GENERAL MANAGER SCOTT PIOLI
HOSTED BY KENDALL GAMMON

Q: Can you talk about G Brian Waters winning the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award and what it means to this franchise?

SCOTT PIOLI: “Personally, I was very happy for Brian and I think the entire organization is happy for Brian. Obviously, his commitment to the Chiefs and the Chiefs community is something that we all feel very strongly about. Brian did a great job and he has represented himself in such a way as others in the past have done that. As you mentioned, the Chiefs themselves, we have a great tradition in terms of how we represent ourselves in the community, and Brian certainly received the ultimate acknowledgement this season. We are all very happy for him and proud of him.”

Q: What things encouraged you heading into 2010 and in what areas do the Chiefs need to get better?

PIOLI: “Well, I think that one of the encouraging things this year is that we became a tougher and a smarter football team during the course of the season. I was very encouraged – and I mentioned this a number of times during the course of the season – I was encouraged by the fact that we played hard the entire season. The players were committed and they showed that and what they understood is that if we worked hard all season, it would eventually pay off. It took a little too long for it to pay off, but I think it manifested itself in that final game against the Denver Broncos and I like the fact that we, the players and the team, learned how to take better care of our bodies and we learned how to prepare ourselves better.

“All of those things eventually are going to pay off; they started to pay off at the end of the season. Again, we did a great job of competing during the season. Where we’re at right now, we’re in 2010. Obviously, if you win only four games during a season, you’ve got to do a lot to get better. We understand that, but we’re excited at the fact that we ended 2009 on a positive note and brought a lot of good energy to the football team and the organization.”

Q: Are there areas where the Chiefs got better in 2009 that maybe the fans didn’t see?

PIOLI: “I think one of the main places we saw, and I certainly saw a difference were in the areas of preparation, accountability and work habits. Those things, they’re not visible to the fans and a lot of other people in the organization on a weekly basis. They’re not obviously the most apparent. Now, to me, I’m a firm believer in preparation. Todd’s a firm believer in preparation. An old quote says ‘Success always comes when preparation meets opportunity.’ We talked about that much of the season, we talked to our players about preparation, we talked about the off-season program – how much weight we had to lose as a team, how sloppy we were coming into the off-season. We harped on preparation and what you’re trying to do with players is prepare them, teach them how to prepare. This team, when we got here, didn’t seem like a group of people that really knew how to prepare and they embraced it. They embraced it in the off-season program; they embraced it when we got into training camp. One of the things that we saw a lot of as time went on was an increased amount of time that players were spending in the facility at night, in the mornings, between meetings, after meetings. We’re a very young football team and they needed some leadership and some of the players that we brought in here, they had a strong work ethic, they just didn’t know what the right work habits were. They spent more time in the training room, taking care of their injuries, taking care of their bodies, trying to get themselves prepared for games. Those are little things that eventually become big things. You (Kendall) played in the league long enough; you know that people who take care of themselves and people who prepare are generally the ones who have greater success.”

Q: Do you think the final game against Denver gave the team a boost heading into the off-season?

PIOLI: “Well, I think it was a big boost for the organization as a whole. It was an affirmation to the players, the coaches, all the employees, and truthfully I think to the fan base. If there is one thing that I’ve gotten in terms of feedback from fans outside of this building is how encouraged everyone is, and we’re very encouraged. It was an affirmation that hard work, resiliency, preparation, all of those things will eventually lead to success. We truly believe that. I think it allowed the entire organization, beyond just the locker room, to see that when we do things the right way, when we prepare, we work hard, and we’re resilient, we’re going to be a good football team, and we’ve got an opportunity. The relevance has some significance moving forward because one of the things we talk about internally is last week has nothing to do with this week. Each game is its own season. What we have to understand is, we were rewarded as an organization, and we were rewarded as a football team. Now we’ve got to continue to build upon that and continue to grow.”

Q: So it was important for this team to close out 2009 on a strong note in Denver?

