Lots of storytelling in this one as Nestor Aparicio shares with Leonard Raskin the original document that David Modell handed him 27 years ago when he was about to hire Brian Billick to be the next head coach of the Baltimore Ravens. They wonder how many of these “line items” current owner Steve Bisciotti would agree with – and whether they ever applied to John Harbaugh at all?
Nestor Aparicio and Leonard Raskin discussed the qualifications for the next head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, referencing a list created by Art Modell. The list includes criteria such as leadership, football knowledge, and management skills. They highlighted the importance of association with winning programs and successful backgrounds. Nestor shared personal anecdotes from the Ravens’ history, including his efforts to secure Brian Billick as coach. They also critiqued current owner Steve Bisciotti’s lack of community engagement and his recent press conference behavior, contrasting it with Modell’s hands-on approach.
- [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Pull up and share the Baltimore Ravens head coach criteria sheet on the show and with the community (share the document for listeners/viewers)
- [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Present and run audio/tape clips and related segments about Brian Billick and the 25th anniversary on the show next week
- [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Run a charity/community segment in two weeks to tell listeners about places to support (Mount Washington pediatric hospital and other listed locations) and promote related events
- [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Post a better picture/screenshot of the head coach criteria list to Facebook for viewers to see
- [ ] Read the head coach criteria list aloud on the show when Nestor shares it (participate in the on-air segment)
Baltimore Ravens Head Coach Search and Community Engagement
- Nestor Aparicio discusses the upcoming AFC championship game and the excitement around the Baltimore Ravens.
- Nestor mentions various community events and charity work, including support for the Mount Washington Pediatric Hospital.
- Leonard Raskin and Nestor talk about the importance of qualifications for the next head coach of the Baltimore Ravens.
- Nestor shares a personal story about his efforts to secure Brian Billick as the Ravens’ head coach 27 years ago.
David Modell’s Criteria for Head Coach Selection
- Nestor recounts a meeting with Art Modell where he was given a list of criteria for selecting the next head coach.
- The list included various categories such as leadership, football knowledge, and management skills.
- Nestor emphasizes the importance of association with winning programs and successful background and experience.
- Leonard Raskin and Nestor discuss the significance of each criterion and how it relates to the current head coach search.
Personal Experiences and Insights on Coaching Qualifications
- Nestor shares his experiences with Brian Billick and other coaches, highlighting the importance of personal traits and communication skills.
- Leonard Raskin explains the importance of financial success and critical thinking in hiring key personnel.
- Nestor reflects on the changes in the NFL and the importance of adapting to new coaching strategies.
- The conversation touches on the challenges of managing a team and the role of the owner in the coaching selection process.
The Role of the Owner and Community Involvement
- Nestor and Leonard discuss the responsibilities of an owner, including community engagement and support for local initiatives.
- Nestor expresses frustration with the current owner’s lack of involvement and communication with the community.
- Leonard emphasizes the importance of having a clear vision and strategy for the team’s success.
- The conversation highlights the need for transparency and accountability from the owner and the coaching staff.
The Impact of Ownership Style on Team Performance
- Nestor and Leonard analyze the differences between old money and new money owners and their impact on team performance.
- Nestor shares his observations on the current owner’s behavior and how it affects the team’s culture and morale.
- Leonard discusses the importance of having a long-term vision and commitment to the team’s success.
- The conversation concludes with a discussion on the future of the Baltimore Ravens and the search for a new head coach.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Baltimore Ravens, head coach, qualifications, Brian Billick, Art Modell, Steve Bisciotti, football knowledge, leadership, management skills, community engagement, communication skills, personal traits, winning programs, coaching search, ownership.
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Leonard Raskin
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T AM, 1570 towel Baltimore. We call this thing Baltimore positive, always going to be with you. And warming up here is we warm up for an A, F c and n, f c championship game this week, and the purple plumes of smoke that we’re awaiting in Owings Mills, Luke will be out there providing all of that. You’ll get it first on the wnst tech service that is brought to you by cold roofing and Gordian energy. We have such great sponsors here. Entering 2026, our friends at the Maryland lottery have me out doing a cup of soup or bowl, and people say, oh, what good are you nest? What good’s wnst, your little radio, whatever? Well, I should be doing a whole bunch of charity work and community work in two weeks, telling stories of places you can support, places like the Mount Washington pediatric hospital that Leonard Raskin support so much with his golf tournament and our friends at the Maryland lottery who have candy cane scratches to give away. I’m hoping it doesn’t snow five feet the week of February 2, but we begin at fadeleys. We’re going to be at State Fair. We’re going to be at Koco’s. We’re going to be at Pizza John’s in Essex, and we’re going to conclude, and hopefully let a Raskin will be out for that. It’ll be it’s the Friday before the Super Bowl, and I know the Ravens aren’t in the Super Bowl. They’ll have a head coach by then. We’ll be at Costas and Timonium. I know one of your your choice. How are you, man, lot of football, a lot of football, college football, pro football over the weekend, but just a lot of football, and a lot of football in the mind in regard to which one of these guys the ravens are going to pick, because I’ve really been doing bio scanning on all of this and reading up on guys master’s degrees and human resources and sports management and and management in general, sport management.
