Vermeil says goodbye again; Chiefs GM mum on next hire

Quick! Cue the Johnny Mathis music. Dick Vermeil is saying goodbye again.

In what was billed as his last meeting with the media, the retiring coach of the Kansas City Chiefs tried his best to play it straight Tuesday, explaining at the beginning why he would not be mentioning many names.

"Because I get so emotional talking about individual people," he said. "That's just me, and it's tough. I come out in pregame warmups in visiting stadiums and some guy yells, 'Hey, Vermeil, why don't you cry for us?'

"Sooner or later, I get tired of that. But maybe that's me. So today in an attempt to tell the truth, be honest with you and share some good thoughts, I'm purposefully going to leave out as many names as I can."

But the two-time Super Bowl coach just couldn't help his lovable old self. In the next tearful 15 minutes, he mentioned by name in a quivering voice his wife, quarterback, general manager, assistant general manager, assistant strength and conditioning coach, wide receiver, director of football operations, public relations director, assistant public relations director, scout, research coordinator and various other coaches who have called to wish him well, such as Marty Schottenheimer, Mike Shanahan, Bill Walsh and Joe Gibbs.

Also thanked for their support but left unnamed were the stadium security guards, equipment people and groundskeepers.

Making it even more emotional for Vermeil, 69, who was 44-36 in his five years in Kansas City, was the fact that almost everyone he talked about was in the back of the room. And many of them had moist eyes themselves.

"Nobody ever says, 'You know, coach, if you guys hadn't done as great a job you wouldn't have won as many games as you did,' " Vermeil said. "That's not how we're evaluated. We're evaluated on how many games we win, and that's the way it ought to be."

In the meantime, the search for Vermeil's successor was kept under as dark a cloud as general manager Carl Peterson could find. Peterson refused to mention anyone he was considering and declined even to say if he would ask the New York Jets for permission to talk with Herman Edwards, thought to be his No. 1 candidate.

"I'm not going to comment on any of that today, speculation on who I'm talking to, who I may talk to, who I may not talk to," he said. "I would just prefer to keep that confidential. I enjoy listening to your speculations." But he did seem to deny reports that Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops had been in his private box in Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday when the Chiefs closed out the Vermeil era with a victory over Cincinnati.