This is not true. Fords do not hire "yes men". William Clay was one of the most hands off owners in the NFL. He did not mettle and game GM's a long leash. The only known instance of meddling I am aware of is the 2002 draft. Fords problem is not "yes men" but staying the course for too long even when the course is clearly headed in the wrong direction.
Quinn came onboard after Martha hired Ernie Accorsi to help find a GM.
I didn't mean to say that the Fords are another version of Jerry Jones, where the owner is also the de facto GM. I meant that there's nobody inside the ownship inner circle - the Ford Family themselves, or any of their close advisors - that has any knowledge of the game of football or any backbone to tell the Fords that they don't have a clue.
According to the Freep, it was the Commissioner of the NFL and the owner of the Carolina Panthers that suggested Accorsi:
Roger Goodell asked Ernie Accorsi to assist Lions
"Then, with the Lions looking for a GM after firing Martin Mayhew in November, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and Panthers owner Jerry Richardson asked Accorsi to help the Detroit franchise. On Wednesday, Goodell said such a suggestion is “not unusual” because of the league’s desire to have all teams improve after an overhaul."
And before they brought in Quinn, the Lions hired Rod Wood as CEO (who played a role in bringing in Quinn, by the way). No previous football experience at any level, and a close friend of the Ford Family. Here are a few actual quotes from this wonderful CEO:
(during his very first press conference)
"I would probably say I'm not qualified to run any other NFL team, but I would say I'm qualified to run this one."
(upon Martha Ford taking over the team and hiring Quinn and Patricia)
"I think Mrs. Ford is a very different owner than her husband and has a lot less patience and a lot less tolerance for mediocrity, which is why we’ve made some of the changes that we've made," Wood said in
video posted by Grand Rapids TV station Fox-17. "Certainly when I was hired and we had the opening for a general manager, I wanted to go to an organization and hire somebody who was used to winning and had come from an organization that doesn't know anything other than winning. That’s why we landed on Bob Quinn. And then after we decided to make a change with the head coach, we kind of went back and looked for the same kind of opportunity to add a coach who doesn't expect anything less than competing for the Super Bowl every year."
(and regarding the changes made going into the current NFL season)
"There is always change. Added a couple new coordinators and position coaches. We're into the third year now of Matt (Stafford) and Bob (Quinn) working together. There is some benefits from stability," Wood told WXYZ-TV in February. "Anything that keeps us moving in the right direction with the players more familiar with the coaching staff allows us to build a foundation that should keep us competitive year in and year out, that's the goal."
They think they're doing the right thing, but there's no knowledge base of the game itself (either on the field or from a business standpoint) when making these decisions. Anybody can talk them into anything because they don't know anything about running a football team, and they don't have anybody else around them who does.
