Allen hire comes down to evolution, not revolution

I’m an educator and a sports writer. I’ve now been an educator for almost as long as I’ve been a sports writer now.
My time at the American Press in Lake Charles started in 2011. I’ve been a teacher since 2015. That entire time, I’ve either been a full-time writer or a freelance writer for various publications throughout the state of Louisiana.
In both fields, time has made me better. You learn what works. You learn what doesn’t. You adapt, you advance, you evolve.
So, it’s under that microscope that I’m choosing to see the Saints’ hiring of head coach Dennis Allen.
If you’ve lived as a hermit over the past week, New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis has found his successor to his version of Pittsburgh Steelers great Chuck Noll.
Payton was the culture changer and the innovator. Teaming with Loomis, he helped to make the NFL change the way it viewed New Orleans as an organization.
So, when the Saints hired Allen this past week, it was viewed as the natural progression. The right-hand man of “The Man” taking over and continuing what Payton started.
I get all that. I understand the logic behind it all.
What’s hard for me to wrap my head around is Allen’s career record in his first stint as head coach of the Oakland Raiders.
Eight wins, 28 losses.
To put it in plain English, not so many wins … lotta losses.
That said, I’m willing to approach this hire with an open mind.
He’s certainly looking to season this staff with his own flavor. There are reports that he’s trying to hire a former NFL head coach, Doug Marrone, to coach the offensive line.
There are also reports out there that the offensive and defensive coordinator positions are up for grabs. He is expected to go outside of the organization on the offensive line, with Detroit Lions’ passing game coordinator Aubrey Pleasant as a reported candidate, and possibly in-house for the defensive coordinator spots.
He’s got a couple pretty good guys in-house to look at on defense, with former Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Kris Richard already on staff and also Ryan Nielsen, himself thought to become LSU’s defensive coordinator before Payton gave him a sweetheart deal to return.
In my opinion though, the staff hires are secondary. They’re a nice talking point, but the real story of this new era of Saints football will be a simple one …
Has Dennis Allen learned from previous mistakes as a failed head coach his first time around?
That’s where my career arc is important as a parallel. People become better the longer they do something. They learn new tactics, change their ways and improve themselves.
One has to believe Allen has done that.
The bottom line of this hire is simple. If Dennis Allen has become a sponge of the Payton ideologies, the New Orleans shouldn’t miss a beat as a winning franchise.
However, if he hasn’t, there is a possibility that there will be a regression.
Whatever the outcome, it will be fascinating to watch how the Allen hire plays out.