QUOTE: “The secret of my influence has always been that it remained secret.” -- Salvador Dalí
At the end of each year, Time magazine always has a cover with its Person of the Year, someone who has made an impact in the current year or is likely to influence the next year. Here at the Diner, we’d like to offer our version of the Man of the Year, a person who, in the next several weeks/months, will quietly control the league landscape but will not be recognized by fans for his importance or the power he wields.
Bob LaMonte, owner of Professional Sports Representation, is our Man of the Year. LaMonte has many head coaches and assistant coaches in the NFL who will put him in control in the coming weeks. One of his major clients, Mike Holmgren, is now firmly in command of the Cleveland Browns, so LaMonte and his large client list ranging from assistants to personnel men will help restock the Browns on and off the field.
When Browns owner Randy Lerner gave Holmgren a five-year contract for a reported $50 million, he essentially paid LaMonte to own his team. They might be called the Cleveland Browns on the field, but the Cleveland “LaMontes” might be their real name. No one will gain or maintain employment with the Browns unless they come with the blessing and representation of LaMonte.
Besides his takeover of the Browns, LaMonte’s ability to secure the single worst deal in the history of contracts for Charlie Weis at Notre Dame is reason alone to be named Man of the Year. LaMonte created the illusion that Weis was wanted back in the league, then secured a huge deal for him without giving Notre Dame an offset, which made the deal ridiculous. Weis will actually be paid more and longer from Notre Dame than new head coach Brian Kelly. Kevin White, the Notre Dame athletic director at the time, was taken to the woodshed for this contract, and it’s a good thing he’s not in South Bend any longer because he would never hear the end of it. It’s one thing to get caught overpaying, it’s another to make fundamental mistakes like the offset clause, which is universal in all deals. Once again, Bob LaMonte was quietly in control.
LaMonte also secured an extension for Vikings coach Brad Childress before the end of the year, which amazed me because you would have thought the Vikings would want to wait until they see the results at the end of the season considering a deal. It wasn’t like they were in danger of losing Chilly — what NFL team would come after him? Please, that’s an easy one to answer. But LaMonte still got the Vikings to negotiate, and now they’ll be left with Childress long after Brett Favre is gone. I wonder how that will work out. Amazing, right? Not even hard-core Vikings fans are happy with the Childress extension. Imagine how they’ll feel if he doesn’t win the Super Bowl.
LaMonte’s ability to sell his clients is legendary, but what amazes me is that he can keep doing his sales pitch when everyone in the NFL knows it’s coming. He makes sure his clients have the perfect notebooks, the perfect practice schedules and give the perfect presentations, all of which dazzle NFL front-office types who essentially don’t know what to ask or what to look for in an interview.
He also can sell his clients to the media, and LaMonte understands better than most that many NFL jobs are not selected; rather, they’re elected. Having talent doesn’t always mean you get the job — the key is having the right marketing and branding. Talent is meaningless when you walk into an interview with a huge reputation for being smart. The ability to get the job lies in the branding of the reputation. For example, someone once asked me, “If this guy is so smart, give me three examples of things that make him smart?” The reputation for being smart is really what matters -- the fact that you are smart is not really significant. Not many ask for examples; they just accept the reputation. LaMonte is the master of creating the reputation.
He is also the master of re-creating a reputation, as he’s doing with Randy Mueller of the Chargers. Mueller is now in line for two general manager jobs — Seattle and Cleveland -- after he failed to produce in Miami, where he had the power. He can blame Nick Saban for some of the failures with the Dolphins, but after Saban left, Mueller proceed to draft Ted Ginn ninth overall and John Beck as his quarterback of the future in the second round. Now, Mueller has another chance with two teams — all because LaMonte has been able to repackage and rebrand.
LaMonte is a force in the NFL right now. He has the power and the control, but most of all, he has the ability to create illusions that can sell his clients. He would make Alec Baldwin’s character in the movie “Glengarry Glen Ross” proud — he’s always closing.
LaMonte deserves our award. He’s a power broker who will greatly influence the NFL in 2010.
In the meantime, Happy New Year. Be safe and be back here Monday for more NFL news — which I’m sure Bob LaMonte will be making.
Follow me on Twitter: michaelombardi
Fascinating. The article made me wonder about agents who represent both coaches and players. Is there an unstated assumption that Holmgren will have better chance of signing players that are represented by Lamont because they share the same agent? It would seem to me that any lengthy hold-outs and applications of leverage between two parties both represented by an agent could induce one of the parties to sever ties (especially if it's determined that the dispute had an impact to overall success).
Fascinating. The article made me wonder about agents who represent both coaches and players. Is there an unstated assumption that Holmgren will have better chance of signing players that are represented by Lamont because they share the same agent? It would seem to me that any lengthy hold-outs and applications of leverage between two parties both represented by an agent could induce one of the parties to sever ties (especially if it's determined that the dispute had an impact to overall success).
Sorry for the double-post. And I wanted to add that I misunderstood the first part of the post (I thought Lamont represented both coaches and players). Woops. Happy 2010 everyone! *cheers*
MrLBCrazy13--
A very interesting approach and effective as well. You do a great job of criticizing Mueller, one of your seeming competitors for league jobs, all under the guise of praising LaMonte. It's a classic "Red Herring" approach. Bravo, a carefully constructed attempt to denigrate another rival.
Well done, my good man. Well done.
The Secret
@Ari
Because coaches don't hold out for money, at least not in the public eye. Players can sit or pout or whatever and it's very public. That's why player's agents look like the devil - they are behind players NOT playing. A superstar player is usually thought to be more irreplaceable than a superstar coach.
That's my opinion, anyway.
Mikey, doesn't this all mean you sould get Lamonte as your agent?