Leonard Raskin 01:41
They’re not just X’s and O’s football. They’re not ball coaches, you know, no, well, some of them are, but some of them have other things to go along with. And I think I’m not mistaken. You sent me over the criteria for coach, head coach selection. It’s a long list. You know
Nestor Aparicio 02:01
what I would hold that sheet of paper? Up, but I shared it earlier, and I, you know, matter of fact, you know what? I absolutely can pull it up, and we can share it if you’d like, but there’s a story that goes along with it that I think you’ll really appreciate, as I almost feel like sometimes when we’re doing the show, do you remember the old Cajun cook just on Wilson, and he would say he’d be cooking some chicken or something with wine, you know, right? And he got, I’m going to tell a storyteller. So here’s my story for you, 27 years ago today, literally, as we’re speaking, I made the phone call at about 840 in the morning on the Tuesday after the Ravens or the the Vikings lost the champion game. So I flew out to Minnesota on that Saturday afternoon. You’ll appreciate this, because I went to the barn and I saw Minnesota play Iowa in a basketball game in Minnesota, University of Minnesota, and then ran around five degree Minneapolis that night. And then I went to the dirty bird game, the game where Dan Reeves danced and Brian lost, and Brian sat on the ball. Randall Cunningham, okay, so I saw him in the locker room after that game. Right out. Vito stillino Is the other Baltimore in there at the Metrodome, which, you know, the open, you know, and down the locker may just lost the NFC Championship game. And I said that, Brian, you coming to Baltimore? And he pointed to me, a young man. He looked at me look down, as he always does, because he’s six, seven. Yeah, you could tell Mr. Modell. I’m coming to Baltimore. Then I’m like, okay, so I called Kevin Byrne back before his the press box was named after him that I’m locked out on because I didn’t work hard enough. I was in friggin Minnesota on my own time trying to figure out whose coach is going to be. When I had a little radio station, the radio should hope that their next coach worked as hard as I worked in 1999 to make this thing great, as much as I tried, still, 27 years later, I still, I try to have the energy of the enthusiasm to attack the day with the enthusiasm unknown to mankind or whatever the horrible thing. But back to back to Bill it, because that’s where this thing’s going anyway. It’s about job searches for so, by the way, let a Raskin here. He manages money C level talks a lot of people, the kind of people that you know, make the world better, and lead and hire and fire for better or worse, and try to figure things out at a chief executive, marketing operation, head coaching level. So Brian told me on Sunday night, I’m coming to Baltimore, you can tell Mr. Modell whatever. We flew out that night from Minnesota on us. Air through Pittsburgh, got home, I remember talking to I talked to Marvin that night because Marvin was getting fired. Marvin didn’t have a gig. Marvin was going to go be the linebackers coach for Gunther Cunningham in Kansas City at like, literally, or the Carolina Panthers. Tom capers was going to hire him as a defensive coordinator. So, like, I remember all this is in the book, by the way. So that night, I get back Monday, I come into the radio station and I, I called the harbor court hotel and and I they, I rang through. I said, Can you can you ring Billick? Brian Billick, putting you right through phone rang, hello, coach. Billick, the Nestor. I’m the short guy you met in the locker room yesterday in Minnesota. How you doing, young man, I thought I’d be hearing from you. And it was the Tuesday after actually, because he had gone to dinner at Roose Chris on Monday night, which is why I knew he was in Baltimore because, like Mark Viviano had chased him down at Ruth’s Chris outside to get video of him walking in with art modell, right? So I called the hotel in the morning and got Brian on the phone, and Brian went on live in the radio station. I have the tape. I have it all it, I mean, and I’m gonna run some of this next week, because it’s a 25th anniversary of purple. Anniversary of Purple Rain. So as we’re on the 25th anniversary of how Brian Billick stormed the castle, speared the Banshee did all that brought it back, I’m going to present
Leonard Raskin 06:13
this superstar,
Nestor Aparicio 06:16
his email address, genius. His email address was voc, Vikings offensive coordinator for all of his life. Voc, he was the offensive genius, right? All right. So here’s the list. Can you see this? I will share this with with everybody out in the community, Baltimore Ravens head coach for this is literally a sheet of paper that David model handed me, and he showed me this list when I was in his office the week before I went to Minnesota. So Leonard, there was a snowstorm, and I just drove pat it was the St Paul Plaza right by Mercy Hospital at the top of the hill. They were in that Signet building. That’s where I went to visit David. He was up on the top floor. He had a big office that looked at over the city art. It was a big circle. Office was beautiful. And I went up to his office. It smelled like cigar smoke. He got a cigar out. He shuts a door. He’s like, who’s my next head coach? And I’m like, David, I don’t know. I don’t know. And he’s like, gonna hire Brian Billick. So he said to me five days before I went to Minnesota, so I was going to go to Denver for the championship game, because Vinnie was playing in the championship game against John Elway at Mile High, the original mile I never got I never got to go to mile high state because I didn’t go. David said to me, you’re not going to Denver. You’re going to Minneapolis. Our next coach is going to be in Minneapolis, and he’s going to win, he’s going to go to the Super Bowl, and I can’t hire for three more three effing week, because David was very beautifully I’m going to cry if I talk about the profane that the profanity of David modo he he cursed in in in Scripture. I mean, it was just, you know, so anyway, I’m sitting in his office, and he had a binder, three ring binder, and at the time was Chris Palmer. It was his dad wanted to hire Terry Donahue, who was the UCLA coach, because some of the old guys in the at the club called him Terry Donahue, you know, whatever. So David got real serious about this. And this is, this is from my heart. This is gonna be a great segment, by the way, especially if you and I play along here as I share it, especially on the video side. And by the way, I don’t know, every time I share a letter Raskin video, I get a lot of views, but you must have like a popular you must share this in your community. But nonetheless, Raskin global manages money. We’re trying to manage the head coaching search. This was David a lot of money. This is how David Modell hired Brian Billick, and not Chris Palmer, not Jim Haslett. Who David loved Jim has David loved Jim Haslett. Wanted to, you know, thought, he thought Jim Haslett was going to be a great coach. I tell Chris pike that all the time because Chris worked with him. So anyway, Baltimore, ravens head coach. So David shows me this in his binder on the roof when it was snowing and I went down to his office. Believe it or not, this is crazy, Leonard, but art modell owned two tickets in every stadium in the league. It was an old line ownership thing where every owner bought two so I sat in arts tickets in Green Bay at the championship game in 96 art had tickets, and they literally were just sitting in David’s desk. And David’s like, if you don’t pick them up, Baker Koppelman or whoever, Roy summer off the time, gave me the I paid for them. I paid for them. I never took free tickets. I bought the tickets and so I they were I still have the stubs. I went to me and Scotty panion, who owns a meat she’s one of my dearest friends in the world. We got on an airplane. We flew through us air. He had points. Took me with him. We went out to Minneapolis. We saw a basketball game, and we sat in the upper deck in art modes tickets on the. 30 yard line in the upper deck of the in two regular seats, and I had a press pass, and I knew Brian was going to be the coach, yep. And I went down and met Brian Billick, and he was very tall, as I’ve written about. So this was the profile, and these were so you want to read from this, because I want your you, I want to hear your feedback, because I’ve looked in my book from 27 years ago.
Leonard Raskin 10:24
Yeah, it’s great. It’s great. I mean, look, you notice football knowledge? That’s what stood out to me in the left hand column here, you got 1111, points on football knowledge, and that’s out of 60 on the sheet.
Nestor Aparicio 10:45
So I’m going to read these. I want you to read them out loud. But there are in David’s categories. There were seven categories, yeah, 11, 511, 10, six and 12. And this is
Leonard Raskin 11:01
about 60. So 70 items, and 11 of them are football.
Nestor Aparicio 11:07
All right, so let’s go through hunting for telling you they were hunting. Leadership, leadership, so you go ahead and read. You tell me, what do you want? Let’s go. Let’s go through it. No, let’s go through this. Number one, disciplined approach. Number two, expects accountability, attention to detail. Number three, gains and commands respect. Number four, motivates players to want to excel. Number five, teacher. Number six, presence. Number seven, goal oriented. Number eight, ability to effectively communicate goals. Number nine, ability to motivate troops to pursue unified goals. Number 10, confident conveys confidence to others. Number 11, assistant coach mentality. Question mark, that’s the first part of the building right there. Thank you. David nodell, I love you.
Leonard Raskin 12:03
I’m gonna guess that this was specifically put in order of what was most you know what, or you
Nestor Aparicio 12:13
don’t know. Some point I sat with David and talked about this. At some point I I handed this list to Brian Billick. When I wrote the book, I’ve literally handed it to him. He said, I’ve seen this list. David gave it to me when he hired me, literally, that’s what he said to me. So this is not these are phrases. These aren’t even sentences, right? It almost looks like a crossword puzzle, right?
Leonard Raskin 12:42
It’s a stream of consciousness. I think it’s
Nestor Aparicio 12:45
more than that, because it’s, it’s it’s on. First off, David had a computer at this point in his life. So we’re talking 1998 so we are talking too. We’re talking 29 years ago, and Leonard before. I’m going to pull this down for anybody watching, I just want to say this. Do you think art ever wrote this out in that era was that something old guys did in the 50s and 60s is wrong.
Leonard Raskin 13:05
I would have bet. I would have been not everybody in the world
Nestor Aparicio 13:08
thought this way. They weren’t taught this way. Business School didn’t teach you this way. I didn’t learn to do this in Dundalk high school. I learned to do this in the real world. What a SWOT analysis would be? What how businesses run?
Leonard Raskin 13:20
That’s right. What did art modell do for football besides the browns, right? He transformed the game. There wouldn’t be Monday night, Sunday
Nestor Aparicio 13:29
night here in the Media Committee, competition committee, all of that. Right?
Leonard Raskin 13:33
She made shit happen and and there is no doubt that the man had more thought than just being a football guy, okay,
Nestor Aparicio 13:43
David put this in writing. And this was David probably sitting with his father, probably sitting with some level of consortium, you know, I mean, but yeah, so, okay, section two out of seven, successful background and experience number one.
Leonard Raskin 13:59
Look at number one, association with winning programs. Two, association with excellence. Three, head coach college or pro four, coordinator college or pro five, assistant coach, college or pro the first one on there, again, I think these are in some sort of hierarchical order, association with winning programs. To me that that just says all the reason in the world why? Thank goodness, in my opinion, of course, and I could be wrong, thank goodness the Atlanta Falcons chose to hire the Cleveland Browns head coach. I just I, who was it? Was it herb Edwards, right,
Nestor Aparicio 14:44
winning in Minnesota. So there’s, here’s where I am on the association winning programs. I think it’s really germane to this week and what we’re talking about, the ravens are waiting on about six people who are playing in championship games this weekend. Yeah, and the reason you’re waiting on them is they’re winning right now, not winning in 2003 like John Harbaugh did, right? And it is fascinating to see how many of these characteristics that if i Dude, I’ve had an 18 year effing insider in his office in his life, in cabs with him, in airplanes with him, in in every way I know John Harbaugh better than almost. I mean maybe Sandusky, or a couple of people in the media that fly on airplanes with him that he would, you know, have favor with them. And some I know horrible way better than Jameson Hensley knows our ball way better than Jeff’s Rebecca knows way better than Luke knows har ball. So and I would say to you this list here that got Brian hired, and I know Brian better than I know any of them. You know any Brian and Marvin? It’s a couple other people that I know really well. Right? This list, if I and I hadn’t even thought about this, I’m not even doing stick your Leonard. I just pulled this out because you brought it up, and I’m like, Let’s go do it, because it’s a great segment for me, right? Especially for what you do for a living. You know? Anyway, tell me what you do for a living, and then we’ll go back
Leonard Raskin 16:17
to this list. We we handle money. We handle everything that people need to know and do about money. In this regard, you know what you’re talking about here. We have a definition of financial success that is an objective criteria to measure whether or not you’re moving forward towards your American dream, towards creating that success that you want in your life, to be able to do the things for yourself, your family, your community, that are available to you, everything from your cash flow to your debts to your way you save money, the way you spend money, the way you protect your wealth, grow your wealth, most importantly, enjoy your wealth. And this is, you know, this sheet is a great hiring guide. I think if you’re if you’re in business and you’re going to bring somebody on key person to your company, you better know what you want in that person. You better spell that out. I think it’s important that they know it, because if this is what’s going to get them hired, my hunch is a lack of this is what might get him fired,
Nestor Aparicio 17:23
any understanding of what, what is the job and what are the expectations?
Leonard Raskin 17:27
Right? That’s right, what’s expected. So this was only
Nestor Aparicio 17:31
for me in my life. I had done no hiring in my life in 1998 to be sitting next to David Modell same you know, I knew nothing about the world 29 years ago. You know, all the people I’m charged with firing I get no credit for ever hiring them. I created my competitor. It’s hilarious to have people tell me, you know, after I went out and sweat and carried boxes of signs around Bob haney’s name on it and Rob Long’s day, it’s crazy to me that you wouldn’t respect at least that part of it that I wrote books about this shit
Leonard Raskin 18:01
30 years ago. The fact is, the fact is nobody, not nobody, but a lot of people in my world. Same I hired lots of people. I helped grow lots of people. Help create careers for a lot of people, families and opportunities for a lot of people. And then they even go on their merry way, or you had to separate for whatever reason. I call it a carefrontation. You know, it’s time to move on. You need to do something else.
Nestor Aparicio 18:31
Well, John and Steve have one of those, about $50 million last week in front of the world,
Leonard Raskin 18:35
and then they never talk to you again, and they act like you destroyed their life, when, in fact, if not for the you know, who knows what they’d be doing today? So I get the same thing. And so people know who hired him, they don’t want to talk to who fired him. Hey, look for some people, that’s okay. For other people, that’s that’s, I
Nestor Aparicio 18:53
didn’t do a lot of firing around it. Did a lot more hiring than I ever did firing good, to be really honest with you. But this part of it was, for me, very educational for a 29 year old version of nasty Nestor, who barely had a radio station, was trying to figure sort of writing checks out of a checkbook, but literally small, small Dundalk, my parents didn’t have a business. I, you know, I had lost the radio station around this period of time to like, coming in and coming out. I hadn’t had the idea. I’m trying to think of the timing of all of this, because it’s all very convoluted. And either way, David model put this list in front of me, and we’re talking about this list, and it’s up on my Facebook. It’s it’s actually in the middle of the Steve bishati letter. I’m going to put the better picture of it in there, because I grabbed the screenshot off the off the internet. So part three of the seven parts football, knowledge and philosophy, and I’ll run through these quickly, reliance on fundamentals, offense, defense, special teams, talent evaluation, strength, weakness, innovate, strategy, roots of offense, defense, systems, knowledge and ability to implement. Systems, experience, play calling, interesting and game planning. So there’s 11 football pieces that this would be, all that fans care about, right in the whole list, right? Like, literally, they don’t care if the guy’s an a hole behind closed doors. You know, by the way, this list was put together and I and with all due respect to art and David and even Kevin Byrne and Brian and Ted March, about anybody else, this is the inside skinny on this list. Are you ready? Leonard, you’re sitting down, right? You got your dog? Yeah, this list was put together, and I’ve now it all comes back to me when I’m looking at it. I have to be looking at the piece of paper to get my mind into where I was. Yeah, I was sitting at this round table with David in his office, and Kevin Byrne made no bones about it, 9697 to 98 that Bill Belichick did not get along with anybody in Cleve, anybody, right, right? Anybody and art, David Ozzy, all of them had a very, very negative opinion of Bill Belichick in 1997 and 1998 1999 okay, like, literally, this list was put together. There are probably eight or nine things on here that David and art thought. These are the things that wrecked us in Cleveland at the end, helped us not get a stadium. We had a coach who was a dick. Even when we won, he was miserable. We won. He miserable. This is all in Purple Rain one so I wrote a book denigrating Bill Belichick, and five minutes later, he won 15 championships in a row, and it’s going to the Hall of Fame, and this list, I can cherry pick on this list, the things that the models hated, yeah, about Belichick in regard to communication skills, which we’re going to get to here, personal traits. Personal traits. You know what I mean? Like a lot of this, Belichick was otherworldly, and didn’t need to have that skill set by the time he got to New England in some way, right? Especially when you have a quarterback, right? So the football side of this is what fans are going to talk about this week. Then there’s management skills. Now this relates to anybody that you do business with, or I do business with,
Leonard Raskin 22:14
London, right? Question, no question. When you look at a company, when you’re a business owner, when you’re hiring, firing firing key people. This is what it’s about. So management, skills, attention to detail makes good critical analysis. You know, one of the things I see all the time is, is people that can’t can’t think big, can’t do critical thinking. They can do what they’re told, but they can’t take a step beyond that to do what they could. It’s big, critical decision making ability loves pressure. Wow. Pressure is a privilege. There you go. That’s a big one. Problem Solver loves a challenge. Delegates or micro manager. Now, why? Just dude, we’re 2530
Nestor Aparicio 23:04
32, pieces into this, yeah, and this will kill you. Oh, this business. This is number one, and this is what I’m terrible at. Or, you know, like this will destroy you, right?
Leonard Raskin 23:17
Literally, if a hey, go back up to number graded everything else above, yeah, yeah. Go back to two and three. If you don’t have the people to do two and three, then you feel like you got to do everything in five. And if you can’t delegate or you micromanage people, as a business owner, you’re you’re just tied up and buying the paperclips, Your game is over. Relates well and respects all facets of the organization willing to compromise, how they handle the administrative
Nestor Aparicio 23:47
to compromise. That’s in on Belichick, dude, there’s, there are lines in here that literally were David Modell middle fingers to belittle. We don’t saying we can’t have this again again. Yeah, we can’t do this again, and part of it was March abroad. These were some of the things that they looked at TED and talked about we’re going to get the personal traits about his work ethic, about I was spiritually centered, how he handled adversity, the ego. Ted was egoless, right, like so some of these things we’re going to in a minute. Ted had an abundance at that moment, but Ted had lost his way in other ways, and was tired and older, and it was a caretaker. We all knew that, and they were looking for the next great thing. David Modell was charged with finding Brian Billick with it. He found a Super Bowl coach with this list.
