Kansas City Chiefs appoint Romeo Crennel as new head coach – NFL News
Kansas City Chiefs have now officially announced that their interim coach, Romeo Crennel is now to be the new Head Coach of the club.
Hence, finally Romeo has achieved what he wanted to since the past three weeks, rather a lot more time than that.
Crennel was hurled in as coach Todd Haley was fired after the Chiefs plummeted to the bottom of the AFC West.
Crennel had been impressive in his performance leading the Chiefs to a victory over the unbeaten Green Bay Packers.
Although that was followed by a defeat to Oakland Raiders, yet he managed to pull another win over the Denver Broncos in the season’s finale game.
Crenel had long wanted to be the head coach and had earlier announced his intentions. Reaching the playoff which was still a possibility when he took over as the interim coach was not something that he could manage but nevertheless a record of 2-1 was much
to speak of.
General Manager of the Chiefs Scott Pioli had his eyes fixed on Crennel since a long time. Pioli had indicated earlier that Crennel may be a likely candidate saying that he would definitely be interviewed and highly spoke of the respect that Pioli commanded
in the locker room. Pioli was clearly impressed by Crennel’s performance in the three games.
"The three games had a lot to do with where we arrived at this decision. Some of the things we saw was a great deal of accountability and consistency. There was also a different energy to the football team. A lot of it had to do with those last three games."
Pioli said.
Crennel landed up a three-year agreement with the Chiefs last Sunday night whom he had been formerly serving as the defensive coordinator. He proved his abilities as a coordinator helping the Chiefs defence became their greatest strength.
Crennel has had experience of a head coach previously. He coached the Cleveland Browns for four years. He worked his way through a contract extension with the Browns but was relieved after the team fell to a 4-12 performance. Crennel said that the experience
with Browns had him polished and was determined to be the head coach again. However, Crennel could not find an opportunity and ended up with the Chiefs as a coordinator. With the Browns, Crennel came under sharp criticism for being too lenient but Crennel
defended himself. That could have contributed to his downfall with the team.
As the new head coach, one of the issues facing Crennel is the quarterback selection. Kyle Orton had replaced Tyler Palko who had proved to be an ineffective replacement for the injured Matt Cassel. Cassel missed the second half of the season due to a hand
injury. Crennel appears pleased with the Orton.
"I'm probably not sitting here if Kyle hadn't done the job that he did," Crennel said.
Crennel managed something that seemed unachievable after taking on as the interim coach. He helped the Chiefs score two victories despite injuries having plagued to key players like Cassel, Jamaal Charles, Tony Moeaki and Eric Berry. This is what brightened
his chances of becoming the new head coach.
Among the other candidates interviewed for the head coach slot were former Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Jack Del Rio and Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Joe Philbin
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