It does give me a reason to pause and wonder. I've wondered before why he is recognised as being a great coach. Our LBer's have always been subpar except for Vilma. And he has been hurt quite a bit.

Vitt has not brought anyone to this team. Who comes, who goes, is ultimately decided by the HC and GM.

Vitt has not installed any defensive scheme. He has to teach what's given to him by the DC.

And Vitt (I believe) didn't make the call on who's starting.

Vitt has to work within the parameters he's been imposed: he has to work within someone else's system, with the players and their personalities given to him. If he knows that Shanle responds well to public praise, well, of course he is going to do it, no?, Or if he's been told Shanle is going to start, what good would out of Vitt coming out in public and saying "Shanle is ok", or saying nothing at all?

And who knows, maybe Shanle is a very good LB but has been hampered by the systems he's played in? I mean, is it really his fault he got matched up with Vernon Davis?

No, not scared. If Vitt hadn't been here since day one of Payton and hand-picked by him, or if he'd only been here a year or two, I might be more concerned. He's not just the LB coach, he's the consigliere. He is also the only guy there right now who has been through experience of real sh-tstorms in the NFL before, which is invaluable experience to have. When I first thought about it, I was disappointed by his track record as interim coach of the Rams, 4-7, but I think that was a long time ago and he has a half-decade's more experience under Sean Payton since then.

He's the only Saints coach who has actually called up Goodell on the phone and bi-ched at him about the allegations the NFL made about him in the press, offered to take a lie detector test, questioned the evidence, etc. The long experience in the NFL is what gives him the cojones to do that, and which is why I think he will make a really good interim coach for crunch time in the second half of the year. He will be able to stand up to the refs, and keep a secure handle when things don't go right with the team. And he is really good with the players, as we saw in the press conference with Roman Harper the other day.

And if Goodell doesn't like him, that's good enough for me!

Vitt was picked for the HC due to seniority and so Carmichael and Spags could focus on their areas. The Saint's message this year is that the head coach position is highly over rated...... We'll see...

I'm don't know to much about Vitt, but Shanle is a pretty solid lb. and should do well in Spags. system. He will start, watch!! The lb. core will be real good by game 5. We finally got lb.'s that can do their jobs.

I have to believe players like Drew Brees and Roman Harper are telling the truth when the say that Vitt is one of the most respected men in the locker room. One of the most important things the Saints need right now is stability and steady leadership.

When it comes to question like, who plays and who sits, it will be easy for guys to think "I wish the REAL coach were here, he'd put ME in". If players start questioning the authority of the interim coach, especially publicly, the whole team could fall apart. It's going to be a tough job keeping everyone on the same page. I think that's why Vitt was chosen, not particularly because of his successes with the linebackers.

How many teams really have what you would call a great LB core? And how many of those teams' LB's have sucked worse than the Saints' over the past several years? The answer to both questions is not many. It's not always about talent. Talent helps, but coaching is at least equally, if not more important. If you have great coaching and talent, that's lagniappe.

You can't just throw a car salesman in there and expect the coach to do something with them, but these aren't car salesmen. These are professional athletes, every last one of them, to greater or lesser degrees. Coaches are paid to coach, and so we can't just make excuses for them. No one expected the dome patrol out of the personnel we've had, but they have also shown no improvement.

So for that, I'm not impressed with Joe Vitt's teaching ability. But I guess they feel he has the personality to keep the team in line. Personally, I don't think it matters who "leads" the team right now. Carmichael will call the plays on offense, and Spagnuolo on defense. As for any concern that players will fall out of line... They know Sean is coming back next year, and he's gonna be watching on TV. I don't think we need to worry about any dissension among the players.

Well, Shanle is a smart man, that's for sure. During the bounty scandal period he DID NOT HAVE ONE tackle!

"Jus' stayin' outa trouble, Coach.'

LOL

Alaska

Vitt should be alright as a head coach. The HC job for the Saints is pretty much a decision maker position and really nothing else. We all know that the coordinators will run the team this year.

I am kind of disappointed that the Saints went with Vitt, nothing against him, but he does have a 6 game suspension on his plate. I think in light of everything, I would have rolled the dice and went with Joe Lombardi as the head coach for the 2012 season. You know he has to have a few of his grandpa's plays stashed away on a notebook or something.

In Vitt's defense, he is only going to have good things to say about players that are presently on the team. So its either that or nothing... If asked a direct question then he has to answer in a cordial manor.

Also, and most importantly, our LB corps was only one part of the GW machine, while Vitt only had mediocre talent to work with, GW's "blitz on every play" did nothing to aid them.... Lets face it... unless you have the talent that can get to the QB 50% of the time, you need some sort of element of surprise..

Our line-backing corps had that element of surprise... Especially Shanley... I was surprised to all hell every time he was in on an assist.:?