PIOLI: “Absolutely. And it’s a place that the Kansas City Chiefs have not won very often and it’s the first we’ve won in the new stadium that they have up there. Again, there is great significance to that and now what we have to do is build on that.”

Q: Do you think moving the team’s training camp back to Missouri is a positive move?

PIOLI: “I absolutely think it is. Personally, I’m very excited about this move. I’m excited that we’re going to have our football team closer to our fan base. It will be a lot easier for the people who are closer in Chiefs Kingdom to get there. One of the things about training camp is, and you know this, it is grueling. There are a lot of things that aren’t fun about it and it’s easy to get distracted, it’s easy to wonder about what am I doing, and that’s not just the players; everyone’s wondering that. It’s just a very draining experience. All the places I have worked prior to this, we had our training camp close to home. What happens when you have it close to home, you get more of your rabid fans who want to be closer to the venue, they want to be closer to the team and this is going to help us I think because there are just certain days – this is a game of energy and a game of emotion – and there are going to be days when there are a lot of people struggling to get out of bed, struggling to get on the field. Again, it’s not just the players, it’s everybody. I think having the fans there and the energy that comes from the fans is really going to help us as a football team and again, I think everyone wins in this situation. The fans wanted us closer and we’re going to be closer.”

Q: Won’t this make it a lot easier for guys to see their families, as well?

PIOLI: “You bring up a great point and I think sometimes what’s lost in this is all these people working, the players – they’re young men with young families and they all have a lot of young children. It’s much easier for them to see their children, to see their wives in between practices. In the old days, I think people used to think things like that were a distraction, but I know that I have a six-year-old daughter and a wife and I would love to see them at some point during training camp. When we were seven hours from here, it was difficult. We went away and we didn’t see people for a couple of weeks and just to be able to have that interaction with your family, with friends, with some faces that are familiar, it’s really a positive thing. On a lot of levels, it is a great move for us Kendall.”

Q: KCChiefs.com will have plenty of updates on training camp events. Can you discuss how practice times can often fluctuate that time of year?

PIOLI: “That’s a key point, too. The web site will always have [information]. During that time of the season and that time of year, for different reasons practices change, practice times change, the weather changes and there are different reasons that either practices are cancelled or things are moved back. A lot of dynamics that we cannot control will change the schedule. It’s easy for fans to find those things out now. I think, again for a lot of reasons, it’s going to be great being back closer to home for Kansas City Chiefs fans, without a doubt. And the other thing that is a great thing about training camp in my opinion and in the feedback that I’ve gotten, received and heard over the years in different places is that this is an opportunity for every fan to engage with the football team. It doesn’t matter what your income is, it doesn’t matter if you’re a season ticket holder, it doesn’t matter if you’re not wanting to have to pay for parking, this is as raw of a football experience as you can get. You’re getting to see players, you’re getting to see a more intimate relationship with the players and the coaches and see them in an environment that’s really good and again, it’s something that’s for everyone. It’s just a great way to spend some time in the summer.”

Q: Being a first-year head coach in the NFL is a challenging assignment. What impressed you about how Coach Haley grew in that role? What do you think he learned from the experience that will make him better in 2010?

PIOLI: “I think the first year for any head coach is a significant year. I think for any leader in any significant leadership role it is an important year and a learning year. This was a learning year for a number of people, for Todd and for myself. There are a lot of people in key leadership roles [who are learning]. As prepared as you are for the job, there is always on the job learning and training. Todd has a lot on his plate and I think he did a superb job. One of the things I really like and respect about Todd is that we share the philosophy that we don’t believe in excuses. There was not any point in the season where Todd didn’t hold himself to the same standard that we were demanding of our players or anyone in this organization. I think at times, Todd was probably too tough on himself. As tough as fans were on Todd, I would spend hours immediately after the game, or coming home from road games sitting next to Todd, we would spend a lot of time together. Todd’s level of accountability for himself is something I truly respect and he takes his job very personally. I think when you have someone who takes his job that personally and cares that much, and is as passionate as he is, generally in time the results are going to be pretty solid.

