Falcons Owner Arthur Blank yesterday acknowledged that the team has contracted search firm Korn Ferry and hired former Browns CEO Joe Banner "as a consultant" in the team's search for a new coach, according to D. Orlando Ledbetter of the ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION. Both Banner, who also worked for the Eagles, and Korn Ferry "will assist through the transition" in the wake of the team firing coach Mike Smith yesterday. Blank "denied that the announcement that they had hired a search firm before the last game of the season was a distraction to Smith and the team in the regular season finale." Blank: "Korn Ferry has been involved in a number of searches over the last few years. They can only do one club per year as you might expect. The last two years, they’ve brought two outstanding coaches to the NFL. One to the Texans in Bill O’Brien and one for Kansas City, coach (Andy) Reid" (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 12/30).
DOUBTING THOMAS? The AJC's Ledbetter reported Blank "promised an assessment of the entire football operation," including the role of GM Thomas Dimitroff. Blank said, "The assessment has begun. Where it will end, I can’t tell you. As I said, it may be over at this point. It may not be" (AJC.com, 12/29). He "got defensive over repeated questions about why Dimitroff was retained and Smith was not" (AJC.com, 12/29). However, in Atlanta, Jeff Schultz wrote as a "general rule in sports, a general manager’s lifeline extends at least to two head coaches." But that "isn't to suggest" Dimitroff is not "under fire." Blank "already has undermined him by hiring a search firm" and he "may mandate more changes" (AJC.com, 12/29). Also in Atlanta, Mark Bradley wrote Dimitroff "should be gone, too." He "has had seven drafts and seven rounds of free agency to build a complete roster," but has "failed to build anything but a throw-and-catch operation" (AJC.com, 12/29).
CLEANING UP THE NEST: Ledbetter noted the timing of the team's transition is "sensitive for the new stadium project." The Falcons next month "are set to announce a premium seat license program that will be ground-breaking in this market." However, Blank said that the "new stadium, PSLs, sponsors nor season ticket-holder unrest played into" Smith's firing. Blank: "The question was raised if this had anything to do with the new stadium. No, it had nothing to do with it" (AJC.com, 12/29). In N.Y., Ken Belson writes Blank "needs to have a winning club to get sponsors and fans excited about buying tickets and advertising" ahead of the opening of the team's new stadium in '17 (N.Y. TIMES, 12/30).
