I think I was cluttering up too many other posts arguing against Shanahan, so I'll try moving the discussion to another thread.

I think Shanahan fits into the same category as Dick Vermiel, Parcells, Gibbs, and others whose best years as a head coach in the NFL are behind them. When this group first got their start, they were regarded as fresh talent with something to prove.

What we need to do in my opinion is find the equivalent of this group for this era. I believe that Zorn was an attempt at this, but it doesn't seem to be working out. I think Zorn is  too heavily married to the West Coast mentality. He has shown some ability to adapt, with all the chaos from this year, so some argument could be made that he might yet work out. When Joe Gibbs came here he was in air Coryell kind of guy, when that didn't work out so well he adapted to smash mouth football, and went to four Super Bowls.

I don't think what we need is a system coach. But if we were to go with a system coach, I think the system should be smash mouth football. Examples would be John Fox, Bill Cowher and Jeff Fisher. In other words there is a difference between run heavy and smash mouth, they are not the same thing.

I realize that not every young coach is going to be the next Bill Cowher or Mike Tomlin, Jim Zorn and Raheem Morris prove that to me. But I would much rather work through one or two young ones looking for the right one then try to recycle an older coach. Even if the older coach works out, you won't get the kind of tenure that the Titans have gotten out of Fisher or the Steelers got out of Cowher or we got out Joe Gibbs the first time.

All I'm trying to say is if were going to rebuild, let's put in a solid, lasting foundation this time instead of the quick gratification that Dan always seems to be grasping at.

I don't pretend to be all knowledgeable in the NFL so I don't have a list of the most promising up-and-coming coaches right now but I do know that Russ Grimm was high on the Steelers list when Tomlin got the job. The Steelers front office has about a three decade track record and if Russ was that high up I think he is worth a look.

Does anyone else want to add a young coach to the wish list?