Vainisi still bitter toward McCaskey

PONTIAC, Mich. Jerry Vainisi wouldn't dump on Michael McCaskeythen, and he won't dump on him now.

But there is bitterness.

"I know we were two guys who didn't like each other. If thesituation were reversed, I would have done it, too," Vainisi said ofhis abrupt firing as the general manager by Bear president McCaskeylast January.

"He couldn't coach. And he wasn't a student of playerpersonnel," Vainisi said of McCaskey. "So the only area where hecould really get in and mingle was in the areas I was running. Andhe tried to find fault with everything I did."

The firing, Vainisi could understand. What really irritatedhim, a Vainisi confidant said, was that he felt McCaskey, with theaid of lawyer Don Reuben, tried to trump up a breach-of-contractclaim to avoid paying Vainisi for the last two years of his contract.

Vainisi, who successfully resisted the breach-of-contract claim,has not signed a Lions' contract, so he can revert to his Bear salaryif things don't work out in Detroit, a Lions' source said.

Ironically, what may have been McCaskey's breaking point was theacquisition of Doug Flutie. McCaskey, following player personnelchief Bill Tobin's lead, opposed it.

Coach Mike Ditka and Vainisi wanted Flutie, and Tobin andMcCaskey acquiesced. McCaskey even handled the bulk of thenegotiations in which the Bears acquired the rights to Flutie fromthe Rams.

"Although Michael was the one who actually went ahead and didthe deal, the media blitz that followed was directed at me, not him,"Vainisi said. "I think that really bothered him."

But McCaskey and Vainisi also clashed on policy matters. WhenMcCaskey would make a policy without consulting anyone, Vainisi wouldtry to make him reconsider. They included matters such as no signingbonuses for veterans, and certain incentive clauses.

From what Vainisi says he hears from his old friends in the newBears organization, "They're doing a pretty good job (of workingtogether). They all seem to be on the same page. And Mike (Ditka)says he's working pretty well with (McCaskey), which everybody wouldhave been surprised at.

"I don't know how much of that is Michael trying to show Mikethey can work together, to soften him up for his own contractnegotiations. But Ditka's contract ought to have a very clearstatement of who has responsibility for player personnel and thedraft."