By Bob McGinn, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel –
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Eliot Wolf and Brian Gutekunst are in line for significant promotions as part of a reorganization of the Green Bay Packers’ scouting department that is expected be completed by the end of the month.
National Football League sources said Wolf basically will assume the duties of Reggie McKenzie, the team’s director of football operations who departed Jan. 6 to become general manager of the Oakland Raiders.
Gutekunst is expected to be named assistant director of college scouting, the position that opened this week when Shaun Herock was appointed the Raiders’ director of college scouting.
Meanwhile, veteran area scouts Alonzo Highsmith and possibly Sam Seale are being considered for expanded roles by general manager Ted Thompson, according to sources.
Herock was the team’s fourth personnel man in the last three years to depart for a higher-profile job, joining Lenny McGill (assistant college scouting director, Denver), John Schneider (GM, Seattle) and McKenzie.
The manpower drain could have been even worse, but John Dorsey, the team’s director of college scouting, elected not to pursue opportunities to interview for GM jobs in Indianapolis and Chicago this winter, according to sources.
The returns of Dorsey from Seattle as college scouting director in May 2000 and Schneider from Washington as a personnel analyst in March 2002 left the organization top-heavy, according to observers across the league.
But now, the Packers are short-handed, and sources said Thompson is in the process of hiring two new scouts.
One of the newcomers would replace Herock as the area scout in the Midwest.
The other probably would either direct or work in the pro personnel department under the supervision of Thompson and Wolf.
Herock, 41, developed a reputation as a tough, dependable, no-nonsense evaluator. After being hired by GM Ron Wolf in January 1994, he scouted different areas for two years before beginning his 17-year run in the Midwest.
He was given the title of assistant director under the 51-year-old Dorsey by coach-GM Mike Sherman in May 2001.
Eliot Wolf, 30, has worked side-by-side with McKenzie mainly in pro personnel since being hired by Sherman in February 2004. When McKenzie left, Wolf’s duties were expanded to include more responsibility in the draft.
Depending on the title that Thompson comes up with, Wolf will continue in the advisory position on league matters to Thompson that McKenzie and Schneider often served.
He is the son of Ron Wolf, who retired as Packers GM in May 2001.
Gutekunst, 38, was hired by Ron Wolf in January 1999. After two years scouting the East, he has scouted the critical Southeast for 11 years.
“He’s well-respected around the league,” a personnel director for an AFC team said Friday. “Professional. Attentive. He could be a director, but it’s hard to move up in Green Bay. He’s got a positive, engaging personality and works well in group settings.”
It is expected that Gutekunst will be moving to Green Bay from Raleigh, N.C., with his wife and four children. Still, it’s possible he will continue scouting the Southeast.
If Thompson intends to hire a pro personnel man with years of experience scouting players already in the league, there are a host of veterans out of work.
The list includes Clyde Powers, formerly with Indianapolis; Bobby DePaul, Chicago; Will Lewis, Seattle; and John Guy, Buffalo.
Or Thompson might try to entice a pro scout from another team to join the Packers.
The senior-most members of the area scouting staff are Seale, 49, who has been scouting the West Coast since being hired by Ron Wolf in July 1995, and Highsmith, 47, who scouts the Southwest .Wolf brought him aboard in February 1999.
They are being considered for posts that could include some pro scouting and administrative duties.
