Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Chiefs GM Scott Pioli learned how to scout players by watching The Breakfast Club

Posted by Ben Palosaari on Tue, May 3, 2011 at 7:30 AM

click to enlarge The strange source of Scott Pioli's inspiration.
  • The strange source of Scott Pioli's inspiration.

Chiefs GM Scott Pioli, the reigning NFL Executive of the Year, has a reputation for researching potential players by studying them off the field. As he explained to KCUR 89.3's Steve Kraske last fall, when considering college players to draft, he speaks with people not directly involved with football to get a picture of a player's character.

He told Kraske, "I always take time to talk to the equipment manager, a female that

works in the football office, whether it's a student assistant,

academic counselor or a secretary, and talk to a janitor." Pioli returned to the janitorial part of his research routine when talking to Pro Football Talk earlier this month, saying that he patterns himself after Carl the Janitor from The Breakfast Club. Um, OK.



Pioli explained that, much as Carl the Janitor used his position to

learn about the cliquey kids at Shermer High School, he hopes to absorb

as much as he can about players in the draft from people who interact with them in mundane ways.


The GM told PFT's Mike Florio that his first job in football, driving players around Cleveland, was the genesis of his strategy. "The players, their guard was down when they were around us," he said, which gave him insight into the unpolished side of players. "I was Carl the Janitor. I just had a steering wheel in front of me instead of a mop."

Which makes sense. As the

practitioner of custodial arts told the Brat Pack, "I am the eyes and

ears of this institution, my friends!"

Now let's waste some time and watch this unrelated clip.




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