Buffalo Bills hire Dave Wannstedt as defensive specialist
The Buffalo Bills have hired Dave Wannstedt as defensive specialist, bringing him back into the professional football league which puts him to work with his colleague and long time friend Chan Gailey.
The team announced Wannstedt’s hiring on Friday after both parties had a meeting for a greater part of the day to work out a contract. The team did not make the terms of the deal clear but a source who was familiar with the incident says that the contract
will be for at least one season. This person spoke anonymously because the Bills usually don’t release information regarding a contract or deal.
Wannstedt spent the last six years at the University of Pittsburgh, coaching the Panthers. He comes back to the NFL after being forced to resign last month from Pittsburgh.
Before being fired in middle of the 2004 season, Wannstedt had been the head coach for the Miami Dolphins for more than four years. Before that, he spent six seasons, from 1993 to 1998, as the head coach of the Chicago Bears.
Wannstedt’s position as defensive specialist will require him to oversee the Bills’ struggling defense. The team was the league’s worst in terms of rushing yards allowed. A total of 2,714 rushing yards were allowed by the Bills, the second highest in team
history. Last season, the franchise had eight games in which the defense ran for at least 200 yards.
For the Bills, Wannstedt will be working under Gailey, who had a 4-12 record in his first season as head coach of the Bills.
It’s actually a switch from just over ten years ago. Wannstedt became head coach of the Dolphins and he hired Gailey as his offensive coordinator. They spent two seasons together before Gailey took up the head coaching job at Georgia Institute of Technology.
"Chan's had success everywhere he's been," Wannstedt said in a statement released by the team. "Knowing what he's about as a football coach, knowing what he believes in and having worked with him in Miami, I know he has the winning formula."
Wannstedt will also be the team’s inside linebackers’ coach after DeMontie Cross was fired two weeks ago.
"We are extremely pleased to have Dave Wannstedt join our staff," Gailey said. "I look forward to him being able to help our team in many ways. With his amount of experience, he certainly should be able to do that."
The Bills finished last in their division, the AFC East, behind the Dolphins, New York Jets and New England Patriots.
Tags: