Top NFL coaching candidates: Josh McDaniels highlights rich field
Mike Jones, USA TODAY Sports Published 10:36 a.m. ET Dec. 8, 2017
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As the NFL's regular season winds down and the temperatures of those coaching hot seats intensify, executives for a number of teams have started forming offseason overhaul plans.
The Giants became the first time to make a move after firing both head coach Ben McAdoo and general manager Jerry Reese on Monday. It’s also widely expected that the Bears and Colts also will seek new head coaches this offseason, while the Buccaneers, Bengals and Broncos also could be on the hunt.
Many teams will want to find the next Sean McVay, the promising young offensive mind who infused the Rams with life, or the next Mike Zimmer, a long-time defensive guru who brought stability, leadership and discipline to the Vikings.
Teams also soon will also receive recommendations from the NFL, which has staffers assigned to scouting coaching candidates throughout the year, and the Fritz Pollard Alliance, which recently finalized its slate of minority coach and general manager candidates.
Here are the names being discussed in those NFL circles, according to multiple people with knowledge of such talks. The people spoke on condition of anonymity given the sensitive nature of the hiring process.
First, those with prior head coaching experience (although the list could expand depending on what current coaches get fired):
- Josh McDaniels (offensive coordinator, Patriots) – Viewed as one of the top young offensive minds in the game. He endured two tumultuous seasons in 2009-10 as head coach in Denver before getting fired and returning to New England, where he has repaired his image and helped the team to two more Super Bowl victories.
- Pat Shurmur (offensive coordinator, Vikings) – The former Browns coach has done wonders with a Vikings offense that lost both its top rusher in rookie Dalvin Cook and its starting quarterback in Sam Bradford. He has helped Case Keenum exceed expectations while Minnesota has compiled an eight-game win streak for a 10-2 record, tied for the best mark in the NFC.
- Jim Schwartz (Defensive coordinator, Eagles) – Carson Wentz is an MVP candidate, but Philadelphia wouldn't rank among the league's elite without Schwartz’s work on the Eagles’ defense, now third-best in the league. The former Lions coach is regarded as the top defensive option among candidates with head coaching experience.
- Then comes the crop of would-be first-time head coaches:
- George Edwards (defensive coordinator, Vikings) – In each of the last two seasons, the 50-year-old Edwards has led a top-five defense. This year, his unit ranks second in total yards and points while serving as the backbone of the team.
- Paul Guenther (defensive coordinator, Bengals) – He has made a steady climb from a low-level assistant in 2005 to defensive coordinator starting in 2014. It’s believed that if Cincinnati moves on from Marvin Lewis, Guenther is a leading candidate to replace him.
- Teryl Austin (defensive coordinator, Lions) – Detroit ranks just 26th in total defense this season. But Austin is still viewed as a strong leader and coach. He has interviewed for nine NFL head coaching jobs in the last three offseasons but is still waiting for his chance.
- Matt Patricia (defensive coordinator, Patriots) – Another Belichick disciple, the 43-year-old is in his sixth season as defensive coordinator already. His unit gives up some yards (ranking 28th this year), but every season the Patriots have ranked among the top 10 in scoring defense.
- Frank Reich (offensive coordinator, Eagles) – The former Bills quarterback has helped groom Wentz into one of the league's brightest young passers in just two years. His unit this season ranks among the top 10 in almost every statistical category.
- Harold Goodwin (offensive coordinator, Cardinals) – Injuries have derailed his unit this season, Goodwin has established a reputation as a creative mind.
- Steve Wilks (defensive coordinator, Panthers) – Wilks drew interest when he served as assistant head coach/defensive backs coach. The Panthers promoted him to defensive coordinator, and his group ranks among the league's best.
- Vic Fangio (defensive coordinator, Bears) – For years, Fangio has been regarded as one of the best defensive minds in the game, but he has yet to land a head coaching job. His reserved style leaves some to overlook him. But there’s no denying his talent. If the Bears fire Fox, it might make sense just to promote Fangio, who has gotten a lot out of a young unit, and then bring in a bright play-caller with a track record of developing young quarterbacks to aid rookie Mitchell Trubisky.
- Rick Dennison (offensive coordinator, Bills) – The 59-year-old Dennison is another of the more experienced candidates after spending 10 years as a coordinator in Denver, Houston and now Buffalo.
McDaniels is definitely the biggest name. He already has been linked to the Giants, but he’ll have his pick if he wants to leave New England rather than wait for the possibility of succeeding Bill Belichick. But Patricia is another candidate for that role.
This list features four men of color in Austin, Edwards, Goodwin and Wilks. Edwards is regarded as one of the strongest candidates available. After toiling in the NFL coaching ranks for the last 20 seasons, he could at last get that head coaching shot.
Another interesting development: teams aren't expected to pursue college coaches this year. According to league insiders, the failures of Chip Kelly and other notable figures (Seahawks coach Pete Carroll notwithstanding) have NFL owners and team executives skittish about college hires.
Stanford’s David Shaw is the lone possible exception. However, every year he turns down NFL teams, preferring the teaching opportunities that the college game offers.
