Eagles Go Into Spin Cycle About The Removal Of Team President Joe Banner
BREAKING NEWS, Eagles, Front Office, News Thursday, June 7th, 2012
In a stunning development, Eagles President Joe Banner will be stepping down from his position with the Eagles, according to Philly.com. He will remain in the employ of the Birds, but only as an adviser to Jeffrey Lurie, but will have his duties taken over by GM Howie Roseman and CEO Don Smolenski.
Smolenski will take over the running of the day-to-day operations of the team and the team’s salary cap will be overseen by Roseman.
They say it wasn’t a power struggle which cost Banner his job but how could it not be. Banner wants to stay in the professional sports business and even admitted as much on Wednesday saying he wants to “get involved with the world of buying and selling a sports team with the possibility of becoming part of a group that buys a team.”
Lurie and head coach Andy Reid immediately went into the spin cycle after the announcement was made when asked the question whether Banner was pushed out of the door.
“No, the opposite,” Lurie said. “It was all done, I think, for what’s best for everybody involved.”
“There’s always a report [about] a power struggle,” Reid said. “That’s not the case at all. . . . You only have so much time to have an opportunity to be in this business. And so, [Banner has] got goals for himself and wants to do those things. Just like we do with [assistant] coaches – give them an opportunity to move on and fulfill their goals.”
“Joe’s a free agent now,” Lurie said according to Philly.com.
“I’m an employed free agent,” Banner made it a point to add.
I think Banner’s image to the fans doomed him. He was looked upon as the face of the Eagles which the fans hated. The mere mention of his name drew groans from Birds fans nationwide. They saw Banner as team president who didn’t care about the fans.
After the season ended as I see it, the Eagles reassessed their place on the Philadelphia sports scene and decided it needed a drastic change to so they wanted to remove Banner from their public face. They want to be looked upon as being friendlier and kinder, so that meant removing Banner.
Reid is friendlier as well as more open and available to the media. They don’t want to be the bad guys in Philadelphia sports any longer, so that meant removing the face that Philadelphia sports fan have hated for years.
Listen to the GCobb.com Morning show on BlogTalk Radio at 7am each morning. You can all in at (347) 215-7256.
My twitter handle in Garry Cobb on Twitter.
Short URL: http://gcobb.com/?p=30856
Posted by GarryCobb
on Jun 7 2012. Filed under BREAKING NEWS, Eagles, Front Office, News.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Further, have you ever heard sports radio in other cities…its pathetic compared to Philly…but again many people don’t take in account that what goes on here is just the same that goes on in every city..stupid people think its just only Philly when it comes to the Media, Fans etc which is very close minded
I stopped listening to WIP many years ago… But Mikey Miss (when he was there) was one of the few guys in the daytime that I could stomach.
He is a smart a$# from time to time, but he has a pretty good pulse on the city and fans in general
My favorite is when he recently went in on Skip Bayless … lol I loved that beatdown.. He also had a great interview with Dawkins the other day. They talked about Banner leaving the team.
Pheages – First, on other cities sports radio – no, I can’t claim that I have experience with them and I definitely trust you/agree that they’re probably more of the same. I could rephrase and say that I’m really not a fan of sports radio (save for actual news). And while I generally agree that fans in other cities have fans that can be just as negative, and to their credit just as passionate as Philly – but only to a degree. I do think that Philly fans have a certain extra passion, and on the other end, negativity. You hear the athelets themselves validate that.
But on Mike Missinelli – fair enough. I agree with him on McNabb. I agree about Reid being good but not great too. I don’t think you need a great coach to win a SB though, and I don’t think he should’ve been fired last year. The way I see it, you don’t fire a coach just because he hasn’t won the SB. I just don’t buy the idea that firing Reid makes the team better. But that’s me.
Glad you enjoy Mike Miss, I don’t. But to each his own.
And as far as opinions and my stance on other’s opinions. I disagree with your statement that I don’t know how to interpret an opinion when it disagrees with (my) own. See above with you and Mike Miss. Now, I DO have an issue with people messing up facts. Like when Songs says things that directly defy the truth.
