Schlereth: New Broncos HC won’t be ‘empowered’ with Kubiak on staff
Jan 1, 2019, 10:31 AM | Updated: 3:21 pm
Whether it is on the sideline or the front office, Denver Broncos general manager John Elway said on Monday that he expects Gary Kubiak to have a role with the organization in 2019.
But if Kubiak indeed comes back in a coaching role, that could mean further issues for the Broncos regarding whoever they hire as the team’s new head coach, said “Schlereth and Evans” co-host Mark Schlereth on Tuesday.
“I love Gary Kubiak. And if that coach, the next coach, wants Gary Kubiak as his offensive coordinator, I’m all in. I think that’s great,” Schlereth said. “But it needs to be his decision.”
Among the criteria Schlereth laid out for what he’d like to see in the Broncos next head coach is a person who effectively communicates, that has an authenticity about him.
“It’s got to be real. But, for your message to be authentic and for it to be real, you’ve got to be empowered,” Schlereth said. “You’ve got to be the man.”
But a coach who comes into Denver and is immediately “saddled” with a staff that he did not pick can’t be empowered, Schlereth said.
“If he’s not empowered, I mean, you’re doomed to the same mistakes that you’ve made in recent years, the same mistake that you made with Vance Joseph. That’s the bottom line,” Schlereth said. “Whoever is going to be the next head coach, he has got to be empowered to have success.”
Later Tuesday, Orlando Franklin agreed with Schlereth, saying that the next head coach should have the “free will to hire and fire whomever he wants.”
But with that, Franklin said, comes with the risk of losing Kubiak, whom he called a “great evaluator,” while the Broncos face a “complete overhaul.”
“Gary Kubiak directly helps you get better through the draft, through signing free agents, and through signing rookie free agents,” Franklin said. “So, he’s going to be able to stay here in whatever role he sees fit and whatever role he wants to assert himself into.”
Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @JohnnyHart7.