Leonard Raskin 24:38
It is amazing to think of all the years, and you look around the league, and we’ve had three coaches, it’s, it’s stunning. I mean, how many has Cleveland had more coaches or quarterbacks? I don’t know more
Nestor Aparicio 24:54
quarterbacks than this list, 7070, names in this list.
Leonard Raskin 24:57
It’s amazing to me. You look, look at the. These teams that are constantly in reshuffle mode, not rebuild, but just they’re getting along to get along, and how many coaches they’ve had. I don’t care if you have a quarterback, if you have a good team, whatever, these guys and and it blows me away, how they leave one place, go to another place, and just keep getting jobs. It’s time for some fresh blood here.
Nestor Aparicio 25:20
Here, we’re getting to the point here that’s really important. That would be under the football side, how to handle administrative role, where Harbaugh is perceived with the giants as a CEO coach, selection of staff, and this is where to be big dude. Did you notice that Har ball held out over the weekend for a day and a half to get his deal done? Did you notice that? And it was about that triangle of who am I reporting to and who’s picking my coaches? What’s your job and what’s my job? And hardball has a list like this as well, and saying this is all my Chad steel doesn’t work for me. Wink, wink, wink, wink, right?
Leonard Raskin 25:56
Yeah. Well, I would he take a job where he didn’t have power and control, and I’m assuming a guaranteed contract, but I don’t know that what I heard in the media, what I heard was five years, four years, five years, 100 million. That’s correct, that’s correct. So that’s that’s 20 million a year to be a head coach. He was making 17 here. Yes, right. That’s magnificent. And I found it also funny. I did not know this, but I think this is accurate, that he now doesn’t get paid by Steve for the out of his contract. That’s correct. So Steve just saved $50 million correct, which he told he talked about in the press conference. If you recall, he said, I told John, take a year or so off. You’ll still be hot, you’ll you’ll travel, you’ll go away with your wife, you’ll decide if you want to get back into coaching, and they’ll still want you. And and he said, and I’m happy to pay you while you’re figuring that out. And then he said, If you go somewhere else, you know, I’ll be happy to save the money too. How about Steve just putting 50 million back in his pocket?
Nestor Aparicio 27:11
That speaks to the coaches. If you’re hiring a Nate shilas Like a young coach, Yep, he’s gonna be four and a half 5 million a year. If you want, you the guy you don’t want Stefanski. He’s more of a 10 or 12 million a year. If you want John, always 20 million.
Leonard Raskin 27:28
I don’t want McDonald out of Miami, McDaniel. McDaniel. McDaniel. Sorry, McDaniel. Out of Miami. I don’t want him either.
Nestor Aparicio 27:36
It’s amazing the wide scope of salaries that these guys have, yeah, and how guys had an agent that that when they were so hot, Kevin O’Connell, 13 million a year he hadn’t won anything, whereas guys who’ve won, like the Bengals coach, is making 5 million a year because he works for cheap owner, period period, and the Packers report their salary because they’re publicly owned, because he makes 5 million a year. He makes 5 million
Leonard Raskin 28:06
a year. He’s getting a new deal now, right? He’s, you know, if Mike McCarthy
Nestor Aparicio 28:09
gets the deal in Pittsburgh, here’s the God’s own truth. The Steelers can hire Brian Flores for 9 million a year or 10 million a year if they want Mike McCarthy, he’s going to be 18 or 20, a little more, right? So, I mean, and then that speaks to whether you’re a cheap state organization or Dallas, who’s in Dallas, that’s a Schottenheimer, oh, right,
Leonard Raskin 28:33
right, right. McCarthy’s. McCarthy’s,
Nestor Aparicio 28:36
yeah, yeah. He’s, he was waiting for this
Leonard Raskin 28:39
cycle. Yeah, he’s these way. He took a year off, and
Nestor Aparicio 28:41
if he doesn’t get a gig, Harbaugh would come back and say, Belichick sat at you saw that. Went no, right? No no no. Some scandal breaks and I don’t get a gig. No, no, no. I gotta get in the street.
Leonard Raskin 28:52
So he took the Giants, good ownership, strong history, and $100 million
Nestor Aparicio 28:58
let’s get back to this list here, because I want to finish this list. Let’s Let’s go. So selection of staff and recruiter was, were the last parts of the management now we’re going to the second column now, so we’re, you know, about 65% of the way through this. Yep. Part Five is communication skills, and this is all about Belichick, and it’s all that Billick was and all that Harbaugh wasn’t like literally understands and respects role of media. John fails, not combative fail.
Leonard Raskin 29:32
Wait, wait, wait, do you think he failed full tenure, or do you think he failed after?
