Hills of W. Va. may offer Payton sanctuary for success

Well, it is off to West Virginia to see your New Orleans Saints.

Why, West Virginia?

For starters, my guess is that Sean Payton is trying to create the atmosphere of 2006. Camp was held at Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi. This is Millsaps, with a more temperate climate.

At that 2006 camp, Payton’s first as an NFL head coach, he pushed his club hard. He also handed jobs to untested rookies, such as seventh-round draft choice Marques Colston. Seven months later, the Saints played in their first NFC Championship Game.

But, after seven wins in 2007 and eight wins in 2008, the Saints came home for training camp in 2009. That season ended with a Super Bowl championship.

Training camps can get too much credit and too much blame. Often, the same camp can be a perceived plus and minus in consecutive seasons.

In 2000, in the searing heat of Thibodaux, the Saints rallied under first-year head coach Jim Haslett and general manager Randy Mueller. The club won 10 regular-season games and a playoff game.

One year later, a rainy summer chased the Saints indoors at tiny Stopher gym on the Nicholls State campus. Saints officials complained loudly, saying if the state of Louisiana built the club an indoor facility, it would stay home to train. The 2001 team won seven games.

The most important item at training camp is the quality of the team doing the practicing. In 1992, the Saints broke camp in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, on the way to a 12-win season. At the time, that was the most wins in any season in franchise history.

Seven years later, the 1999 Saints broke camp and were terrible. Those Saints won three games in Mike Ditka’s final season as an NFL coach.

The process took three years, but it appears that head coach Sean Payton has retooled his roster after a two-year talent dip. The Saints suffered the malady of many a Super Bowl champion. That is, limited salary cap space. And, the Saints lost a pair of second-round picks as the penalty imposed by the NFL for the alleged bounty scandal.

My guess is the coverage by the news media of those alleged improprieties by Payton and others is still a burr in Payton’s saddle. For the ultra competitive Payton, there will always be scars.

And, therein lies another plus for training in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.

That is, lack of media coverage. Only the regulars in the media will likely attend training camp. For Sean Payton, the less said and written about his team, the better.

It is training camp, at a posh resort, in the middle of the woods. For the ultra-successful and super-controlling head coach of the Saints, what could be better?

Ed Daniels is sports director of ABC26 WGNO. He can be reached at edaniels@clarionherald.org.