By the shear numbers, the fact remains that the failure rate for first time coaches is higher than coaches who are in their second terms.

So I should bash Payton for no reason? So we should just concede the next six or so years and expect doom if Payton is hired instead of Sherman?? Gotcha.

I'm not saying that Payton is a bad choice, nor have I bashed him. I'm just saying that the team could do a great deal better by going with someone like Sherman, who has a proven track-record of winning, other than this year when the team was decimated with injuries. Payton may prove to be another Jon Gruden, then again he could be another Morty Morningweig. I understand that Sherman's "past performance does not guarantee future returns", but I do believe that there is far less uncertainty with him than with Payton.

I don't buy proven... sustaining a team that Holmgreen built? I know I know he did this and that... but he has no record of turning a team around in the position the Saints are in, if he is so proven and the Packers had faith in him to pull the team around he'd still be there in Green Bay. I like Payton, Carthon, and then maybe Sherman.

my opinion, sherman wasn't given the chance he deserved. the gm in greenbay, that was the gm at seattle he kept seattle down and now seems destined to do the same to greenbay. not saying i want sherman as coach but to give a different point of view about sherman.

I wouldn't exactly call it "sustaing a team that Holmgren built", when in fact there was a coach in between he and Holmgren, Ray Rhodes, who went just 8-8. If it was that easy to "sustain a team that Holmgren built", then Rhodes could have done it. Sherman took over the team after Rhodes, not Holmgren, and led the team to back to winning. Sherman went 57-39 and won three division titles in six seasons. That record is including the 4-12 that they posted this season when many of their starters, including Walker, Green, and Davenport, were placed on IR. In addition he had posted a winning record in all five previous seasons, and made four straight playoff appearances. How is Payton's record of turning a team around? Or sustaining a team, for that matter?

The facts are that Sherman took over a team that was mediocre ( 8-8 ) from Rhodes, which is what the Saints have been since 2001 and would have been this year had it not been for the hurricane, and brought them back to the playoffs and respectability. And that is exactly what this team needs.