(Photo: From left, Sean McDermott, Brandon Beane (holding ball) and Bills owner Terry Pegula in happier times. Buffalo Bills file photo)
Several years ago, in this space, I detailed my friendship with Terry Pegula dating back to the mid 1980s when we played a lot of racquetball together and he ran an up-and-coming company, East Resources, in the Olean/Allegany area.
I vividly remember saying I would never trash Terry in print because friendship is much more valuable to me than cranking out a gossipy, negative story.
My biggest concession after he became owner of the Sabres and Bills was that he was extremely uncomfortable in front of the media … after all, he was a geologist and petroleum engineer not a Jerry Jones or Rex Ryan who launched into a monologue at the drop of a question.
He had long-since verified his success as a businessman … unfortunately evolution as a sports entrepreneur forced him into his weakness … speaking to the press.
For the most part he avoided it, but his firing of Bills coach Sean McDermott last Sunday demanded a meeting with the media and the response was anywhere from “awkward” to “embarrassing.”
THE WORST part was Pegula admitting he decided to change coaches in the locker room after the 33-30 overtime divisional loss to the Broncos in Denver last Saturday after several dubious officiating calls in OT that likely coast Buffalo the game.
Pegula admitted what made up his mind was seeing quarterback Josh Allen in tears. Did he forget that his MVP QB threw two picks and fumbled three times, losing two?
Didn’t he take Allen at his word … “I let the team down?”
If Pegula had dropped the axe after that galling “13 seconds” playoff loss in overtime at Kansas City four years ago, it would have been totally merited.
But Sunday wasn’t the right time and it did McDermott a huge injustice.
Worse, it thrust General Manager Brandon Beane into the role of Team President and GM in charge of the coaching search. And if it makes you uncomfortable knowing Beane is now charged with finding the replacement for the man who hired him? Me too. It smacks of disloyalty no matter how much Beane protested the attacks on his character.
BUT THAT wasn’t the only uneasy moment at the press conference.
Worse, at least on the insensitivity meter, was the way wide receiver Keon Coleman was trashed by both principals.
Each inferred that the former Michigan State and Florida State star was a bust.
Yeah, in his two seasons, he caught 67 balls for eight touchdowns but it wasn’t the production to be expected from the player taken with the first pick of the second round of the 2024 draft.
His real undoing was a propensity for being late for meetings.
Beane fell on his sword and maintained Coleman was his choice but Pegula interrupted him and said the pick was the coaches decision. The whole exchange was uncomfortable to say the least.
And the real victim was Coleman who had to be wondering whether the owner and GM thought he was a bust and if he had a future in Buffalo.
Worse again, the back-and-forth got national coverage and left Coleman the object of country-wide jokes and wisecracks.
The whole repartee was profoundly unfair to Coleman and showed no empathy or sensitivity.
Bills fans have a right to expect better … and so does Coleman.
(Chuck Pollock, a Wellsville Sun senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@wnynet.net.)
