The Green Bay Packers will have a new team president in a few months and he will have some big shoes to fill. His two predecessors left indelible marks on the franchise. First Bob Harlan literally saved the franchise from extinction. Then Mark Murphy took it to a whole new level. It will be interesting to see what Ed Policy has up his sleeve. Here is what he is up against.
Harlan took over in June of 1989. The Packers were a floundering franchise living in the past. Their head coach at the time, Lindy Infante, was the first non-Packers’ player coach since Dan Devine in 1973. Oddly enough the Packers went 10-6 that year and seemed to have found their QB of the future. Nope. A stupid prolonged contract holdout cost Don Majkowski all of training camp in 1990 and then he blew out his passing shoulder in November. He was never the same again.
Two miserable years followed and Harlan had enough. He handed the reigns to Ron Wolf and gave him unfettered authority over football matters. It was by far the best job in he league. Complete control. Thankfully for Harlan, Wolf did not disappoint. He built a championship roster around Brett Favre and Reggie White and went to two Super Bowls in the 1990s.
Harlan used that success to save the franchise. Even while they were winning the Packers were barely getting by and were not paying their fair share to the league with the outdated Lambeau Field. If Harlan had not gotten the stadium referendum passed there is no way the Packers would still be playing in the NFL. The owners would have kicked them out.
Harlan made a few mistakes along the way, giving Mike Sherman the general manager job comes to mind first, but overall he will go down as one of the pillars of the franchise for his accomplishments.
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Growing the brand
It was a different story for Murphy. The Packers were on solid ground as a franchise now but were going through the transition from Favre to Aaron Rodgers. Murphy stayed out of that and let general manager Ted Thompson do his job. In the end it worked out pretty well. Most of Murphy’s accomplishments have come off the field of play.
His biggest accomplishment of course, will be in two weeks when the NFL Draft takes place in Green Bay. To get to this point Murphy held a stock sale that added 7,000 seats to Lambeau and he built Titletown, the business and entertainment district adjacent to Lambeau. It is home to many big name businesses, health and fitness companies, and big money condos and villas. Under Murphy’s leadership the Packers’ annual revenue increased 171%. And with the draft being here this year that number will likely be even higher when the dust settles.
So as you can see, Policy has his hands full. I don’t know what to expect. The main thing the Packers are in dire need of is another Super Bowl win. So I have to believe Matt LaFleur and Brian Gutekunst are feeling the heat with a new boss taking over. Time to start competing for championships, right?
If you know what are dropping odds you’ll be able to catch the moment when it’s a perfect time to wager a bet on this outcome.