Nestor Aparicio 29:37
I don’t think he ever understood what we did, because I sat in the office with him. I told the story last week. I sat and had breakfast, and then, after the first year, and I said to him, when you go in and do a press conference, who are you? Who’s your audience? He said, my players, I’m like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Kevin didn’t tell you that. Well, listen to Kevin. Yeah, right, you know, because he didn’t, right? So, non combat. Attitude toward media. I took Billick up on this. You know, Mike Preston wouldn’t appreciate this because he thought I was up Billick sphincter. If he knew how many times I went into Brian and challenged Brian. Brian was like a turd in the media room several times, but one time after a victory, it was kind of a wave, it in your nose, kind of a thing. And I went back to Brian, and I said to him, this is why Brian loved me, for better or worse. Yeah, yeah, I said to Brian, and I used to go back in his little cubicle. He would shower, flop his hair, do his shoes, tie, you know, like, I watched this whole routine talent off, talking to me, brushing his teeth, yelling at me. This is the relationship I have with Brian, yeah, sure, for 10 years, right? So I went into him and I’m like, Dude, that wasn’t any good. He was, well, what do you mean? I’m like, don’t watch yourself on the film. You’re not gonna there wasn’t attractive man, you won. Don’t take it out on Preston, like you won. Like, you know, I mean, I’m a fan in the upper deck, Brian, I’m watching it, right? You don’t want to be a dick. Don’t be a dick, right? I would say that like, you don’t need to be like that, right? And Brian respected that at the time, 25 years ago. Sure you know what I mean, like, literally. So anyway, this is Brian’s list, or the list that got Brian hired. So let me Okay, understands and respects role of community. It’s why Brian was standing in the barn and John Harbaugh never did that. Ever, ever, ever willingness to recruit the community. Okay, speaking skills, John was great at that physical appearance. Oh, John, look good. Goals and objectives. This is part six in
Leonard Raskin 31:53
the Yep. Number one. This is, this is football. E again, this is football. Read them off go ahead, read them off letter, but to the football knowledge. So we got a plan number two, length of time to win. So, and I heard that from Steve in the press conference. You don’t want to wait around. He’s not ready to wait around. He’s got 10 years. He needs two lombardies in 10 years.
Nestor Aparicio 32:16
Length of time to win is right here, right now, with the 60 million coin,
Leonard Raskin 32:19
absolutely okay. Use of the draft, use of free agency, you see young players and use of veterans. I think, I think John did a pretty good job there.
Nestor Aparicio 32:29
100% we want a lot of football games here, dude, absolutely all right. Now here comes the last part. And this is like the part when you’re reading the bio, that’s like hobbies. What, you know, what their wife and dogs names are, you know, like whatever, as you’re petting I see your dog moving my cats. My cat came in the studio. My cat loves you. Leonard, my cat’s never done the show with me before. She’s like, literally asleep, and then the so anyway, personal traits, number one, overriding desire for excellence, key, great personal trait number two exhibits, drive to succeed in all aspects of life. That kind of means well rounded, right? That that would be well rounded, is what we would say here, right?
Leonard Raskin 33:16
Well, that means, that means you don’t necessarily spend 1000 hours in the office. You have a life and it matters. Are you a
Nestor Aparicio 33:22
happy human maybe would be somewhere in there for me, right? Because I can’t, dude, I can’t, I can’t, I can’t pay you enough to make you happy if you’re a miserable. MFR, you know, I can’t, exactly, and that was where they were with Belichick at this point. I mean literally, I keep coming back to this is a Bella check list. And David would have no problem with me bringing that up out loud, because it’s in the book. Yeah, right. Number three, demanding, but fair. I agree with that. Brian Billick was demanding, but fair. John Harbaugh, fair, I wouldn’t put that with John. Number four, home life, wife, kids, their habits, two winners and humans, right? I mean, yeah, there you go. John’s daughter is going to law school. She Yeah, beautiful, wonderful, number five work ethic, yep, if I’m by the way, Rex, Ryan came in with Brian, and I got to know Rex early. You know, I know his dad did the TV show with Buddy. So Rex wanted to meet me. My dad’s told me a lot about you, you know. So Rex would always say, and I wanted, like, I would sit in his office with Patton Mike Pett, and we would literally have ribs wings. I’d stop by the Popeyes out there and bring some chicken in. We’d sit and and Rex would always say, we don’t coach effort around here. We don’t coach effort around here. And there’s a point where, like, as a person who hired people, I heard that in my ear all the time, like, we don’t coach effort, so work you got to bring that. You got to bring work ethic. Number six, spiritually centered, whatever that means to you. Number seven, advocations, okay? Number eight, how to handle adverse. Be number nine ego. And I guess if they were looking for a lot of ego, they got Brian, although Brian, Brian was only egotistical on the front side of it, like the television side behind closed doors, Brian has a whole different accountant. That’s about him. I can’t I that I know attitude, goals and balance. So they’re there in lies a lifetime of wisdom for art modell and David Modell that went into hiring a Super Bowl winning coach, Steve a shot. He did not bring such a list to me, and if he did. He would not share it. I did talk to him in Purple Rain two, and it’s at the front of Baltimore positive in the chapter that I wrote about the low profile and high standards of Steve bishati, that he had his own criteria. You know what? I mean, that was different than this, because obviously this is not the criteria that’s going to hire the next guy, right?
Leonard Raskin 35:59
But it’s damn good criteria, if you look at it, if, I mean, how can you go wrong? You check the boxes here. You’re going to pick a winner, and you’re going to pick a two Baltimore guy, and you’re, I mean, look, this place is small to more for a reason. Clearly, community matters. Clearly players matter. For some reason.
Nestor Aparicio 36:23
Owners stand in front of you who gives him 1000s of dollars a year, yep, 10s of 1000s that they play in London and go to the Super Bowl next year, and he said, the fans don’t matter. That literally said that out loud, like I like, I’m blown away. And I
Leonard Raskin 36:40
know he said it like that. He what he what I heard was, Did you listen to the fans and the booing and the you know, making, did that make your decision, or did that impact your decision? And he said what I heard was that that wasn’t the deciding factor in the decision. But after that, he came back and said, Well, of course, I heard that. Of course I listened to that. He didn’t answer that question. Well, it was contradictory, as I pointed out in my circle back from, yes, he did circle back to, it did matter.