Schiller, good response. I just disagree. When it comes to Reid. Your not firing Reid him after last year because he hasn’t won a SB with all the chances he has had which is more than many (yes thats a factor but not beginning and end of it).
Your firing Reid because your team has regressed in overall record 3 years in a row…
Or because you haven’t even won 1 playoff game in years..
Or because the players he coached/and selected himself as head of player personnel showed they flat out QUIT in many games last year….
Your talking about SuperBowls…hell how about just winning one game more than you did last year so that you could show some improvement/hope for the future. We can’t even win a wildcard game at home anymore. Where is the hope when it comes to the guy
pheages, well I guess we’re just on the opposite end of the glass of water thing. Last year clearly sucked, but I certainly have hope for this year and this team. I do not believe for 1 second that Tom Coughlin is that much better of a coach than Reid. This team took a huge hit when JJ died, and I think the FO takes that into acount when evaluating Reid’s performance since then. McDermott thing didn’t work out, they tried a new guy (sure, you can certainly question Castillo) but he only had one year to do it. We’ll see, but I for one think this team will be drastically improved from last year to this year.
Schill?
If the team does not drastically improve, what do you think should happen with Reid after another failed season?
I definitely think the team is improved on paper from last there. Im with you there…However like I said in another post I think the achilles heel of this team will be the coaching. We won 1 freaking game against a team that finished with a winning record last year>>THAT SUCKS.
And the fact that you think Reid is better than Coughlin is so ridiculous that I can’t believe I’m even responding to it…Dude We all hate the Giants but you sometimes just have to admit the truth even when you don’t want to believe it…yes it sucks but Id rather admit it than sound like a delusional man who is in extreme denial of what reality is.
Reid can’t touch Coughlin right now…your just buying into the NY media that call for his ass every year because they are all screwed up in the head for the most part.
(HEnce just like my previous post to you about how some ppl here bitch about the Philly media/fans yet don’t open their eyes/ears to what goes around the country in other cities…Were labeled as bad fans because we wan’t a coach to get fired who has fallen short on his job for over a decade yet imagine if we did what NY media and other cities do to coaches/players who actually come through…Unbelievable)
But yea Coughlin is winning SBs while Reid can’t even win 1 more game in the regular season than he won in the year before…
Coughlin gets his team ready to play BIG in the BIG games that really matter that nobody thinks they are going to win…thats a coach you want…while its the exact opposite with Reid
songs, I think Reid should not be resigned if the Eagles don’t drastically improve this year. He can’t be fired after this season because he isn’t under contract past this season.
Now, you will probably define drastic improvement different than me. How do you define it? Man up and answer the question like you never do
pheages – hold on there buddy – I DID NOT say Reid is better than Coughlin. Reread what I wrote. You just blew a gasket on a false alarm.
The ONLY thing that sets Couglin apart from Reid is SBs. Now that’s a huge difference. But we’re talking 2 or 3 games difference. The Giants got very lucky to even get into the playoffs last year. To me, I don’t think that Coughlin is that much better than Reid. I think he’s a little better, but not that much. That’s ALL I said.
Chill out and read carefully.
“And the fact that you think Reid is better than Coughlin is so ridiculous that I can’t believe I’m even responding to it” – there’s a reason for that – I DON’T think that.
LOL they are “only” superbowls (made me almost burst out laughing at work)…next line is even better..”Now that’s a huge difference. But we’re talking 2 or 3 games difference”..Hmmm way to be contradictory there? Doesn’t even make sense. so something is a HUGE difference but then its really not. (cuz secretly god forbid we speak the truth about our beloved Reid) did i read carefully enough for you. Just messing with you man
Schiller what is your response to this statement in my last post…
Coughlin gets his team ready to play BIG in the BIG games that really matter that nobody thinks they are going to win…thats a coach you want…while its the exact opposite with Reid….
