2013 NFL Coaching Carousel

The Game Room
121

Playcalling isn’t a big deal for me in a head coach, since they shouldn’t be doing it anyway. I would rather snatch up a young OC/DC that’s aggressive with some potential even if they’ve never called their own plays than to hire a guy whose ceiling is known and has bounced around the league. I’d rather take a mysterious hire out of nowhere like Tomlin or Jim (?) Harbaugh if they saw something in them.

Zimmer is interviewing in Cleveland today. I don’t know much about him, except that he gets good performance out of those guys in Cinci. Certainly on the surface it’s more appealing than retreads.

Edit: Chudzinski too. Not sure how he’d be as a head coach, but I like him as a coordinator.

I’d rather have an offensive coach in general, they seem to be more aggressive on the whole.

122

Jets to interview former Bears exec Jerry Angelo for G.M. opening

Haaa hahhaaa hah haha…tears

123

Just to tidy up a little.

Panthers name Dave Gettleman general manager

Chargers announce Tom Telesco is their new general manager

Dave Caldwell, Jags agree in principle

So a handful of GM openings have been filled. Telesco is probably the only one anyone has heard of. His hiring might make Arians an awfully strong possibility here.

There have been a few interesting coaching interviews as well.

Report: Todd Haley interviewing with Cardinals today

Browns break the ice on Zimmer, interviewing today

Chargers interested in Mike Zimmer too

Hell of a defensive coach, he has the stink of coordinator for life to me though. Seems like he’s struggle to deal with all the non-football shit a HC deals with.

Report: Chargers contact Mora

Yikes, there’s a desperate move.

Report: Eagles interested in Brian Kelly

…and the Eagles get played again as another college coach leverages a raise.

Report: Bill Cowher has turned down several coaching interviews

He claims he plans to coach again, wonder what the hell he’s waiting for. One specific job?

Saints announce extension with Sean Payton

And a cheater get paid. That worked out nicely for him.

124

Just got an ESPN text about the Browns hiring Panthers’ OC Rob Chudzinski as head coach.

125

I’m a Browns fan, I’ve been one since the “Kardiac Kids” era. I’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly (and Lord has there been a lot of ugly). I always hope for the best but it has become impossible to be surprised by less than the best.

When Haslem took over the ownership of the team, I was thrilled. It was fairly close to statistically impossible for any billionaire to be as incompetent as Randy Lerner, and I’m not say he is. But I’m starting to get that “here we go again” feeling that any long time Brown’s fan can tell you about but this time it’s with Joe Banner.

The man’s been in a front office position in the league for what, 19 years? I have no doubt that in that time he’s come up with a list of people he respects and would love to work with if given the chance. Rob Chudzinski?

In the post season presser when they officially announced the firing of Shurmer and Heckert they laid out the methodology they were approaching the search for their replacements. They wanted a strong head coach and would delay the GM search until after the coach was in place so as to better tailor the GM’s skills to blend with the head coach. This makes perfect sense if you’re going to land a Chip Kelly or a Nick Saban, someone with a plethora of other options who could reasonably command final decision making authority on the 53 man roster.

Rob Chudzinski is not in a position to be that demanding. In fact, if anything the fact that he’s signed and sealed might now become an impediment in hiring anyone who might make a worthy claim at being an improvement of out previous GM (who I rather liked). But I fear Mike Lombardy is still on speed dial.

Unsourced local radio sports talk rumors have it that Norv Turner might be in line to becoming the new OC and that Dick Jauron is unlikely to be retained as DC. I wont pitch a fit till it all shakes out but,…

Returning to that “here we go again” feeling about Joe Banner. Any Philly fans want to cheer me up on this but I’m starting to fear that after 19 years in the league the number of qualified people who respect him and would love to work with him might be depressingly small.

126

Well, I don’t hate it. Not sure what to think yet. Chud is a good OC. He’s young and aggressive. Not sure if he has the leadership qualities to transfer to HC. I was getting worried it’d be Whisenhunt, so I prefer Chud.

They’re looking at Norv Turner for OC. I have a bad taste in my mouth about him, but maybe that’s just because he’s a bad HC. He’s got a good reputation as OC.

