Carl Peterson

Infobox NFL PlayerCoach


Color=#b20032
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Name=Carl Peterson
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College=UCLA
Position=General Manager
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coach=no
coachingteams=Kansas City Chiefs
coachingyears=1989-"Present"

Carl D. Peterson grew up in Long Beach, California, and is an alumnus of the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the president, general manager, and chief executive officer of the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League. He has served in those roles since 1989. Peterson has hired four coaches for the Chiefs since 1989, Marty Schottenheimer, Gunther Cunningham, Dick Vermeil and most recently Herman Edwards. Peterson took over the general manager duties in 1989 from Jim Schaaf.

Mixed feelings

Peterson has been both praised and criticized by Chiefs fans. Peterson has been criticized for not being much of a general manager, and is considered by some to be more focused on team revenue than he is about winning.

Peterson has been praised for hiring quality coaches, and re-establishing a winning tradition for the Chiefs that had greatly diminished in the 1980s. Prior to Peterson's arrival, Kansas City had only made one playoff appearance in 18 years. The Kansas City Chiefs were the winningest team in the NFL for the decade of the 1990s by percentage, qualified the playoffs in six of seven seasons from 1990 to 1997, and reached the AFC Championship game following the 1993 season. But Peterson has been criticized because the Chiefs have failed to reach the Super Bowl and have posted only three playoff wins in 8 appearances during his tenure, the most recent over the Houston Oilers on January 16, 1994.

Some fans dislike the fact that Peterson has held his current job for over 18 years, which is considerably longer than most other NFL general managers, despite the team's lack of playoff success during his tenure, and the recent decline in the team's fortunes. Due to his longstanding term in office as general manager, columnist Jason Whitlock has famously dubbed Peterson as "King Carl" in the Kansas City Star and the nickname has become a Chiefs fan favorite among the criticism of Peterson. During a broadcast of a Chiefs game, ESPN personality Tony Kornheiser questioned if Carl Peterson was similar to a Supreme Court Justice in the fact that he still maintains his job despite the Chiefs not winning a playoff game since 1993 and repeatedly failing in the NFL Draft.

Leading up to the 2007 Chiefs season, criticism was drawn to the Chiefs' attempts to trade quarterback Trent Green Merrill, Elizabeth. [http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2880550 QB situation not a distraction for Edwards] "ESPN.com", 2 May 2007.] especially towards general manager Carl Peterson's failure to execute the trade. Whitlock, Jason. [http://www.kansascity.com/159/story/105118.html Where's Trent's love?] "Kansas City Star", 13 May 2007.] Whitlock, Jason. [http://www.kansascity.com/sports/chiefs/story/122117.html Two sides to sad Green story] "Kansas City Star", 24 May 2007.] King, Jason. [http://www.kansascity.com/sports/chiefs/story/119036.html It's not easy being (Trent) Green] "Kansas City Star", 22 May 2007.] The media were critical of Peterson and his apparent neglect to return the phone calls of Trent Green's agent, Jim Steiner. Associated Press. [http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2882010 Green's agent says Chiefs won't return calls] "ESPN.com", 24 May 2007.]

Peterson was also criticized over the manner of former head coach Gunther Cunningham's firing following the 2000 NFL season. Some reports said that Cunningham only learned of his firing through media reports stating that the Chiefs were close to a deal to bring former St. Louis Rams head coach Dick Vermeil out of retirement, and others stated that Cunningham was unaware that he had been removed from his position before finding an item posted to the team's official website announcing his ouster.Dean, Rick. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4179/is_20010106/ai_n11762135/pg_1?tag=artBody;col1] "Topeka Capital-Journal", 6 Jan 2001.]

On June 5, 2007, the Chiefs traded Green to the Dolphins for a conditional fifth round pick in the 2008 NFL Draft.Pasquarelli, Len. [http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2894600 Green goes to Dolphins from Chiefs in trade] "ESPN.com", 5 June 2007.]

References

External links

*http://www.kcchiefs.com/front_office/carl_d_peterson/