Diner morning news: Glazers have a plan

QUOTE: “I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain. -- John Adams

Mark Dominik, the general manager of the Tampa Bay Bucs, has been in the news of late. First, he makes a comment on whether his first-round pick, Josh Freeman, should start, and now he’s justifying his strategy in the free-agent market. Here’s a recent comment from Dominik: “The hardest part about free agency, and one of the biggest problems you have in free agency, is determining something of value, especially when the person from the other team is not on your roster. Then understanding that you could be bidding against two, three, five or six teams. You don't know.”

Did I read that right? That’s not the hardest thing about free agency – that’s just your job description. That’s what you’ve been trained to do: evaluate, value, place a dollar sign on the evaluation and improve the team. It takes talent to evaluate talent, it takes experience to value players and, most importantly, it takes an understanding of what pieces are vital for building a championship. Like any other business, it requires a plan, attention to the plan and discipline within the plan.

APFrom left: Raheem Morris, Josh Freeman, Mark Dominik

People would often ask me what qualities a GM needs to be successful. I equate the job to being a loan officer at a bank. Evaluate the asset, value the asset and make a loan according to the asset. When the asset underperforms, it’s like a bad loan — you have to clear the books and take the loss. When it over-performs, you feel satisfied and fortunate. It’s a constant ebb and flow of valuing and re-evaluating.

The reason for Dominik’s comments was a report from NFL Network’s Jason La Canfora that the Bucs have been one of the lowest-spending teams in the past five years. Some may look at the Bucs’ spending habits as being cut back, while others may ask, “Who’s worth overspending for?” There are very few players who are worth going to the limits for when dealing in free agency, so not spending the cash is sometimes a very good thing.

Being prudent with your spending is not a signal to the fans that you’re being cheap, just as spending wasteful money is not a signal to the fans that you’ll win. Look at the Washington Redskins under owner Daniel Snyder. They have always spent money, but oftentimes on the wrong things. If the ‘Skins would put a tenth of the money they spend on free agency into having the best evaluators of talent on their staff, they would save money. Major companies always place money in research and development, but most NFL teams try to save money in this area, which results in costing them a great deal more money.

The NBA is starting its free-agency period right now, as most teams are concerned with the luxury tax, which limits their movements. However, the greatest hindrance to making moves is all the bad deals (or loans) that clubs have made in the past. The NBA is like the subprime lending business, creating too many bad loans, which then forces teams to be stagnant and unable to make moves. Too many teams are stuck in the mud of mediocrity because of all the bad deals, and unless they get lucky, they never can escape. Most teams in the NBA confuse hope for a plan.

APFree agent acquisition Derrick Ward

How does this all relate to Dominik and the Bucs? No, the Bucs have not been spending as much money, but they have tried to remodel their team after the one that won the Super Bowl. There comes a cost with winning a Super Bowl — a long term cost. In the NFL, maintaining excellence is the toughest challenge, especially when you’re attempting to win without a young quarterback. The Bucs are six games below .500 (45-51) since their Super Bowl victory and have made the playoffs only twice in that time — both home playoff losses.

The Glazer family, which owns the team, has spent money in the past, but they’ve learned that money doesn’t always buy results -- in any business. They spent a ton to get Jon “Love You Bro” Gruden, not only in draft picks but in hard dollars, which resulted in a Super Bowl but not the long-range success they initially thought. Giving Gruden the keys to the shop was right at the time, they believed, but it proved to be incorrect.

From my perspective, the Glazers have set a plan in place — their plan — which they in turn want Dominik and new head coach Raheem Morris to put into place. It’s a plan, I’m sure, that’s based on the Glazers watching how successful teams in the NFL operate. The Glazers are the type of owners who observe and learn — they’re successful in their other businesses for a reason. They entered the NFL with an idea of how things operate, but they’ve adjusted their plan now that they’ve learned how things really operate.

This new plan cost them some serious initial cash because they had to get rid of their high-priced coach, but in an effort to install their new plan, they had to make tough choices. They’ve been aggressive but not careless in the free-agent market. They’ve been sticking to their plan -- unlike many NFL and NBA teams.

I admire the Glazers’ willingness to make a plan -- and their willingness to learn, to change and to understand that in the NFL, it’s not always about spending money. It’s about spending wisely.

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