Good god, what has Holmgren ever done to deserve $10 per year!!! Sounds like Lamonte told Randy Lerner to "Put that coffee down!!!"
Lerner paid for credibility, something that his franchise lacks in its local community. No shows were plentiful this year. Local blackouts were almost certainly looming in 2010.
Snyder had the same problem, but he was lucky. George Allen's son was available, presumably at a reasonable price. Unfortunately for Mr. Lerner, Paul Brown's son is otherwise engaged. Lerner was caught in a very poor bargaining position. He was going to have to overpay whomever he hired.
Jimmy Sexton of Bill Parcells and Nick Saban fame is one competitor, though it seems he skews largely toward college coaches (Houston Nutt, Tommy Tuberville, Phil Fulmer, Jimbo Fisher among others) and it seems increasingly players.
This article reminds me of Jim Mora being hired by the Falcons. All that was ever talked about was how prepared he was and that he had a plan.
Mike-
love your stuff but fans don't care about agents.
sorry, we just don't.
it's boring.
All hail Bob LaMonte, I guess. He has skills others would kill to have, pretty much the Will Smith of sports marketing gurus. Happy New Year Lombardi, hopefully the Broncos will have squeezed into the playoffs when we meet again.
Geez, Lombardi, you GOTTA be joking, right? You laud a guy who dresses up Pigs and sells them as Bulls? I guess the old 'A sucker is born every minute' philosophy is to be praised. Hmmmmmm.....you are always posting inspirational stories of folks overcoming adversity through perseverance, hard work, honesty and character, etc. and here you are glorifying a 'used car' salesman......GIMME A BREAK!
Mr Lombardi, In your article you mentioned his cleints had the right notebooks? I remember when Andy Reid got hired in Philly all the rage by Lurie & Banner was these notebooks that Reid had are these the same notebooks???
So Mueller and Weiss join Holmgren? And Bob LaMonte is all grins?
This is one of the major things wrong with the NFL nowadays. Too many non-football people in power. From head coaches to GMsto agents the number of people who've never played a down of football in their life who are in positions of power is amazing.
Informative article. As a fan of the sport, I'm interested not just in what happens on the field, but how the teams are built, including the staff.
I'm really confused how anyone could have read the article and come away with the idea that this article is praising Mr LaMonte or celebrating his unique brilliance. He is man of the year because of the power that he wields. That he wields this much power is an indictment of the system and of front offices that are unqualified, the latter point being made explicitly in the article.
It is no wonder that some teams are perpetually bad to mediocre, as this is apparently systematic. It sounds like as many front offices fall for measurables (notebooks, interview preparedness, etc) as scouting departments do with players.
One commenter essentially asked what Holmgren had ever done A good question to ask, though it is equally worth noting that his duties now seem to be different than any he has had before, ie selecting GM, coach, scouting, etc, rather than coaching or selecting players. How many people are vetted as qualified in that capacity in the current system, ie over the past ten years? I do not know whether Holmgren will flourish or fail, but neither his success in coaching nor his moderate performance as a GM are germane to whether he can pick a good GM or coach. The only commonality here appears to be scouting department, which is likely a significant part of the success of any GM. However, if you believe that Holmgren will be successful, the investment must be large because his position is the backbone of the success of the team on the field. Everything will propagate from his decisions on GM, coach, scouting department, etc. Granted, his price is overinflated by perhaps imagined competition, but I understand why the large investment in the position.
Mike: I didn't get to read yesterday's post until today. So, you were "down and out" earlier this week? WIth the hundreds of weekly appearances per week you are booked for on radio, tv, plus your tweet, blog, and print obligations, I wouldn't think you were allowed to be sick. Anyway, hope you are feeling better and HAPPY NEW YEAR to you and everyone at the NFP! It's always the BEST NFL read--including articles analyzing the powers of a single agent. Thanks!
Holmgren is getting $10 million/year for five years. I don't know if LaMonte is the smartest guy around but Lerner makes the short list as dumbest. He must be mixing up the Browns and His Aston Villa soccer team. As good as his moves have been for Aston Villa, his decisions for the Browns have been train wrecks. I like Holmgren a lot, being a Packer fan but why would you hand the reins of the organization over to a guy who has never done it - and then pay him $10 million/year to do the job. Holmgren then has to hire a GM and be smart enough to step away and let everybody do their jobs
Can't Holmgren evaluate GM's and Coaches? Does that mean if they're not in LaMonte's stable, he's not looking at them? Good luck Browns fans....
I was always told "You can't polish a turd"....but I guess that's LaMonte's forte !
Michael - Excellent article. Lamonte has Profootballtalk.com as his personal media organ. I swear that Lamonte could have anything printed in that rag. The whole Charlie Weis in demand by 6 teams was priceless. He did the same thing with Holmgren. He got Cleveland to bid against Seattle, when Seattle wasn't interested in the product in the least. Funny - the team that Holmgren drove into the ground was supposedly going to hire him at big dollars to come and rescue them? Please.
Poor Randy Lerner. Proof positive that having money doesn't mean you have a brain...
Where can I get Bob's number? Let's see if he can polish this turd.
Very good article.
Thanks
Does that mean if they're not in LaMonte's stable, he's not looking at them?
I admire the valuable information you offer in your articles. I will bookmark your blog and have my children check up here often. I am quite sure they will learn lots of new stuff here than anybody else!
The article made me wonder about agents who represent both coaches and players.
A list of thank yous and a final...
Even if you called me an idiot,...
Their success will depend on QB...
Titans coach wants Chris Johnson...
Now is the QB’s chance to show...
Dec 31, 2009
11:38 AM
Why is Lamonte a hero and Boras a pariah? They're both scumbags if you ask me, but more power to them if it works.