John Elway Admits He Botched The Vance Joseph Hire: 'Was Wrong On That One'

By CHAD JENSEN

(247SPORTS) - Whether he's still riding the euphoria of the Vic Fangio hire, coupled with nabbing the runner-up in the Denver Broncos' head-coaching search — Mike Munchak — to serve as O-line Coach, or maybe just tired of avoiding the issue, GM John Elway is telling it like it is (or was) as it relates to Vance Joseph.

In an interview with NBC's Peter King, the Broncos' front-office czar dished on topics ranging from Case Keenum's short and long-term viability, to the pressures of being a GM, and ultimately what changed in his approach to hiring a head coach this time around.

In the process of addressing these touchy topics, Elway leveled with King — and all of Broncos Country — admitting that the Vance Joseph hire was a bad decision, both in how he approached Joseph's candidacy and the end result.

"The key thing I learned in the coach-selection process: Cover your bases thoroughly and get the best candidates that you can and don't make your mind up going in," Elway told King. "Don't draw any conclusions before you go into the coaching interviews. Take each interview in the moment and do not pre-draw it. Don't combine it with the other ones and don't make your mind up when you walk out. Be as thorough as you can and try to find the right guy that fits your job at that point in time. So that's what I learned. I've probably pre-drawn my thought process going in before. I talked to [Vance Joseph] before the process a couple of years ago, and knew him, and going in, I had an idea that he was kind of our guy. I admit it. I was wrong on that one. I don't like to say it out loud because I don't want to offend VJ, who is a good football coach. But things didn't work out."

It is what it is. The Joseph era was a colossal blunder that dragged the Broncos organization into the mud and set the organization back years. Joseph's two-year reign was punctuated by the Broncos posting back-to-back losing seasons for the first time in nearly a half century, which cast a pall on Elway's front-office resume and legacy.

Elway admitted his mistake in deed, by actually firing Joseph. But now he's admitting it verbally, and publicly, which honestly is a vital part of the purging process and exorcising those demons. Get it out, and move on.

Joseph is a big boy and a professional. There might have been mitigating factors outside of his control, but Joseph has to know that he was in over his head as a first-time coach in Denver. And now that Joseph has landed on his feet with a defensive coordinator job with the Arizona Cardinals, Elway feels a little more freed up to talk about it.

After Joseph impressed Elway in January of 2015, back when Gary Kubiak wanted to hire Joseph as the Broncos' defensive coordinator — which was blocked by the Bengals — Elway quickly settled on Joseph as the No. 1 choice (not candidate) to take over for Kubiak, who had stepped down two short years later. Wade Phillips was the serendipitous fall-back option when Joseph could not be landed.

Elway interviewed two other coaches for the head-coaching job (Kyle Shanahan and Dave Toub) but they were both perfunctory. Elway was simply biding his time, waiting for Joseph's Dolphins to get bounced from the playoffs. He didn't have to wait long, as Miami lost in the Wildcard Round.

And the rest is history. This time around, however, staring down the reality of having to hire his fourth head coach since 2011, Elway knew he had to take a different approach.

This time, Elway not only cast a wider net, formally interviewing five candidates while investigating many others, but he also changed his paradigm going into each interview. He went in with an open mind, allowing the candidates to blow him away, or turn him off, in each interview.

This coaching search had a much more organic feel — and a more professionally earnest and focused feel — and the proof of that is already coming out in the pudding. After all signs pointed to Mike Munchak getting the head job, Elway interviewed Vic Fangio at the 11th hour, and it totally changed his view-point, creating a new front-runner. Fangio won the job and three days later was announced as the 17th head coach of the Denver Broncos.

And since then, Fangio has marked his territory, falling out with a potential Kubiak marriage, before managing to close a deal that brought Munchak to Denver as an assistant. Through it all, Elway has certainly counseled Fangio, but he's also butted out in a micro sense, allowing Fangio to execute his vision for the coaching staff and not strong-arming him into a forced, artificial partnership with Kubiak.

Elway might as well get out of Fangio's way, so to speak, though I'm sure the two are working in tandem from a macro perspective. All of Elway's chips are invested in Fangio and the two have three years to show some serious progress. Elway's hasn't panicked under the pressure, though, and that's thanks in large part to the perspective gleaned from 16 years of playing quarterback at the highest levels, navigating the pitfalls of the most scrutinized position in professional sports.

"Here's the big difference I've learned between being the quarterback and being the GM," Elway told King. "The number one thing that goes untold about a quarterback, if you've got the right one, is that everyone believes that he will always give you a chance to win. The quarterback's a leader. Guys look up to him. But the quarterback isn't in charge of his teammates' livelihood. Right? I wasn't in charge of whether they're on our team or not. As a GM, it's a lonely spot. You have to make those tough decisions that aren't necessarily gonna be liked at the time but might be the best thing for two years down the road. But when it works out two years down the road, people are not coming back and going, 'That was a helluva decision by Elway back there two years ago!' As a GM, the upside comes from you doing the best you can and feeling like you've done the right thing. It comes from within."

Where the Joseph decision was wrong both in how it was conceived and how it was executed, this time around it feels like Elway did the right things which led to an organic decision to hire Vic Fangio. Elway is turning the page, and giving the Broncos a chance at a fresh start.