“I felt like with Todd, one of the things I have spent a lot of time talking about, because we both faced the same challenge, is when you are in a leadership role, knowing that you are ultimately going to be held accountable for a lot of things, is learning how to delegate. If you work your way up the ladder in these different jobs, you do so many different things. You get to that position where you have to delegate things because you have even more on your plate, but you know how you want things done. Todd and I have both spent a lot of time talking about things we have had to delegate and how we were going to delegate them as well as how we wanted them done a certain way. I watched Todd over the course of the season and he is getting better at that. It is a double-edged sword knowing you are going to be held accountable for things but not wanting to over manage things or micromanage things.”

Q: Do you think that Coach Haley grew more comfortable in his role as the season progressed?

PIOLI: “He did. When you go back to the circumstances surrounding the offense and how he wanted the offense run, ultimately it is the head coach’s choice on how he wants the offense to run and Todd knew it was going to be an extra burden on him as far as workload but he also knew that he was going to be held accountable and it was a vision that he had, that we had, of how we wanted things to be done. An easy thing Todd could have done this season was to let things be as they were and in the end, well it didn’t work out but in terms of him being ambitious, aggressive and willing to accept the responsibility of that additional role, he did it.”

Q: How important will it be for this team to have an entire off-season with the new coaching staff?

PIOLI: “I have mentioned this a couple different times about this entire coaching staff, it is not only critical to Charlie (Weis) and this offense, it is also critical for the entire operation including the offense, defense, special teams and player personnel. These coaches in the systems they have are philosophically, both on offense and defense, something I am very used to and a number of members on the coaching staff are very used to. There are very specific types of players we are looking for in terms of their physical makeup, their mental makeup, their physical skill-set. I think having this off-season to work together and train the rest of our people that are helping us find players [will be beneficial]. We have a core group of people that know how to do it but as we train the rest of the organization in terms of what we are looking for with offense, defense and special teams, the off-season will be critical.”

Q: What impact will the recent addition of Hall of Famer and new defensive backs coach Emmitt Thomas have on this team?

PIOLI: “He is a remarkable human being. All of the [positive] things you are talking about are things that we looked into and things that we believe he can bring to the program. He has experience as a player, experience as a coach, he has experience as a coordinator, experience as an interim head coach. He has seen football evolve over the years. He has 42 years of football experience – that is almost as long as I have been alive. He is a remarkable human being and has the ability to connect with certain players in a certain way that is going to help a football team. As we talk about this organization and its football operation in terms of trying to build it but also develop it, you have to try and find the right balance between young, middle-aged and experienced. We have some young coaches on this staff, some young scouts and they are the future. Something I have learned over time is if you have success, there is going to be a natural attrition. As your team becomes successful you lose some of the older, middle-aged people within the organization. It is not just players, you lose them in coaching, you lose them in scouting and as you lose those people, you want to have people in the pipeline that have been taught and know the way.

“As you have success, you can obtain absolute continuity but there is a way to have a degree of continuity if you are developing your own coaches and your own scouts from within. Having people like Romeo Crennel, like Emmitt who have great experience are going to help us continue to train our staff. We just hired two other coaches and Ronnie Bradford is picking up more responsibility with the secondary this year. Otis Smith was hired for quality control and both guys were defensive backs in the NFL. They are young coaches that are developing and they are getting to learn and as time goes on, they are going to learn to be better coaches by having Emmitt around. Same with Romeo Crennel. Anthony Pleasant who is our new defensive line coach is a young coach who played in the league for 14 years. He has some experience as a coach and now he is learning under Romeo Crennel. These things are all very important in the development of our entire staff.”

Q: Can you talk about the hiring of Anthony Pleasant and Richie Anderson and the process of mentoring them last season as part of the Minority Fellowship Program? How important is it to develop individuals like that?

