Stefan Fatsis On The End Of Leatherface
We underserve many teams here at KSK, the Bills, Chiefs, and a handful of others among them. Included in that group are the Broncos. Best-selling author Stefan Fatsis spent a year with the Broncos for his book A Few Seconds Of Panic. So we asked him to give us his theories as to why Pat Bowlen finally decided to cut Mike “Leatherface” Shanahan loose after 13 years on the job (my theory: because he sucks). Here now is Fatsis’ take.
Drew and I exchanged emails on Monday.
DREW: No chance Shanny is in trouble, yes?
FORMER DENVER BRONCOS KICKER, INSIDER AND TEAM CHRONICLER WHO THINKS HE TOTALLY UNDERSTANDS THE MINDS OF BRONCOS OWNER PAT BOWLEN AND HEAD COACH MIKE SHANAHAN: No chance. Coach for life. Or at least til end of this contract in 2011.
Writer knows shit. What a surprise. But this really was one argument that seemed pointless. Shanahan was going nowhere. When the lunatics on the Broncos message boards would post their all-caps, multi-exclamation-pointed Shanny-must-go posts, I’d chuckle at the natives rattling the wrought-iron gates of the mansion. Didn’t they get it? Coach for life meant coach for life. Pat would no sooner fire Mike than he would spoon with Al Davis.
There was good reason for the confidence. I asked Bowlen once to describe his relationship with Shanahan. He stared contemplatively over my right shoulder for a good 30 seconds before finally talking. “I don’t want this to come out in the wrong way,” he said, “but it’s almost like a marriage. You know, you grow with that person and you develop a certain level of confidence and trust over a period of years. And so you know the right questions to ask, you know the right, the wrong buttons to push. It’s not like you put all your faith and trust in this person and then they’re not doing the job or cheating on you. That’s not happening.” (Ed. note: Bowlen then added, “Ya little fucker.”) The couple renewed its vows before the 2007 season with a contract extension through 2011 at more than $6 million a year.
Bowlen deferred to Shanahan on just about every internal decision, on and off the field, like sacking the GM who was with the team for 16 years, Ted Sundquist, after a 2007 season flop that could hardly have been blamed on the front office (especially since Shanahan ultimately made pretty much every call). Some people viewed the relationship as too one way, that Mike had Pat’s number. But Bowlen’s no pushover, and no fool. He’s the most reasonable owner I’ve ever met in sports; no pretense, no bullshit, lots of smarts. (He negotiated the NFL’s many-zeroed TV contracts.) Bowlen doesn’t make decisions to respond to public pressure; he’s justifiably proud of the competent operational systems he and Shanahan imposed over the years; and, rather amazingly, he understands that operating a professional sports franchise is a fickle endeavor, that success is cyclical, especially in a league like the NFL, and dependent on too many outside factors. (Look at how many injuries the Broncos suffered this season.)
I haven’t spoken to either Bowlen or Shanahan, but here’s my hunch: Something flipped in their relationship. Maybe Shanahan finally overestimated his power and immunity, had confused the authority Bowlen had vested in him with the ultimate authority over the franchise. Or maybe Bowlen just concluded that the franchise’s long-term business prospects were being damaged by Shanahan’s tenure—one playoff win in 10 years didn’t help—and, in a challenging economic climate, would be improved by a change. (Ed. Theory: Shanny boned Mrs. Bowlen. It’s a lock.)
But this isn’t your garden-variety firing. Shanahan may not be a Mastermind anymore, but he isn’t a Mangenius either, some young, disposable, overhyped coach. Love him or hate him, he was an institution in Denver who won a shitload of games, and as many Super Bowls as Landry, Shula and Parcells. Players and executives would gripe about Shanahan’s inflexible habits and routines, about his erratic and sometimes poorly grounded player-personnel decisions, and about the culture of paranoia his omnipotence created (I’ll never forget Shanahan’s former college roommate and offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger bolting out of his office so he wouldn’t be late for a coaches’ meeting). But I never once heard anyone question Shanahan’s abilities as an organizer and a coach.
There was a fundamental belief, even a cockiness, that the Broncos had figured out how to make an NFL organization operate efficiently and effectively, that the team wouldn’t win every year but it wouldn’t embarrass itself if it didn’t. But after three really bad seasons in a row—a run that I think began with the benching of Jake Plummer when Denver was 7-4 in 2006, but that’s just me—the Teflon may have worn off. Shanahan wasn’t exactly the great and powerful Oz, but he certainly stopped looking quite so invincible, maybe even to his boss.
I actually have a theory as to why Shanny was able to hold sway over Bowlen for so many years, and the answer lies in the above photo. MIKE SHANAHAN CAN DESTROY YOU WITH HIS GAZE. That makes him tough to bargain with.
Tags: actual analysis!, Fatsis adores Jake Plummer, ksk guest posts, Stefan Fatsis
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December 31st, 2008 at 11:49 am
I clicked the “actual analysis!” tag. Nothing else came up, odd…
December 31st, 2008 at 11:54 am
Image Note: Photograph taken from perspective of tanning lamp.
December 31st, 2008 at 11:58 am
Surprise surprise, Mike Shanahan and Damon Gant were separated at birth.
Both can indeed kill with a night.
