Chiefs coach Andy Reid in his introductory press conference said that he had “no role in the dismissal" of GM Scott Pioli and will allow Chair & CEO Clark Hunt to "name the next GM,” according to Mike Garafolo of USA TODAY. Reid said, "It was a three-hour meeting that ended up being a nine-hour meeting and it probably could've gone on longer than that. You got this feeling, 'This is right,' so it made the decision easy” (USA TODAY, 1/8). In Philadelphia, Les Bowen wrote the “thing is, though, the Chiefs jettisoned general manager Scott Pioli as they were hiring Reid, which seemed to be a strong hint that the next GM would be someone Andy basically picked, such as former Eagles and Browns GM Tom Heckert or Packers exec John Dorsey.” Reid said that he would “sit in on GM interviews, but the decision would be Hunt's” (PHILLY.com, 1/7). SI.com’s Peter King wrote it was “inevitable that the Chiefs fired Scott Pioli, whose top three decisions in a four-year Chiefs run (hiring Todd Haley, trading for Matt Cassel, hiring Romeo Crennel) all turned out to be wrong.” Pioli was “too private for his own good in what has become an increasingly public job.” But the “vitriol chasing him out the door was over the top.” King: “He's a good man who didn't win enough. The personal attacks I just don't get” (SI.com, 1/7).
