There’s been one name consistently popping up as the New Orleans Saints gear up for another head coach search: Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn. That’s nothing new. But this recent report about the forces at work in the Saints’ latest head coach search is concerning.
Longtime NFL insider Tony Pauline reports for Sportskeeda that observers around the league expect Glenn to the get the job, given his relationship with the team and a perceived willingness to accept conditions forced on him by management:
People tell me longtime Saints general manager Mickey Loomis, who has been with the organization since 2000, isn’t going anywhere anytime soon despite the lack of recent success. Loomis doesn’t want a lot of upheaval in the organization and would prefer to keep several of the existing coaches on the staff.
The belief is Glenn would be open to keeping the coaches Loomis wants retained, given his relationship with the organization and general manager, which makes him a perfect fit for the job.
That’s very troubling, if accurate. A new head coach should get to hire his own coaching staff, not accept the holdovers from a team that just lost 11 or 12 games. But Glenn is hoping for his big break as a head coach, and he may be willing to accept demands like this if it means getting the job.
Glenn does have a long history with the Saints. As Pauline said, he finished his playing career with New Orleans in 2008 and returned to the team as defensive backs coach in 2016, a position he held until 2020 when he joined Dan Campbell on the Detroit Lions. He’s also worked as a personnel scout with the New York Jets (the team that drafted him, and who have also expressed interest in him for their head coach opening) for a couple of years, so he has plenty of experience in different roles.
He could be the right man for the job. If Loomis intends on retaining Klint Kubiak and his staff to try and replicate their success from the first two weeks of 2024, and maybe Darren Rizzi and his crew on special teams, Glenn could run the defense. But that’s a flawed strategy. It’s just rehashing the approach that got Dennis Allen fired. They don’t have a quarterback they can win because of, their defense is worn out, and the offensive depth chart is paper-thin. Bigger changes are needed than hiring someone with such a similar resume to the coach they just dismissed.
At some point Loomis needs to accept his window closed when Sean Payton left town. He’s 49-66 without Payton coaching his team. If Loomis can’t come up with better material than this, then team owner Gayle Benson needs to overrule him again like she did when firing Allen. It might be time for Loomis to step down, too.
[lawrence-auto-related count=5]