PIOLI: “You want to do that overall. Diversity is something that is an important initiative with the league and personally important to me. I have spent a lot of time being actively involved with John Wooten and the Fritz Pollard Alliance, and I think the league has certain initiatives whether that is the Rooney Rule or the Minority Fellowship program, that have improved but they need to continue get better. You mentioned Anthony Pleasant and Richie Anderson, they were two of the four coaches that we had as part of the Minority Fellowship Program this summer and they worked with us. As the preseason started to wind down, Todd and I started talking about what a great addition these guys were in terms of teaching players and coaching the players, but also a different level of energy. They also have the experience of being former players and can relate very well with some of the younger players. As the preseason winded down, I talked to Clark (Hunt) and told him the league has these initiatives and how good of a job are we doing as a league by really buying into these programs. I told him I thought these two young coaches could really help us. Todd thinks that they can help us, let’s find a way to keep these two young guys on. I call them young guys, but I think Anthony Pleasant is older than me. Clark thought it was a great idea and this program took a step forward this year. Clark put extra money into the budget, taking money out of the organization’s pocket to take these two, who actually helped us and just continued to make this program better and it made us better as a football team this year.”

Q: Whether you are talking players, coaches or staff, how do you develop leaders on a football team and do you have enough leaders on this team?

PIOLI: “Last year we were still one of the youngest teams in all the National Football League. I think there were a few solid leaders on this football team this year. I also think that we certainly need more leaders. I think there are some that are developing. Some of the situations this year and some of the adversity that we had start to expose some of those players in a positive way. There are some players that understood and because of the whole accountability issue, they start to become leaders. Every team has a different makeup. There are leaders, program guys, and followers and you need a mix of all of those types of players on your football team. Putting players in leadership roles has to develop naturally. It is like team chemistry, you can’t say, ‘this is the way it is going to be, put this player in,’ it just has to be very natural and it develops or it doesn’t develop.

“Leaders come in very different packages. I think we saw some of the younger players trying to be better leaders. I think some of them are learning how to be leaders. I think that some players on this football team need to get comfortable with themselves and this league before they can become leaders. We are starting to see that and what we need to do, I talk about developing naturally, sometimes you need to infuse an organization or a program unnaturally with leadership like trading for someone last year like LB Mike Vrabel and bringing it up. I knew that Mike was going to be a leader, I knew just based on his accountability, not only his own personal accountability but also how he is going to hold his teammates accountable. I knew he was going to bring leadership to this football team that was needed and he did just that. Like I said, there are a couple young players here that we married into that have great leadership skills, they just need to become a little bit more confident and I think we will continue to do that.”

Q: When LB Mike Vrabel was hurt and on the sideline, you could still see him being a leader and giving the rest of the team direction and encouragement. Can you talk about that?

PIOLI: “That game he was out, it was interesting because LB Andy (Studebaker) looked like a deer in the headlights. He was a little bit nervous about his first start. There are different kinds of leaders in this world and Mike, I believe and feel, is one of the most important kinds of leaders you can have on a football team. I go back to Anthony Pleasant who is coaching with us now. No matter how much time you spend in this game or this business, you always learn something. Several years ago with the N.Y. Jets, we brought Anthony Pleasant in after the ‘97 season and Anthony came in and he worked as hard as anyone I had ever been around. He worked hard and prepared in practice and he always worked hard post-practice. I started watching Anthony as a player with the Jets and I remember we brought him to the New England Patriots. He would take players, for instance, we had Anthony and we drafted Richard Seymour, who was going to take Anthony’s job. But what did Anthony do? Anthony would spend post-practice with him and drag Richard over to the dummies and sleds and work hand drills.

“A couple years later we drafted Ty Warren who was also brought in to take his job and Anthony always gave me that smile of his and he knew that we were drafting players and bringing players in to take his job. He didn’t care and that kind of leader I have always termed as a selfless leader, someone who would do everything possible [to help us win]. He had enough self-confidence that he was going to do the best job he could and the best man was going to win that position and the best man was going to start. Leaders like Anthony are pretty special. Mike Vrabel is that kind of leader and watching him this year with Andy Studebaker, hopefully Andy is the future at that position. Until that happens and until Andy is ready, he is going to need some help and a guy like Mike Vrabel, we have all seen it. If you work in this game a long time, there are people who try to cut the legs out from under people and they are competing against them instead of it being a natural competition. I don’t mean to digress, but it is an important type of leader that you need on a football team.”