You say the Giants got lucky and maybe they did when they got in the playoffs…but Coughlin did exactly what he does…got his team ready to play in big games when no one thought they could win any of them…did they not go on the road to beat GB…SF and then the PAts (who we couldn’t even be on the same field with)? How about their other SB? Proves my point that COughlin is a MUCH BETTER coach than Reid..
I know the truth hurts and it sucks quite frankly but again its just something called reality
I laughed at that statement too pheags….”only superbowls”….I hate the Giants as much as any Eagles fan, but Coughlin may look ugly along the way, but he has gotten far better results in a much shorter time compared to AR.
pheages, you’re giving 100% of the credit to coughlin. The giants won those games, I’m not disupting that, but you’re suggesting that they won them because “Coughlin gets his team ready”. Did Couglins pregame speech catch a football on David Tyree’s helmet?
schiller stop your “hating” on champions, winners, yes it sucks the giants won two recently, but you demean the philly fan base by suggesting the giants or Coughlin are not worthy champions, its the same crap paulman tries on the phils championship over the rays, the fact is coughlin is a super bowl champion and Reid is not
Dude his job is to get his team ready to play…make the correct calls in important situations..put his players in the best spot to make the plays…make the proper adjustments..and going off your statement MOTIVATE his players to come up big. Which is what he obviously did based on the evidence (You see these are all the things I think Reid fails to do in the big games. does “I have to do a better job” every year ring a bell)
I actually think Coughlin deserves a lot of credit for those SBs and I don’t think they would have won any if it wasn’t for him..And I think their FO agrees with me as well since they just gave him a brand new rich lengthy extension
Pheages “I have to do a better job” is a dummy quote he uses to appease the obligatory media appearance in his conrtact. Belicheat says a slight variation of the same thing. Most poeple know that’s him taking flak because it saves time and harmless blame to other people. He says that because it’s the most efficient and least harmful to the team thing to say.
Jake – I didn’t suggest that the Giants aren’t worthy of being champions. They are.
@schill….I do not agree with the take about the Giants being “lucky” to make the playoffs and SB….it is alot similar to people saying that the Phillies were “lucky” to win the 2008 title because they played the Rays…..the arguement sucks, a championship is a championship and should not be put down
greenfan – I was referring to the fact that the Giants snuck into the playoffs via a punt (or was it kickoff) return fumble by I believe the 49ers.
ok….because IMO if a team is able to win a championship, regardless of who they play, it is an accomplishment….I do see the difference in talking squeaking into the playoffs
greenfan – my point is that the superbowl winner is the team that won the games to get into the playoffs, and won the playoff games, then the superbowl. We elevate the superbowl champs to much more than that, but essentially, that’s what they are. A lot of luck, chance, and circumstance go into getting into the playoffs, and winning the superbowl. But many fans, and you in this case, attribute amazing attributes to the winning coaches. Fact is, the Giants almost didn’t make the playoffs and almost didn’t get into the superbowl. They won it and deserve the championship. But this idea that there’s a moutain of difference between the superbowl winning team and those close to them is pretty unfounded.
Read your last post schiller, whose whining now
uh, nobody jake. You’re weird
@schill….if everyone one is so close, wouldn’t you figure that we would have won at least one in close to 50 years? It takes more than luck to win a SB.
I agree it takes more than luck. Never said it doesn’t. It’s not a science.
ok..schill….got ya
Reid had bad luck…that’s why there’s no SB’s in Philly.
NO MORE FALL GUYS!! NO MORE SCAPE GOATS!!! NO MORE EXCUSES!!!! IT’S SUPERBOWL, OR REIDS GONE, & VICK’S WITH HIM!!!!! I don’t want to hear it’s Castillo’s INexperience! I don’t want to hear it’s Vick’s TO’s & injuries! I don’t want to hear about injuries! I don’t want to hear about no OTA’s! I don’t want to hear about lack of chemistry & cohesion! Everything is in place. We’ve had a great off-season, & other than a veteran SS & a bruising, OLB, I don’t see any holes. So if we don’t have a Parade in January of 2013, 14 years of Reid’s BS, MUST CEASE TO EXIST! PERIOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!