127

The one thing that is driving me nuts is that the rumor is that he’ll switch back to a 3-4. FFS, they change defenses every 3 years right as they’re landing the right personel to run one. No way. Keep Jauron, he’s done a solid job, or get someone that can work with the 4-3. We don’t have the linebackers to run that. Why start off by self inflicting a wound like that?

128

Dallas hires Monte Kiffin as their new DC. Switching back to the 4-3 I guess? Do they keep Ware at OLB or move him to DE?

129

I think I talked myself a little off the ledge about the Chudzinski hiring. He isn’t who I hoped for but I’m willing to give him a shot, not having a say in the matter makes that kinda easy. He made a good impression in his press conference today (Link for those interested). He said all the right things, didn’t say anything stupid and showed some good passion for the position. He also grew up a Brown’s fan which is nice if unimportant.

It will be interesting to see who he lines up for his staff. One rumor has it the expedited timeline of the hire was to ensure Chud was in place before Norv Turner signed elsewhere, if they can bring in Norv then I kinda like who they have on that side of the ball. There’s some talk that Mel Tucker might be targeted to run the defense. He ran a 3-4 when he was here under Romeo but I believe he ran a base 4-3 in Jacksonville. I think the D-line is the strength of our defense and linebacker clearly isn’t so I’d prefer we don’t go to a 3-4 but if Jabaal Sheard could transition to outside LB it might work out either way.

The real question is GM, I think “plan A” was almost not to have one. Give the head coach final say on the roster and hire someone to act as more of a personnel director with Joe Banner working the salary cap. Not sure if this is still the plan. Firing Shurmer was a no brainer and his value verses replacement was clearly negative but Tom Heckert didn’t do a bad job with the draft (Weeden’s fate will pretty much define his legacy), so in some ways this will be the more critical (or criticized) hire. They need to bring in someone as good or better to justify the move. I don’t know who they’re talking to but just in case I have a Mike Lombardy voodoo doll on preorder from Haiti

130

Chud has been growing on me. I don’t see the outrage, other than that they said they were going to make a big splash and I figured they were aiming for Kelly/Saban/Gruden. Chud is relatively unknown, so it means they failed in their quest.

But what were the other good options at this point? Zimmer? Maybe, but you can never really know how a coordinator will translate to HC, so much comes down to behind the scenes stuff that ownership knows that we’d never be privy to. But in general I’m not excited to have yet another defensive coordinator - they’re too conservative by nature, generally.

Trestman? Not seeing a big appeal here. Maybe he’d be a solid head coach, but it seems like a low ceiling. He’s never done anything that remarkable in the NFL.

A retread like Lovie or Wisenhunt? It’s true that a change of scenery may do them good, and they have some success at the NFL level (although Wisenhunt really hasn’t done jack shit without Warner, at least Lovie has some success that seems more of his own making) but I’m not sure I want a burned out retread the first year they were fired from a long term job. I think those sorts of guys should take a year to recharge.

Chud fits my main two requirements - I hope - being offensive minded and aggressive. He’s a good OC. And in fact he was the coach responsible for the only period in the last decade the Browns were fun to watch. He’s done well where he’s been, he’s well regarded, it’s just a complete mystery if he’s got the personality to fit as HC.

It’s also kind of sentimental, but I really like that this is his dream job. Most guys just come to Cleveland for the money - and after the Holmgren assfuckery I’m especially sensitive to it - but Chud truly loves the Browns and if given the choice of any coaching job in the NFL, he’d probably come here. I don’t know if this actually translates to anything practical, but you know he won’t ever lack focus and passion for the job.

His system is good for Weeden, which may salvage him. He made Derek Anderson of all people a pro bowler in 2007. Since I don’t see any fantastic options for replacement QB (the draft doesn’t look fantastic at this point, Alex Smith might be alright but eh), he may be the only coach who came in and said he could win with Weeden. Maybe that’s not a good thing - maybe it’s better just to cut ties and start over now - and if there were a better QB in the draft available to us I’d probably say it was.

In any case, I don’t get the meltdown reactions around Chud. Most of the other best candidates were also untested coordinators, he’s been as successful as most of them.

131

Is anyone surprised that Lovie hasn’t been hired by anyone yet? Heck, I haven’t even heard of many high profile interviews for that matter.

132

Not really. I was hoping the Cowboys would hire him to replace Ryan, but…

133

It is a little interesting. I have a few theories on this (contain your shock).

