Kansas City News Blog

Scott Pioli, the Chiefs' new barrel-chested general manager, promises change as he takes control of football operations Carl Peterson had run for 20 long years.

Pioli said today that he wanted to build a big, strong, fast, smart, tough, disciplined football team. "It sounds very simple, and, hopefully, in certain ways, it will be," he said.

Pioli joins the Chiefs after working as a personnel executive with the New England Patriots, a team that won three Super Bowls and went 16-0 in the 2007 regular season. The Patriots' taciturn head coach, Bill Belichick, is a villainous figure in the NFL. Yet Pioli -- perhaps Belichick's most prize pupil -- appeared gracious and even tenderhearted in the course of his 40-minute press conference. He seemed to choke up when he mentioned the "very special times" he had shared with Belichick and the Kraft family in New England.

Now in Super Bowl-starved Kansas City, Pioli said it wasn't his job to collect talent but to build a team. "It's not necessarily the best 53 players. Its the right 53 players."

Pioli did not clarify the status of Chiefs head coach Herm Edwards, saying he needed time to come to a decision. Herm haters might take comfort that Pioli praised the coach for being a "fine man," humanitarianism not necessarily being a guardian of job security. At the same time, Pioli acknowledged that the 2008 Chiefs had at least tried to compete. "Herm's players play hard," he said. "They play hard for him. They play hard for themselves."

Edwards indicated at the end of the year that the team's rebuilding project was mostly complete. Pioli seemed to disagree. "The talent level, obviously there needs to be some changes on this football team," he said. "The way the team performed, what the record was, there needs to be changes."

Piolo, 43, entered the NFL in 1992. A former defensive lineman at Division II Central Connecticut State, Pioli joined the Browns as a personnel assistant. The Belichick-led Browns lost more games than they won. Still, the organization produced a number of notable future coaches and executives. Nick Saban, Kirk Ferentz, Al Groh, Pat Hill, Eric Mangini, Phil Savage and Mike Tannenbaum all apprenticed under Belichick in Cleveland.

I lived in Cleveland for a time. Listening to Pioli use terms like "natural attrition" and describe the delicate balance between being methodical and being aggressive, I was reminded of Mark Shapiro, the general manager of the Cleveland Indians baseball team. The two executives are close in age and share similar pedigrees, builds and abilities to use corporate-speak. In fact, the two men are friends. They became acquainted when they were in their 20s and just starting their careers.

Pioli found the right moment to break from the mentor he first worked under in Cleveland. The Chiefs, having won only six games in the last two years, have nowhere to go but up. And Clark Hunt, the team's chairman, has indicated that Pioli will have time to remake the organization.

The new GM promises to not let Hunt down. "The patience that I know Clark has told me he's going to show is going to be rewarded," Pioli said.