Nestor Aparicio 37:19
Listen, I don’t need to hold him to every single word he says on the podium, but when He only says words every eight years, I’m gonna hold him to every syllable, every syllable, because I don’t. I didn’t get any follow ups, and neither did anybody else. So whatever he said is what he said, and if he wants to correct it, he can come on my show and sit like a human being, not like a billionaire, like the guy he was 25 years ago. Because, as I’ve said, and this is my it took me a little while. And I mean, you and I did a very quick aftermath, right? Like, last time you and I got together was like an hour after the press conference, right, right after. So, okay, I’ve had time to marinate, right? I’ve had time to pray a little bit and meditate, and I’ve done yoga five times since last time I saw you, which is why I look so good. And I I find it to be this. If all we all change in 25 years, I feel like I’m a bit I’m a far better person, yeah, than the person that I met. Hope. So you know, any of the people that I’ve met along life’s highway, in regard to being the bigger man when I’ve needed to be apologize what my wife’s been through, what I’ve been through business, just in living a public life, that’s been very bizarre, where your only value is how many people you how many clicks you get, or whatever. So it’s i i get all the perspective of that, and I get the perspective of I wanted to be rich enough to hide, to own a minor league hockey team and have you be a sweet holder for me over at the new arena. That’s how rich I wanted to be. I wanted to own a minor league that was the greatest other than living on a beach or living on a cliff in San Diego. I don’t know that I had any dreams like that 25 years ago. You handle my money. So you know, I’m not doing that anytime soon, although we’ll lay in a condo. Is still possible for me at some point, if I hit it big in the lottery. But Steve bashatis hit it big at every level. He came into this with three 50 million, then turned it into 650 million, as I wrote in Purple Rain, one that was in this book, and then it’s now worth 6 billion. He’s on a different farm. He bought the team, probably not thinking he was going to leave Merrill because of tax reasons. He’s never around. He’s checked out by his own admission and the arrogance that dripped off of him. And when I talked to somebody, and I don’t want to be profane, but another one of my friends and clients and a person in my world, when we talked about it, they said he had that billionaire begins with a Richard dents with a head energy about him. You know, he had that. He had energy about him. And that’s not the guy I met.
Leonard Raskin 39:57
Well, right? Taking a pee at cold feet.
Nestor Aparicio 40:00
Hill House 30 years ago in the upper deck in Jacksonville, when I sat with him, the guy that picked me up after the Rams Head concert and came to my home and sat in my couch and shown the guitar, the guy that grabbed me at the owners meetings and insisted that I spent two hours in a veranda with Jim Irsay, trying to convince Jim Irsay to give us back like I see that guy from outside now, and I see the way he speaks to people and the way he is on how aggressive he was, Dude, you are a billionaire banning media, people being petty, taking shots at your offensive coordinator on the stage like just not being prepared for the press conference, even though you feel like you don’t need to be prepared. I look at it a week later, I’m just like he is at a different level of everything, in every way, and he’s a billionaire. And Leonard, how much money would it take for you and I to concoct together? You’re my money guy, that if we dreamed up a thing and over the next five years, you could piss me out 10 million, 20 million, 100 million, dude, if you could piss me out 2.7 million in the next 10 years, that I that could be a nest egg that I could give to somebody like you, I would be such an advancedly Happy adjustment. Doesn’t kind individual doesn’t do it. But the money doesn’t matter. The money, doesn’t he? He’s a billionaire, and he comes at it like, I just watched it last week, and to me, it’s sad. To me here’s because it doesn’t feel like he’s having any fun with this sad
Leonard Raskin 41:35
Wait, wait, so, so money, money is a very personal thing, very personal thing. And if you think it’s happiness, it ain’t never happiness. What, what it does for anybody is it amplifies what’s under the under the cover. If you’re a jerk, you become a bigger jerk. If you’re a good person, you become a bigger, a wealthier, better person. If you’re a philanthropist, you become a bigger philanthropist.
Nestor Aparicio 42:03
And by the way, he’s giving all his money away. I Well, that’s what he says. That’s, I mean, he told me that the night he was in my house. I mean, like he’s told everybody, and every philanthropy in this region is lining up to get that money, to get part of $6 billion I mean, it’ll be more, it’ll be more, and he might wind up having a legacy here that rebuilds the city in an incredible way. But, and I hope he does, I really do. I hope he does, but showing up every eight years and acting like it was a it was a gift for wnst to have my employee, who’s chased his team around, and my company’s chasing around for 30 years, and I bought tickets that it was that was, that it was a gift to breathe the same air that Luke could ask one question. That was a good question, according to him. And I don’t, I don’t get it. That was not the dude that came in here 25 years it really
Leonard Raskin 42:57
was, here’s the other here’s the other thing, though, the the higher you get on the scale, from a money standpoint, it you act again, you amplify the act. So if, if he had, and I don’t know, I don’t know if he is, and I don’t know his family, how many married, how many
Nestor Aparicio 43:18
kids are nailing 25 years ago, but I haven’t seen, I’ve never met his children to I don’t know what they know. How many children he has, I’d be guessing, but I think he has two i but I’m not even sure. So, so my, that’s how at like, yeah, it’s probably in my book. But I don’t, I don’t, it’s not.
Leonard Raskin 43:34
My point is this, if, if you get new money, okay, if you’re first generation, and you create wealth, and you’re have new money, you can’t be old money. If you look around the league, for instance, it’s some of the owners and the way they behave.
Nestor Aparicio 43:52
They have two sons, by the way, yes, I’m just reading from which, okay, okay, yes. If you,
Leonard Raskin 43:56
if you look around the league, and you look at some of these owners and how they act and who they are, I think you’ll see that the ones that are old money act differently than the ones that are new money with regards to everything they do and how they are. And Steve can never be old money because he created it all. So he’s got a different thing about him than somebody who’s inherited it.
Nestor Aparicio 44:19
And he’s bad. He got really pissed at lock and for when lock and for calls him an oligarch. Yeah, I made my money. Well, try, you know, but that’s right, that there’s nothing to do with owning the football team or whatever the responsibility a point if what my list would be of what an owner should be, which is show up once a year, be, be a part of our community, even if you’re
Leonard Raskin 44:40
no desire. He has right? Not he has no desire. That’s the thing. And you don’t want, I don’t want him to fake it. I’d rather the integrity of a man that says this is a hobby, but I have to pay attention to it. Then say this is my burning desire, everyday dream. You know, he had that coming out of college, right? You. Mean, who was he? He’s a guy who set up a company to hire people and get him a job in his garage. What he was, that’s what he was, dude.