  1. Every other team in the league came to the same realization that the Bears did (2 years too late IMO) that dynamic offenses are what what win football games in 2013. Lovie proved he both couldn’t a. hire a quality OC, b. draft offensive playmakers and c. develop talent on offense.

  2. Lovie is a duck. He’s a known quantity. All the teams with HC vacancies know that they can grab Lovie when they want him, he’s there for the taking. They are investigating more dynamic/risky choices first operating under the assumption that if they lose out or go sour they can still very credibly get Lovie.

  3. Lovie is a GM killer. I don’t mean that Lovie is going to get a GM fired, actually the opposite in the short term since it would be hard for a owner to be too upset with a GM bringing in a pedigreed guy who is the consummate professional. However, Lovie’s pedigree will mean he’ll probably demand a lot of control over personnel and staffing. If a GM feels that hiring Lovie would ultimately undermine his authority he’s not going to be eager to bring him in.

  4. Lovie is arrogant. This one I’m not real sure of, but as reporters have started loosening up in the wake of his leaving there has been a bunch of talk about Lovie being a bit of a egomaniac. They don’t generally mean that he treats people like shit or is selfish, but more that he’s so certain and confident in his ideas, scheme and culture that he’s not open to criticism, change or flexibility. Basically he’s incapable of self-scouting, being objective and self-critical in a constructive way. Because of this he doesn’t innovate and stagnates. Not sure if this will hurt his ability to get a job since it might be an “inside Halas Hall” thing, but it’s interesting insight.

134

Just read this blog post about the Bears HC search.

Chicago Bears HC candidates to Adam Schefter: Phil Emery most prepared and detailed in interviews

There’s not much meat to the story, but I agree with the conclusion. I was not a fan of Emery’s first draft as a GM but I think this coaching search process has been good. That he’s extremely prepared and detail oriented I think is a major asset and I think it should be viewed as a trait that most HC should desire in their GMs. Cutler has expressed nothing but effusive (for Cutler) praise and confidence in Emery’s ability and process to getting this thing right.

I hope it pans out, certainly being detail oriented doesn’t mean you’ll analyze that information correctly, but I’m at least confident in the process.

This Broncos-Ravens game is of particular interest because the outcome could dictate if McCoy continues to be a candidate for the Bears (and other teams) head coaching spot or not. I suspect that he’s Emery’s favorite and the results of this weekends games will inform who makes his final 3 for next week.

In other news, Brian Kelly makes it known that he’s decided to pass on the NFL entirely like Chip Kelly before him. No shock here.

135

Report: Norv Turner to join Browns

If this is true, that’s some big news. Everyone agrees that Turner is still an excellent offensive coach and a hell of a play caller. I think every team in the league looking for a new PC was hoping that Turner would be their guy. Chudzinski too is considered an excellent playcaller giving the Browns the potential to be really creative and dictate the game offensively.

Even more interesting is that Turner was Chudzinski’s old boss in San Diego before Chud jumped ship to work with the former San Diego DC Rivera when he went to Carolina. Very incestuous little circle here.

Curious to hear from the Browns fans, I’m guessing that this would be very good news.

136

Is there any way that, assuming he doesn’t get hired on as HC anywhere else, he could stay on as Chicago’s DC? Has any head coach in NFL history ever taken a demotion and stayed with the same team?

137

Yep, I’m happy. I’m a little concerned with Chud being the former OC and now first time HC with his old boss working for him - if Turner doesn’t have enough humility that could create a caustic power struggle situation - but assuming they avoid that, I’ve only heard good stuff about Turner as an OC.

Good coordinators turned bad HCs who settle back to being good coordinators have had a lot of success around the league.

138

Jets are begging people to be their GM.

Please get so desperate that you give Mike Lombardi a job and fall on that grenade please.

139

Nope. Zero chance.

However, I’d say the odds are better than 50-50 that Marinelli stays on as DC in order to smooth the transition for the veterans and try and keep the D strong.

ETA: Also, I’m sure there’s a few HCs who came back as Coordinators after a time, but never immediately taking a demotions. Dave Campo, former HC of the Cowboys, is now back as the Secondary coach!

140

Yeah, outside of an interim coach.

The Eagles are talking to Brian Billick. I really hope they hire him; I can’t see him doing well in a second go-around.