December 31st, 2008 at 12:00 pm
I always look at the name “Stefan Fatsis” and think “handle”.
December 31st, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Countless children have pissed their pants looking at that face. Even scares me a little
December 31st, 2008 at 12:10 pm
No plug for KSK on NPR, Stefan? What’s up with that?!
December 31st, 2008 at 12:10 pm
I think of the word “QAT”
December 31st, 2008 at 12:15 pm
That article was way too intelligible for me to understand what he was saying, but I think he called my sister fat. I’m not insulted, just a little amazed by his psychic abilities.
December 31st, 2008 at 12:15 pm
“WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY EYELIDS???”
December 31st, 2008 at 12:17 pm
I can’t figure out that facial expression. Is he happy? Is he mad? Is he about to rip my heart out of my chest Indiana Jones style and eat it? I don’t know. I bet the photgrapher is still haunted.
December 31st, 2008 at 12:21 pm
That face is the last thing many inebriated UD students have seen before being quartered by a chainsaw and posthumously raped.
December 31st, 2008 at 12:22 pm
ps – why is Michael Clarke Duncan hanging out in Denver with Shanny?
December 31st, 2008 at 12:27 pm
I feel 21 grams lighter
December 31st, 2008 at 12:29 pm
That picture was taken in a morgue just as Shanny was about to devour the corpse of a 14 year old virgin.
December 31st, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Savage’s and Crennel’s replacement. Oh he’s gonna make Jamal run.
December 31st, 2008 at 12:35 pm
It’s important to note that Fatsis’ analysis is badly hamstrung by his biases. He had obvious favorites among his sources for the book, and shaded the narrative to their benefit. Plummer, Sundquist and others get protected by Fatsis (unreasonably so, given their respective performances), while those who did not fully cooperate with Fatsis get slammed. So reader beware. The book, like this analysis, is simply an extended opinion piece.
December 31st, 2008 at 12:43 pm
That photo looks like it was taken at a wedding or some hotel lobby.
BTW, the guy standing behind Shanny was a teenage, Japanese girl before Shanny’s stare took her soul.
December 31st, 2008 at 12:44 pm
@Reggie: Tentacle Stare?
December 31st, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Must. Not. Look. Directly. Into. Mike’s. Eyes. Can’t. Seem. To. Stop. Must. Turn. Away.
December 31st, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Does this mean the continuation of the Mike Shanahan AFC West tour? What’s the next stop? Has to be KC, right? I know they only play to win the game in KC, but Shanny will teach them to trip and chop block in the game too.
December 31st, 2008 at 1:02 pm
@anon:
I see he’s stolen your soul too?
December 31st, 2008 at 1:36 pm
@anon: yes, reader beware! i am a writer! i have opinions! some broncos weren’t very interesting and didn’t play a role in my time in training camp so i didn’t write about them! others got more attention because they were smart and friendly and cooperative and had interesting things to say! i told a story as objectively as possible based on my experiences! shocking!
December 31st, 2008 at 2:48 pm
So Fatsis spends a three weeks in training camp three years ago and all of a sudden he’s the resident Broncos expert?
December 31st, 2008 at 3:24 pm
The expression on the right side of his face is calm and reasonable, while the left side is maniacal.
The net effect is terrifying. I’m going to curl up in a corner now.
Liked your book, FatSister. Comment whenever you damn well feel like it, even if you sometimes violate KSK’s policy of dispassionate neutrality.
December 31st, 2008 at 3:32 pm
They were speculating on Denver’s news show last night that there’s a good chance he’d go to Kansas City. I can totally see that too. Think about it, young team, good running game (well in theory), fast defense with some skilled players. Take away Herm and they’ve got a good young nucleus. Plus you get to face your former team twice a year. Interesting possibility.
December 31st, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Jesus Fatsis. Too lazy to use caps? I read your book and it was pretty enjoyable. The thing I didn’t like about it was the sense when I was done that you felt you were actually a pro kicker that never got a fair chance to make the team or something. The behind the scenes stuff was good though.
December 31st, 2008 at 4:33 pm
@Hercules Rockefeller: Two years ago. Having unrestricted access to a pro sports team for a season means I had more access than the typical beat writer, and was able to establish actual personal relationships with the people I wrote about. So, yeah, I feel like I do have better insight than most people into this one franchise.
@Gern: Really? Because I thought I was pretty up front about how badly I sucked. Which doesn’t mean that I didn’t take it seriously and want to do well. Which had nothing to do with believing I should be allowed to kick in a real game.
/dick joke
December 31st, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Shanahan became coach of the Broncos when I was 8, which means I haven’t really known the NFL without him.
I understand why Broncos fans are excited about this, but is there any coach out there that will do better with that roster next year?
Another thing to think about: If the Broncos had lost the Hochuli Bowl, would Shanny be out of a job today?
December 31st, 2008 at 6:44 pm
I was just giving you shit Fats, I’m actually a pretty big fan.
January 1st, 2009 at 12:42 pm
@ Boatdrinks: Rearrange the letters in Stefan Fatsis, get “A Sanest Stiff.” ‘nuf said.
/off to online shop for throwback Joe Willie “possum” jersey
January 1st, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Stefan, punch him in the nose! Teach him a lesson with your fists!