Some teams will have to find general manager replacements, and will prefer to make those hires before selecting head coaches. So, while we’re at it, here are the potential general manager candidates being discussed among the ownership and league ranks:
- Nick Caserio – Patriots director player personnel
- Joey Clinkscales – Raiders director of player personnel
- Eric DeCosta – Ravens assistant GM
- Jimmy Raye III – Texans vice president of player personnel/assistant GM
- Brian Gutekunst – Packers director of player personnel
- Doug Williams – Redskins senior VP of player personnel
- Martin Mayhew – 49ers senior personnel executive (Lions GM 2008-15)
- Dave Gettleman – Panthers GM 2013-17
I also am intrigued by the notion of one Art Briles,at least in some offensive capacity.
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The best coach in football is not getting the second chance he craves
By Mac Engel
December 20, 2017 05:52 PM
UPDATED December 20, 2017 10:26 PM
The latest round of firings and hirings in college football are nearly complete, and the best available coach remains gainfully unemployed.
Art Briles can be found in Horseshoe Bay, one hour west of Austin. He won’t work for food, but close.
Briles waits hoping for the phone to ring with the chance he covets, to return to the identity and the routine that is missing from his life.
The question is does Art Briles deserve another chance after leading Baylor into the rabbit hole of hell, or is he the second coming of Dave Bliss?
Incarnate Word University in San Antonio with an enrollment of just under 10,000, making it the largest Catholic school in Texas, is pondering the question right now with its football coaching vacancy.
Per a source close to Briles, he wants the job. He wants a job.
Art Briles has his flaws, but he ain’t Dave Bliss, the disgraced ex-Baylor basketball coach who is one of the biggest, narcissist frauds to ever grace a sideline.
Bliss got his second chance, and again revealed himself during a documentary shoot and resigned from his position as head coach at Southwestern Christian University.
This is not an open lobby for Briles, but merely an acknowledgment that, fundamentally, we all deserve a second chance. However much you might despise Briles, at some point he should be allowed to re-enter his world. With skepticism, and stipulations.
Every other major or minor figure associated with the Baylor scandal moved on but Briles.
Incarnate Word, or a school on a lower level, is the place to start. Word leaked last week that Incarnate Word, which recently fired head coach Larry Kennan, was considering Briles.
Influential booster Red McCombs, whose millions of dollars are evident at Texas and Incarnate Word, went on record to campaign for Briles. According to a report in the San Antonio Express News, however, Briles is not considered a candidate for the job.
Any time a booster as powerful as McCombs says a guy should be candidate, he’s a candidate.
“The man that I know wouldn’t even come close to being the kind of guy those people up in Baylor (painted him out to be),” McCombs told the San Antonio Express News. “I don’t think (BU) handled the job right, but that’s their business, not mine. But what happens to little Incarnate Word is my business. I want them to do well, but I am afraid they are fighting an uphill battle, and this could be their big breakthrough.”
McCombs speaks of Incarnate Word’s ambition to move up the Division I/FCS athletic ladder. Transitions like that are expensive, and the football team usually is awful.
Football at UIW has been around since 2007, and the program moved up Division II to FCS in ’13. The Cardinals were 20-46 in the past six seasons.
McCombs’ forte is business, and he’s smart enough to know the only way the school will generate the return on the investment that is football is to win; that’s why he wants Briles.
Can a private, religious-based school take on a man like Briles, and the initial PR nightmare and migraine?
As time passes, the answer is apparently no. As often as Briles tried to go back into coaching last year, every time his name surfaced at a program the chance died.
The Dallas Cowboys were close to hiring Briles as an offensive consultant, but backed out late in the process. The University of Houston issued a statement saying he was not a candidate. Purdue said no. They all said no.
Briles told friends he never expected to be out of a job this long.
Briles was hired Aug. 28 to be the offensive coordinator of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL in the middle of their winless season; that move lasted 24 hours before the outcry prompted the team, and the league, to reverse the hiring.
To hire Briles, administrators are going to have to put their neck out, and be willing to absorb national criticism. Here is the one thing about that criticism, however: It is loud, full of indignation and it always fades. Every time. Fifteen minutes of fame, or infamy, has been reduced to 15 seconds.
And Briles must eventually do a long, sit-down interview and explain himself and address difficult questions. If he believes he was railroaded by his superiors, he needs to show specific examples of how both he and the school failed.
The only interview he has given on this subject was with ESPN, and it didn’t go well.
Briles wanted to talk to the co-authors of the book, “Violated: Exposing Rape at Baylor University Amid College Football’s Sexual Assault Crisis,” but Baylor said that would be a violation of his buyout.
If he wants to explain himself in an interview, Briles could potentially be in breach of his buyout and risk a lawsuit.
And there is always the chance that nothing he says will help give him the chance he craves. Football might just be saying its moved on.
Whatever the specifics, he was the face of a program that had serious disciplinary issues at a university that was ill-equipped to deal with sexual assault charges. He routinely rolled the dice on players for their talent, and relied on someone else to take care of the discipline.
Not complicated: He who receives the glory, and the vast majority of the cash, shall too receive the blame.
While the particulars of his oversight could be spread to various other people, he had all of the power to accept, and boot, whomever he wanted for any reason. He chose his path, and while everyone at Baylor shares varying degrees of culpability, this is where he sits.
A winning coach remains gainfully unemployed in Horseshoe Bay, waiting for a phone to ring and the second chance he craves.
Fundamentally, we all deserve a second chance, but this one might not come even if it makes sense.
Fuck you @Thorn. Choose a better team. Jerruh sold your soul as part of the package. You're destined for eternal misery.
