths and weaknesses of every player in this draft. He needs scouting experience and cap management skills to let the team succeed in the long run. So not Hurney.

[NJPanthers12]

Everything Hurney is not

[CanadianCat]

1 hour ago, Mr. Scot said:

Saying a GM doesn't need to be good at scouting or cap management is like saying a quarterback doesn't need to know how to hand off or pass.

Not the same thing

[chknwing]

umm no, we dont like Hurney because he overpaid for mediocre players and thrusted Carolina into a Cap nightmare.

[Mr. Scot]

5 minutes ago, CanadianCat said:

Not the same thing

Actually it is.

I've been managed before by people who have never done what I do.  I know a lot of companies think if guys are "good leaders" they can manage anything, but I know from experience it's not true. When you need help from someone who understands your job, and the person you have to go to for help doesn't, it's a bad situation.

The general manager job is primarily about roster building.  That means you have to be the guy to make final decisions on who should be drafted, who you want to sign, who you want to trade for and what you're willing to give up, and how much of your salary cap a guy is truly worth.

If I'm looking for someone to do that job, I want a guy who's qualified to make those decisions, not a guy who's gonna take a poll.

[CanadianCat]

29 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

Actually it is.

I've been managed before by people who have never done what I do.  I know a lot of companies think if guys are "good leaders" they can manage anything, but I know from experience it's not true. When you need help from someone who understands your job, and the person you have to go to for help doesn't, it's a bad situation.

The general manager job is primarily about roster building.  That means you have to be the guy to make final decisions on who should be drafted, who you want to sign, who you want to trade for and what you're willing to give up, and how much of your salary cap a guy is truly worth.

If I'm looking for someone to do that job, I want a guy who's qualified to make those decisions, not a guy who's gonna take a poll.

Regarding roster building, yes I agree that is the job but there are many aspects to that (scouting, FA, draft, cap) and your not going to get a guy that is an expert in all those areas. You also need a guy that can sell the team to the media and knows how to handle PR issues. 

[Mr. Scot]

1 minute ago, CanadianCat said:

Regarding roster building, yes I agree that is the job but there are many aspects to that (scouting, FA, draft, cap) and your not going to get a guy that is an expert in all those areas. You also need a guy that can sell the team to the media and knows how to handle PR issues. 

There are plenty of teams that have guys who are good at all of those things.

If they can't be good at all of them though, I want a guy who's got a proven track record as a talent evaluator.  That's the single most important factor in roster building.  You can get someone else to manage the cap and handle negotiations, and frankly I don't give a rat's ass whether a guy is good at PR (have you seen Belichick?)

Build a winning team and nobody cares if you're a lousy public speaker.

[Ricky Spanish]

He needs to not be a little bitch boy cuck.

[Mr. Scot]

3 minutes ago, Cracka McNasty said:

He needs to not be a little bitch boy cuck.

That too.

Basically, the GM needs to be the smartest football guy in the room.

Guys like Kevin Colbert, Ozzie Newsome, Bill Belichick, yeah that's them.

Here? Not so much.

[panthers55]

GMs vary based on what they are asked to do and their roles. For example Belichick is not the GM but has final say on all personnel decisions.so he operates as the GM and the coach and whatever else he wants.

Most GMs are in charge of personnel acquisition and contract negotiations. They surely dont have to be like Gettleman and watch film all day to make their own choices if they  trust their  head coach who understands what he needs and a good scouting department who do the lions share of the player evaluations. But your GM does need to be able to determine who is giving him good advice and who knows what they are talking about. And he needs to be able to negotiate contracts and decide who to keep and who to let go. Does it help to have scouting experience and cap management experience. Absolutely. But anytime you make generalizations and use words and  phrases like always, never, the most important, etc. you bound to be wrong at least some of the time.

[janderson20vt]

Smart enough not to lock up the "core" of a 2-14 team.

[Mr. Scot]

48 minutes ago, janderson20vt said:

Smart enough not to lock up the "core" of a 2-14 team.

Yeah, I remember that too.

They were actually pretty proud of themselves for that.