Buddy Nix hired as GM of the Buffalo Bills


This may have come as a surprise to most people, due to the fact that Bills owner Ralph Wilson Jr. promised to do a “thorough cleaning” of house in the football operations department. Well, Nix has served this past season as a National Scout for the Bills. A promotion isn’t what I call a housecleaning of sorts. But hold on Bills fans, let’s take a look at who Buddy Nix is and what he can bring to the table.

Buddy Nix, 70 years of age, started his stint in football when he was a graduate assistant in 1961 at the University of Alabama. He coached in college football at Carson-Newman, Livingston University, Southern Mississippi, Auburn, and LSU, then took the head coaching position at Tennessee-Chattanooga from 1984-1992. He then began his professional career in the NFL in 1993 when he was hired as a scout for the Buffalo Bills. He was in Buffalo until 2000, leaving the team when former Bills GM John Butler did. They both headed to San Diego, where Nix was hired as Director of Player Personnel. He spent two seasons under that title, then was promoted to Assistant General Manager. With his stint in San Diego, he was a part of a front office that produced seven Pro Bowlers including LaDainian Tomlinson and Drew Brees in 2001, Quentin Jammer in 2002, Philip Rivers, Shaun Phillips, Nick Hardwick and Michael Turner in 2004, Shawne Merriman, Vincent Jackson and Darren Sproles in 2005 and Antonio Cromartie and Marcus McNeil in 2006.

Wilson, newly promoted CEO Russ Brandon, and two Hall of Fame players for the Buffalo Bills, Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas, accompanied Nix at his opening press conference.

Wilson was asked to address what the fans would think of the move to hire within the organization and promoting Nix.

"I say to the fans that I know Buddy. I know he's done a good job wherever he's been. I'm not looking for big names. I'm looking for somebody that can get the job done. I think he can. "There's one caveat. I don't think it's going to come immediately. Because I think you build a football team through the draft. You can go out in free agency and sign a few that might fit your team. But you just can't go out and sign a lot of free agents and do it overnight. It's going to take time to turn things around. But we're not that far away. We've got some good young players. If we get the right head coach under Buddy and he gets the right assistant coaches, good teachers, we're not that far away. We're going to have to have some good drafts. And No. 1, we're going to have to be lucky. It's always been my philosophy you've got to be lucky in life in anything you're doing, whether you're crossing the street or whatever job you've got, you have to have luck."

When Nix addressed the media in attendance, he noted that they didn’t seem very impressed with the looks on their faces. He admitted to reading the papers and knowing that the media and fans want the Bills to bring in a “football guy.” Nix responded that "the only way I could be more of a football guy is live longer, because that's all I've ever done. And I've had all the titles except this one."

When asked about the search for a head coach, Nix didn’t hide his feelings on what he will be looking for: "You've got to have a leader and a good teacher and a guy everybody can work with. I think it's vital that the general manager and head coach have to communicate. They have to talk. Most of the breakdowns come when you don't talk to each other, when you don't discuss it. I'll tell you another thing that's important, obviously, more so maybe sometimes than the head coach is the assistants — the coordinators. You need a guy who can put a good staff together."

He also addressed if it was more likely that the Bills would go after a proven head coach, or an up and coming coordinator. "I believe that a guy who has been a head coach probably has an advantage," he said. "I've been one and there's not a way to prepare for it. It's different. I don't care how good an assistant you are, when you get to be the head man and got it all, then you might be successful at it and you might not. You're rolling the dice. It doesn't matter what kind of splash we make today, what matters is two years or three years down the road that we've got this thing turned in the right direction and we're winning."

Former Hall of Famers for the Bills chimed in to the Buffalo News on the hire and where this team is headed: Marv Levy: "The more I think about it, the light sort of goes on, I think this is a smart move. He knows the game. He has one quality, among others, that I think is great. He works well with others in an organization. He has personal confidence, he'll give you his opinion strongly, but he's not arrogant. He listens to others. I think his knowledge of personnel and the game are definite plusses."

Jim Kelly: "I was excited because I know him, He's got his work cut out for him but just talking to him, just the excitement — I saw it and I felt it and I bought into it because I knew him when he was with the Bills back at the end of my career and always looked up to him and always had a good relationship with him."

Thurman Thomas: "Guys talk about wanting a football guy, he is a football guy. He's a guy who is well known in the Southeastern Conference. That's where he's done a lot of his scouting. I think it's a great hire. I don't think it's the hire that a lot of people wanted, but I'm looking forward to seeing the list that he has to see [and] what coaches he's thinking about maybe hiring."

Time will tell on how this decision to hire Nix will play out for the Buffalo Bills, but all I can say is, could they do any worse? This team hasn’t made the playoffs in 10 seasons. Any change to me is a good change. Hold your criticism for a little while until Nix brings in his new head coach. Then you can praise or criticize all you want.

The Bills finish their season this Sunday afternoon against the Indianapolis Colts at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

TERRY LONG