This is confusing to me. Who hires the coaches? Isn't it the HC? If so wouldn't he decide if someone is promoted? I always found the title Associate/Head Coach confusing as well. What does that me exactly and who makes that decision? Just askin.
That depends, and not necessarily. Things are not always that simple.
For example, did McCarthy hire Capers? Maybe, maybe not. He was a relatively inexperienced HC at the time while having worked his entire career on the offensive side of the ball. It might well have been Thompson's doing. If that was the case and if McCarthy had some solid reasons to say "no", then it probably would not have happened. Keep in mind the hiring of Capers implied a switch from 4-3 to 3-4 with some significant personnel changes and two first round picks tailored to the scheme.
So, this example illustrates the point that you cannot say the HC picks his coaches and the GM picks the players. If you did, then McCarthy's choice of Capers forced Thompson's hand in personnel decisions involving what was at the time a very large sum of money pre-rookie salary scale. At a minimum, the 3-4 decision and the choice of Capers was a strategic one that had to be at least collective involving the GM.
Fast forward several years. Has McCarthy been enamored of Capers performance? Maybe not. But Capers was probably taking down a pretty big paycheck with guarantees requiring a big buyout. Maybe Thompson didn't want to make the change or Thompson did not want to pay the buyout or both. Kinda like dead cap, right?
Now, Thompson's been kicked upstairs or sideways, McCarthy got a one year extension, and Capers is gone. It will be interesting to see if McCarthy gets to hire his DC before the new GM is in place. That might be surprising. You would not expect a football man to negotiate what may be an expensive contract.
That takes me to the general topic of budget control. Does the HC have total control over the pay and promotions of his coaches? That's not likely. These are not admin assistants. There's serious money involved. Again, one would expect some collective decision making in these matters.
I hate to say this, but was Bennett's promotion McCarthy's idea when he didn't seem to have a job for him? Was it affirmative action in the hopes he'd grow into the job which didn't happen? That's the kind of thing that comes from above. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's important to have a black coach or two or a black front office guy if for no other reason than it's predominantly a black player's game. Sure, every once in a while some highly paid knucklehead will refer to the NFL as a plantation. But when you strip away the hyperbole, there's a point to made that needs to be recognized. And that recognition isn't necessarily just a HC decision.