Nestor Aparicio 45:13
You have no idea how much respect I had that I’ve lost for him, in regard to the bigger you get, the like, the more checked out you are. That doesn’t fall in line with any Oh,
Leonard Raskin 45:24
it was just his choice. It’s not a matter of of look, he could he could have the same amount of money, and he could be an active owner, and he could be there all the time. He could be there after every game. He could be there once a year,
Nestor Aparicio 45:39
every account. He got very fed up with the league and very fed up with all of it when the Ray Rice thing did not reflect well upon him. And that’s the end. He’d be there for the trophy, but not going to be there for the for the car wreck. And that’s really, that’s
Leonard Raskin 45:54
self out and said, I’m going to be an absentee owner. And so
Nestor Aparicio 45:57
he is way the motel family’s been treated in this it’s just, it’s, it’s just, you know, there were two parties for the Super Bowl reunion. Is it coming up? Because, like, that’s where it is. And it’s just, it’s not cool. I don’t know why. Doesn’t have to be that
Leonard Raskin 46:10
modell in the Hall of Fame yet. It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous.
Nestor Aparicio 46:15
I didn’t even realize that art’s not in the Ring of Honor. Of course, he’s right. No, the Hall of Fame, oh, the ball. Well, he can’t affect that. He can’t affect right?
Leonard Raskin 46:23
No, but I’m just saying that should be but things happen. So Steve, as he said, he thought he wanted a gold jacket and some Super Bowls, and he didn’t really care about a gold jacket, and he’d
Nestor Aparicio 46:38
like to have a couple more super that’s it. I mean, at the end of the day, I was a ticket holder, a stakeholder, a community holder. I flew their flag. I flew their flag for believing in them. How can I believe in them when I know stuff about Justin Tucker that I can’t report because I, like, literally, how could, like, at some point they’ve been incredibly dishonest with the citizen in me, the ticket holder in me, the fan in me, and certainly the media member and the business owner and the truth teller in all of this, because I’ve never told a lie about them, because I wouldn’t lie on their behalf, which is one of the reasons they threw me out.
Leonard Raskin 47:17
Yeah, we were gonna cost us when a couple guys accosted us about Tucker and said, leave him alone. He didn’t do anything. We had that, we had that community press.
Nestor Aparicio 47:28
Well, he hasn’t had that. He hasn’t had that. I mean, I don’t think that, and I’ll leave you with this. And it really is, again, my overriding thought on all this is how checked out he is, is when the question started coming in, that it was like, not that he wasn’t prepared for the question, or that he and Chad steel didn’t have like, a talk about it and say, What are the five things I’m going to need to talk about today. It’s literally like no one had ever asked him these questions before. And that’s the really weird part of his power play and the power in the room, and the fact that people are comparing him to like Pacino and Scarface and good fellows on the internet in regard to his demeanor. And I’m like, that’s not really where you want to be compared. You know what? I mean to be in like a heavy, tough guy and all that dude, you’re you own, you own the team. Don’t matter, and like, all of these different things that you’re saying, I didn’t understand. I didn’t understand how he came to the podium and wanted to, like, brawl with four reporters in the front and 80 of his employees in the back of a room on the internet, and even the body language, I still go back to it, and I’m like, Dude, you’re gonna come out once every eight years, at least, come out to recruit me back tell my audience that I’m the jerk from I’m just making all of this up, and You’re this awesome, really cool, hipster owner cares a lot, touchy, no, dude, you’re a dude on a yacht, and you don’t care about any of this other than winning. I want to hold a trophy. I want to sell the team for 10 billion. Yeah? Like, okay, dude, right now, right? And that’s sad.
Leonard Raskin 49:19
That’s Well, that’s what he communicated, and that’s what we got to get a new coach.
Nestor Aparicio 49:25
The only thing worse than owning the team is having to, like, stand in front of my customers and, like, deal with it. Like, literally, that’s what it felt like to me. And I’m like, Who else could get away with this? Like, other than trust, who else can get away
Leonard Raskin 49:39
with that’s what you have when you’re the owner and they gave you 600 million and you get to laugh, yeah.
Nestor Aparicio 49:45
Well, you know, I love the team, I love the
Leonard Raskin 49:47
sport, right? I will see what comes. If this is what leadership is to see,
Nestor Aparicio 49:53
I’m interested. Well, the coach looks like, right? What his what Steve a shot, his list is, and how many.
Leonard Raskin 50:00
These things are not important to him. It’s on him and Eric now.
Nestor Aparicio 50:03
And you know what all? If I had bishati and dicostal on the air right now and Sashi, they would look at that list and claim it’s theirs. They’d say, oh, that list is everything we want. And then they would do, and I would say, how many of these things that horrible not really have that you’re going to bullshit me about that 18 years into this, I’m going to tell you, I know he didn’t have these things, and you’re gonna say he had everything the Giants. He has there, like I keep telling the Giants reporters, Hey man, you know he’s got stress and he’s got weaknesses. Get ready. You know he’s got, well, look, paranoia, and paranoia is the hardest one in the world to deal with. You’re cheating on me. No, I’m not cheating on me. No, I’m not. There’s your paranoia. It’s all over with, right? There’s the end of the relationship.
Leonard Raskin 50:40
We all talk about, everybody talks about the New York media, we’ll find out. Paranoia means you’ll trust people.
Nestor Aparicio 50:46
I get it. There you go. Well, there you go. Hey, you know, like, let’s go back to, you know, leadership number three, lesson number four, right. Delegate, I love you. Raskin global, he’s out there. Go find him. We’re Baltimore positive. Stay with us. Do.
