I'll be the first one to admit it's very possible that my visceral reaction to Jerry DiPoto is coloring my verbal reactions to his moves and to his endeavors as a leader.
All this would be allayed if he brought with him any record of successfully implementing his ideas. I understand that if such record existed he would not likely have been available to Seattle. Before Pete Carroll demonstrated success at the NFL level in Seattle the same questions surrounded his confident assertions. Still, Carroll at least had demonstrated success at USC.
DiPoto has no record of success at all as top dog of an entire organization. His confidence at this point is in his theories and his approach. A successful leader needs much more than that. He needs to successfully IMPLEMENT his theories and his approach. The two are not the same. There's a certain number of people who can spout ideas with great confidence. There's a smaller number of people whose ideas are true difference makers. But some of those still don't achieve success. There's an even smaller number of people who have the right ideas AND the gifts to implement them effectively on an organizational scale. Pete Carroll in tandem with John Schneider has now demonstrated he is one of those persons. Jerry DiPoto has yet to do so.
To suggest that DiPoto MIGHT be a Pete Carroll is certainly true. But it is also just as true, dare I say based on odds alone it is more likely true that he MIGHT NOT be. This does not mean DiPoto can't succeed wildly. He might. But it does mean that the Mariners handed the keys AGAIN to an unproven man. Since Pat Gillick no proven GM has filled that post for Seattle.
We can (and DO!) HOPE that DiPoto is a Pete Carroll waiting to happen. But so far is there any real evidence to suggest that, or is it all aspirational at this point?