New Broncos football operations director John Elway announced Thursday afternoon that John Fox would be the team’s new head coach, replacing Josh McDaniels and Eric Studesville. Though I joked about the hiring on twitter (follow LBSports for news and analysis), I think it was a good decision by Denver. Aside from this year’s 2-14 disaster, the Panthers were always competitive under Fox and generally had a strong defense. He led Carolina to three 11 or more win seasons (all three resulted in playoff berths), and one Super Bowl. He’s a good, reliable coach, and he should make the Broncos more competitive.
But as we knew from John Elway’s introductory press conference last week, the new Broncos coach had to be a believer in Tim Tebow. That sentiment holds true with Fox. If you can recall Florida’s Pro Day in March, Fox was in attendance and had praise for Tebow’s ability and work ethic. Speaking about Tim, Fox said “He had a very, very good workout. He doesn’t lack in the work ethic department, so whatever needs to be done, he’ll do. I definitely saw some adjustment and I thought he executed very well.”
At a media event a few weeks later, Fox had even more praise for Tebow.
In addition to comparing Tim’s unorthodox throwing motion to Bernie Kosar, Fox explained that he believes in intangibles for a quarterback, and that Tebow has them. “I think he’s different in a good way. He has a lot of respect among his peers. They won a lot of games at Florida. He kind of had a similar background in high school, where he took a team to a state championship. In Florida, that’s a pretty big deal. You look at those things and he’s shown the ability to lead men, albeit young men, but they’re still men. In fact, that might be harder.”
Fox may actually be the perfect fit for Denver. With his defensive background, he can turn that side of the ball around quickly, and he’ll leave the offense up to the savior. Who he hires as the team’s offensive coordinator will be an interesting question.
