The decision on who will be the next general manager and head coach for the San Diego Chargers is an important undertaking that will set the course for the franchise. To ensure they hire the best candidate possible, the team hired former Green Bay Packers General Manager Ron Wolf as a consultant throughout the process. Wolf reached two Super Bowls with Green Bay, beating the New England Patriots in XXXI, and has been in the NFL since 1963.
Chargers.com sat down with Wolf to get his thoughts on the process in an exclusive interview.
Question: How did you become a part of this decision making process?
Wolf: I was contacted by Dean Spanos of the Chargers. He outlined pretty much what he wanted and was looking for. I have a lot of respect for what the Chargers represent and what he represents as an owner. It was an easy decision for me to say yes. I’m more than delighted to help.
Question: What made you want to jump at this opportunity?
Wolf: It’s an opportunity to help one of the better franchises in the National Football League. I grew up an American Football Leaguer and I’ll die an American Football Leaguer. San Diego as you know is one of the original eight. And it’s an opportunity to keep my hand in the game.
Question: What kind of advice will you be giving during this process?
Wolf: I think very little. I’m not a decision maker in this thing at all. The decision is going to be made by Dean Spanos, and I’m going to help him along with the other members of this committee arrive hopefully at solid people at both the general manager and head coaching areas.
Question: Do you have a time table as to when the decision for both these positions will be made?
Wolf: I don’t have any. Hopefully Dean Spanos will have one in his mind, but I don’t have any. The important thing I think is to find the key ingredient. Interestingly, the person that is going to be interviewed in both particular cases, they will either be a star or they will eliminate themselves. This interview process is very easy from that standpoint.
Question: What are some of the key attributes you look for in a head coach or a GM?
Wolf: I think essentially what I look for is honesty, professionalism, seriousness about the game of football. Do you really like football? Is it important to you? Those types of things, and those things will all come out in the interview process.
Question: Are there any questions you think are the most important to get the answers you are looking for?
Wolf: I certainly do. I have a list of questions that I feel are very, very important. And I will not share them with you at the moment. But the person going through this process you can tell right away how serious they are, how much they really want the job, how important it is to them by how they answer the questions.
Question: Finally, can you take the fans through what this process is going to be like over the next few weeks?
Wolf: It’s going to be hectic, there’s no question about that because there are obviously a lot of qualified people out there. There are a lot of job openings all of a sudden throughout the National Football League. Everybody is going to be scrambling. It’s going to be hectic, but as I said before, this is one of the premier franchises in the National Football League. The San Diego Chargers, anybody worth their salt will wait to hear what the Chargers have to offer.