Q: How do you like living in Kansas City? What has your family enjoyed the most about the Midwest? Do you have any favorite restaurants, and do you still like clam chowder or have you acquired a taste for KC barbeque?

PIOLI: “How do we like Kansas City? We love Kansas City. My wife is originally from Wichita, so we have family here. Her mother was born and raised in Wichita so her mother’s whole side of the family is here. Her father attended Wichita State, so she’s got several cousins that live in Wichita, Lawrence, and actually here in Kansas City. So the transition was very easy. Oddly enough, one of my closest and dearest friends from growing up back in New York has been here for 13 years. So this transition, when we made it, I knew was going to be relatively, I don’t want to say easy, but it was going to be easier knowing we had some things and some people in place that were going to help us learn a little bit about the city.

“I think our six-year-old has really taken to the city because there is a lot to do. We live close enough to the city where there is a lot to do. Culturally, there are a lot of things to do. We’re involved with the K.C. Rep (theater), we’re involved with the Nelson-Atkins Museum, the Charlotte Street Foundation here in town and also the symphony. Also, we’re in walking distance of one of the public libraries, so there are a lot of things we love to do in this city. You ask about the restaurants or the food here, you know, to me, it’s depending on the mood, and depending on the time of day.

“The best breakfast that we’ve found so far is Winstead’s. In terms of ethnic food, there are a couple of places; Garozzo’s is a favorite of ours, El Pueblito over on Southwest Boulevard. There are a lot of good restaurants around town. Westport has a couple really good restaurants. I’m a big fan of Indian food so Korma Sutra is really good. In terms of the barbeque, for sitting down, we love Jack Stack. But I’ll tell you a funny story, last year, as Todd and I were homeless, we were living in a hotel downtown, and we’re spending every waking hour here. One of the things you do when you’re watching tape late at night, as you know, as you used to be a 300-plus pounder, you like to eat. So one night, one of the guys went to Gates Barbeque and brought back this thing called a burnt ends sandwich. I’ll tell you what, it was a special one. The first one was special, the second one pretty special. I actually caught Todd one night; he had literally gone through two and a half burnt ends sandwiches himself. He tried lying to me, saying that one of the other guys had eaten it. When it comes to barbeque, the burnt ends sandwich is pretty big. Clam chowder, I’ll get my fix in the summer when I go back east to visit my family and some friends back there. I wish I could find some low-cal barbeque, that’s the big task, have to see if that exists.”

Q: How do you feel about the NFL Draft taking place over three days?

PIOLI: “I think it’s going to change the Draft in a number of different ways. It’s not going to change the evaluation process. As I’ve talked about the Draft a number of times, there are two different facets of the Draft: one is the evaluation process and the other is the strategy. I think that it’s going to be interesting to watch because on day one, we’ve currently got the fifth pick overall. We could move up, we could move back, we could stay exactly where we are, we don’t know how that’s going to happen. Even though we pick, let’s just say we remain where we are and we pick number five, we’ve got two picks in the second round which is really the next day, which is Friday night. There are a number of things that could happen. We have to pay attention to the board and pay attention to the opportunities that may arise. I think, once again, if you stay prepared and you pay attention as you go along, there may be opportunities that pop up to increase value and that’s going to be the strategy component. Again, right now, we’re sitting at number five overall, number 36, and I believe number 64. So there are going to be a couple different opportunities in those first two days to get better and we have another pick the next day in the third round.

