Vital Stays With Dixie Chicks
January 21st, 2014
“Sorry Lovie, no GM yet.”
The hopes of Bucs fans to land a general manager by the end of the weekend came to a crashing thud late Sunday.
There is still no general manager.
Twitter reports and some sports radio chatter had Dixie Chicks front office man Lionel Vital all but signed, sealed and delivered.
That was truly the case. But not for the Bucs, rather for the Dixie Chicks, reports D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“I’m staying with the Falcons,” Vital said while scouting the offensive linemen at the South team practice at the Senior Bowl on Monday.
He’d interviewed for the vacant Tampa Bay opening.
Vital, 50, just completed his first season as the director of player personnel. He was the assistant director for the five previous seasons.
Joe isn’t sure what Team Glazer is exactly seeking, but Vital has a pretty good pedigree and his boss, highly respected Thomas Dimitroff, told Joe last week at the East-West Shrine practices that Vital was easily a very well qualified candidate to replace former Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik.
Alas, that will not be the case.
January 21st, 2014 at 7:27 am
Whatever happened to the Rich McKay to Tampa rumors?
Sounds like Mr. Blank is keeping his Front Office Team together.
January 21st, 2014 at 7:31 am
Something doesn’t smell right about this situation. Lovie has the final say on the 53 man roster is not the end all – something else is probably in play (background).
Whatever the case maybe there is a need for a GM to come in as soon as possible.
January 21st, 2014 at 7:54 am
An GM candidate worth his salt that is interviewing for the Bucs front office. He Needs to do his research about the job he is applying for, and looking the Bucs Last 5 years brings up some serious issues. I would want the Glazers to answer these issues and limitations they put onto the team.
January 21st, 2014 at 8:05 am
I think the bucs just like these other two guys better. I think licht and Ross have excellent pedigrees as well.
Also lovie has control over the final 53. The gm has final say in draft rights and free agent negotiations. Basically putting the roster (90 man ) for TC. Then let the coaches do their job to evaluate it.
January 21st, 2014 at 8:10 am
Vital stays with the Dixie Chicks and non-essential stays with the Bucs! I know it’s early, but couldn’t resist. lol
I read the tweets on this yesterday and it sounds like the Glazers have started the winnowing process and telling candidates they are no longer in the running. That probably means they’re close to making a decision.
Contrary to what we were we told about Vital, the latest rumor is that Marc Ross or Jason Licht is in the lead. Glazers are doing this and Glazers don’t talk!
January 21st, 2014 at 8:20 am
They’re waiting for John Elway’s season to be done and they’re going to hire him. Ok that’s a joke, but it sure would be sweet
January 21st, 2014 at 9:08 am
He was a casualty from narrowing down the candidates further.
Ross and Licht were the favorites anyways, I believe you even put up a piece about that also.
No harm, no foul lol
January 21st, 2014 at 9:17 am
Hope we are not backing ourselves into another Gruden/Allen-type situation. Allen was (and remains) a salary capologist hack. That’s all.
We could be OK if Lovie can manage that type of relationship better than Gruden (and his ego) did.
But my hopes are the Glazers have someone really good in mind and they are working the deal or they are waiting for someone strong from the Seahawks, 49ers, Broncos or Patriots, some on whom only became available last night.
January 21st, 2014 at 10:25 am
Lovie has final say on the draft as well as the roster. That has already been reported. Lovie’s the GM and running the show. Are Buc fans really excited to see who the new front office, Lovie-assistant will be? An assistant who will make the final decision on nothing important?
January 21st, 2014 at 10:56 am
Sounds to me that Lovie had the authority and Vital had a title.
January 21st, 2014 at 11:00 am
investwax Says
“Hope we are not backing ourselves into another Gruden/Allen-type situation. Allen was (and remains) a salary capologist hack.”
Please explain this statement.
While here, Allen followed the policies that the Glazers set for him. He brought in Free Agents in the early years for Gruden, and later he started fixing the salary cap isues. In Washington the owner’s directive is to spend, spend spend. So that is what he does.
January 21st, 2014 at 11:24 am
I think they have a great talent evaluator on staff from the Seattle tree in Eric Stokes. We can see now that the Seattle front office really knows how to do it.
Sometimes, the answer is right in front of you; if these other guys are balking at taking the job due to the structure then I think they should stay in house and give it Eric Stokes who is a great talent evaluator who scouted many of the players the Seahawks are winning with right now.
January 21st, 2014 at 11:37 am
This should be a thorough, detailed process. The GM is the one who gets the keys to the business, to build and develop. The decision is too critical to the success of one’s franchise to not perform thorough due digiligence. So I don’t care if it takes 3,4,5 or 6 weeks as long as they get it right
January 21st, 2014 at 11:45 am
It would be nice to have a GM while you are in full draft mode
January 21st, 2014 at 11:45 am
It would be great to know whether the new GM will have draft “authority”. I’ve seen conflicting stories. Regardless, the idea that final say is the only thing that makes him a general manager, is not quite right. There’s a job to do. Lovie may technically have final say, but that doesn’t make him the GM. Lovie doesn’t have the time to do all the personnel work that the GM does. For the most part, Lovie’s opinions on the draft are going to be shaped by the information coming from the GM, and they will operate by consensus.
January 21st, 2014 at 12:14 pm
A number of coaches have final say over their 53-man roster. The NFC CHAMPS Coach has final say. The media is making that a big deal when it really isn’t
January 21st, 2014 at 12:32 pm
I’m sure the GM that gets hired is currently doing player/prospect evaluations for the draft & free agency in their current position. Its not like they’re hiring someone off the street
January 21st, 2014 at 1:13 pm
they seem heavily focused on personnel guys and nobody they interviewed seems to have a track record on the contract\cap side of the organization. It’s possible we are reading the wrong things into Lovie’s final say on personnel, you’d think if he planned to really exercise that authority he’d prefer a capologist in the front office
January 21st, 2014 at 1:32 pm
This is the Glazer’s decision. The GM will be working with the owners as much or more than the coach. Chemistry has to be right!
January 21st, 2014 at 2:06 pm
I haven’t seen any speculation that the Bucs may be waiting for additional candidates to become available as the playoffs come to an end. Personnel from New England and San Francisco have now become available. I think the Glazers fancy the style of Seattle especially and Denver ain’t all that bad either.
January 21st, 2014 at 8:24 pm
Who gave a rats arse what Thomas Dummytroff had to say anyway? What credentials, other than building a soft roster with no depth does Dixie Boy have?
Thomas Dummytroff thinks hes the smartest guy in the room, what a douchebag and a turrible GM