Vermeil's the first. He won't be the last. Everywhere you go around Tampa, you hear about how little Brian Billick actually does. How Jim Fassel is just there to talk to the press and stay out of the way. Head coaches are seen, more and more, as empty figureheads.
Nobody disputes that.
Then, maybe that misses the point. Head coaches in the NFL today can't do everything. That was the lesson that Gunther Cunningham and so many other hard-working assistants have such a hard time learning. No, head coaches are there to create a winning atmosphere, build the team's personality, deal with problems, respond to the media, keep the coaches working, keep the players happy. A head coach is the CEO these days.