“The second night, one of the things that I’ve talked around the league, one of the concerns, it’s funny talking to some of the teams in the Eastern time zone, the hours that this is going to be set up, they’re a little bit concerned because they’re not going to be able to sleep the night before, they’re going to have to be up all morning and this is going to stretch into the wee hours of the morning. Even though it appears you’re just sitting there, there is a lot of mental energy being burned as you’re sitting there. It’s certainly going to be a challenge because it’s going to be the first time under this set of circumstances and you still have to find a way to make good decisions.”

Q: Do you want us to save you a burger or brat from the Draft Day Party here at the Arrowhead Practice Facility?

PIOLI: “Actually, on draft day, I am a pizza guy only. No, you have to watch certain people like to pile up plates and I can’t stand a mess in the draft room, so pizza’s one of those foods where there is no mess, it’s all folded up into one. So if there’s pizza lying around, it’s good.”

Q: What is your philosophy on drafting underclassmen?

PIOLI: “I don’t know if there is necessarily a philosophy that I have regarding underclassmen. To me, it’s really more about the player’s maturity level. We’ve all seen there are underclassmen that are more mature than their years and there are ones that are less mature than they should be. Then there are upperclassmen, regardless of their years, who are less mature. One of the things that we’ve tried to stay focused on and that I’m a firm believer in is the maturity level of players. Players that are more mature are going to be fewer problems for the club. It’s a lot easier to develop and deal with mature players. I prefer mature players. Again, to me, it’s not necessarily a philosophy or feeling about underclassmen or players that are normally ready for the draft.”

Q: What is more important to you when it comes to the Combine, the measurables or the interviews?

PIOLI: “I’m not a big measurable person. I respect them. I know they have a place and they have a value within the overall process – it’s just a piece in the puzzle. I am much more interested in tape and watching a player actually play football than how high they can vertical jump and how fast they are because it’s really changed. The way the Combine is set up now and the way the interview process is as well, is as soon as the season ends for some of these players, they get with agents, they get with trainers and they are literally trained how to interview. The people that train them how to interview, it’s become quite a cat-and-mouse game between the clubs and the agents where the agent’s job is to find a way to maximize the value of their client. The players not only physically train on the drills that we’re running at the Combine: the short shuttle, the long shuttle, the vertical jump, the broad jump, those are all drills and are all things that if you train hard enough in them, you can see significant improvement in 40 time, your short shuttle time. So some of that has been watered down in terms of what the results are and how to gauge the results.

“One of the things you’ll also see at the Combine is players will make a decision to do certain parts of the workout at the Combine and other parts of the workout at their own private workout. For instance, for certain players who want to do their max bench at the Combine will show up at the Combine several pounds heavier. When it comes time for them to do their personal workout, they will have dropped six, seven or eight pounds and they’re lighter on the day that they want to run their 40-yard dash. Like I said, the measurables are important, but at the end of the day, we’re not drafting players or signing players to get them in shorts and tennis shoes and run around on Arrowhead’s field and show us how high they can vertical jump. In terms of the interviews, the interview process has become really tough because a lot of that stuff is canned now and they know what questions are going to be asked, even the negative questions if they have some negative stuff in their background, they’re prepared for those.”

Q: How does the possibility of an uncapped year affect a small market team like the Kansas City Chiefs?

PIOLI: “I don’t think the small-market team, so to speak, is anything that’s really relevant. By NFL standards, we’re a big-market team. We have a big brand, we’re a big team and I’m not sure how that really impacts what we do in free agency, what we’re going to do or not going to do. Here’s the bottom line in free agency, we need to get better and we need to find a way to get better. Now this year, because of the way things are set up, there’s a different pool of players because it appears as though we’re going to head into an uncapped season as of now. It changes the rules of free agency.

