But you would've kept Garrett if McCarthy said no.
But he didn't. Also said Rivera was a good option.
No need to think about whether there were other names I would have considered worthy upgrades beyond that.
As we fired Garrett and announced the hire of McCarthy nearly simultaneously, obviously reaching out and securing the upgrade coach worked out well for us.
You are also forgetting, I'm citing waiting for the right coach as generally a good idea... and saying that getting McCarthy may, in hindsight, have worked out rather great for us if it results in a Super Bowl win, as he's likely a better coach than anyone we would have gotten in the time between, say, 2015 and now. But I'm also ceding that this "wait for upgrade" approach could have been applied, say, after 2017 and going hard for Gruden (though again, given hindsight of how things have progressed, I'm much happier to be sitting here with McCarthy today). I also have said many times chasing Reid after even 2012 would have met no opposition from me. I'm not sitting here saying the only acceptable outcome was waiting till 2019 to hire McCarthy (though, again, it may have been the best for us, long term).