“Again, without getting into a lot of the details of what is actually happening, the bottom line is that there are a couple hundred players that under prior circumstances would be free agents, would be unrestricted free agents and have the availability to go to any team that they wanted. With this being the last capped year, there’s a number of rules that kick in. One of the rules is that players, previously, with four years of experience, as contracts expired, they became unrestricted free agents. Well now that threshold has changed to six years so there’s a large pool of players that are now eliminated from free agency, so that changes the complexion of things pretty significantly. The bottom line is, there’s probably going to be another pool of players in free agency that we don’t even know who they are because every year there is this natural attrition from club to club because there are coaching changes, there are front office changes, there are players that are going to be released that are expected to be under contract that will now be out there as free agents. Any way that we feel that we can improve the football team, again, I’ve never been someone who’s big on flashy names or going after the sizzle or making the appearance that you’re going to go out and get a big-hype player. Just because a player has a big name doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re a good player. What we want to do is go out and find good players that fit our system and can help us become a better football team.”

Q: I believe Commissioner Goodell has shown great leadership in my opinion. After working with Clark Hunt for a full year, can you talk about his vision and what has impressed you about him?

PIOLI: “When I went through this process of interviewing 13 months ago for this position, I spent time with Clark on the phone and continued to do further research on him. It’s funny, we had this meeting this morning with a local group, Mark Donovan and I, and we talked about different things and the type of people that we want to hire and have within our organization, and one of the points that I brought up during this conversation was, not only the people we want to hire, but who do we want to partner with?

“I went through that process here and one of the things that is important to me is competitiveness and true commitment to compete and true competitiveness and I wanted to make sure that if I was going to leave the situation that I was in, I wanted to make sure that I was in a situation with a team and an ownership group or an owner that was committed to winning and was exceedingly competitive. One of the things I learned about Clark through that process was he was a guy that graduated top of his class in high school. He goes to SMU which is a very strong academic school and graduates not only at the top of his class, but literally number one in his entire class. To me, that showed something about his personal commitment and who he is and what he’s about that really made me feel good about what I was going to get myself into.

“Clark grew up in an environment where he could have chosen to do a lot of different things, I don’t think he had to necessarily graduate number one in his class, he found the desire, the will and the competitive spirit within himself to do that. I think knowing that, it made me feel very good that I was going to partner with someone in a situation and a club where he was truly going to do everything and be fully committed to being the best in the competition that we were involved in.”

Q: What do you think about the Saints winning the Super Bowl?

PIOLI: “I think that the Saints victory was huge on a lot of levels. It was big for the city of New Orleans. It was a big win for the National Football League. It’s one of those stories, it’s one of those pieces of the NFL where, here’s a club that had this history that wasn’t very prolific and they found a head coach and a front office group that did things the right way, they found the right players and they built a championship football team in a matter, of I think four years time since Sean’s (Payton) been there. I know a number of people on that staff, within that organization and knowing Drew Brees and the type of person he is, it was not only good for the city, it was good for the National Football League.”

Q: Can you talk about RB Jamaal Charles and his ability to make big plays. How much does that mean to an offense?

PIOLI: “I think the key to this football team is to not only having a player like Jamaal, but to complement right with other players that have big-play ability. I know this is close to your heart, but you’ve got to have a good offensive line and certainly there’s got to be some complementary players because if you’re a one-trick pony as a football team, teams are going to find a way to game plan and shut things like that down. Jamaal, with his ability and the people he’s surrounded with, everyone becomes better. If you have a good running back, the quarterback and the receivers get better. If you have a good quarterback and a good receiver and a tight end, that makes the other players better. Those things all feed off one another.”

Q: Do you have any closing thoughts for the season ticket holders out there?

PIOLI: “I think most of all, because we’re not only talking to fans, more specifically, we’re talking to season ticket holders right now, what I want to do is say a genuine and a true thank you to all the season ticket holders out there and all the people that support the Chiefs. I’ve watched and been a part of this team now for 13 months and watched this organization from afar and am now a part of the Chiefs family, and this was a difficult season for us, it was a difficult season for the fans. What I loved was the way the fans hung in there. I spent my time before home games and after home games mingling among the fans out in the parking lots and again, I guess all I really want to say is thank you and please continue to hang in there and support us. The amount of hours that people are working, we’re working hard, we’re working smart, and I’m going to do everything in my power to give this city, this community, a football team that we can all be proud of.”