Tag: head coaching candidate

Titans get in line to interview Cowboys DC Dan Quinn; Seahawks joining soon?

From @ToddBrock24f7: Tennessee is the 4th team to request an interview with Quinn, but his former Seattle employers are widely expected to show interest, too.

The line for NFL clubs who want to talk to Dan Quinn about their head coaching job is getting longer, and it could soon include one location that’s a sentimental favorite for the Dallas defensive coordinator.

The Tennessee Titans have requested an interview with Quinn, per a Wednesday report from NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. That organization fired Mike Vrabel on Tuesday after six seasons and three playoff berths with the team, just two years removed from his AP Coach of the Year season.

Tennessee joins the Panthers, Commanders, and Chargers in wanting to speak with the 53-year-old Quinn about their new opening, but a fifth- and very intriguing- team could also be joining the chat soon.

With news Wednesday that Pete Carroll is stepping away as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, Quinn’s name immediately surfaced as a presumed front-runner to take over for him.

Quinn did two stints with the Seahawks, the second as their defensive coordinator and architect of the vaunted Legion of Boom defense that propelled Seattle to their first-ever Super Bowl win, for the 2013 season.

Quinn left Seattle following the next year’s Super Bowl loss to become head coach in Atlanta. There, he guided the Falcons to a Super Bowl in five-plus seasons, his last stop before coming to Dallas to join Mike McCarthy’s staff in 2021.

Seattle has not officially requested time with Quinn as of this writing, but it is widely expected that the two sides will have strong mutual interest, especially given that Carroll, Quinn’s former boss, is remaining with the Seahawks front office in a consultant’s role.

Quinn will not be meeting with any interested teams until after the divisional round of the playoffs is complete, per NFL rules. He has repeatedly told reporters that he is focused on taking the Cowboys defense as far as they can go in this postseason and will concern himself with new career opportunities at a more appropriate time.

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Quinn was a popular interview candidate the past two offseasons but chose both times to return to Dallas, where the coordinator said he had “unfinished business” coaching a rising unit that included Micah Parsons, Trevon Diggs, DaRon Bland, DeMarcus Lawrence, Leighton Vander Esch, and others.

Cowboys fans may have already resigned themselves to the notion that the well-loved Quinn will depart for another head coaching job sooner rather than later. With several attractive destinations apparently in play, that possibility seems more likely with each day. The real question now is: where will Quinn choose to go?

And then, which current Cowboys assistant coaches and players will end up following him?

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Carolina Panthers request interview with Cowboys DC Dan Quinn

From @ToddBrock24f7: Quinn has been a popular candidate the past 2 offseasons; the 2-15 Panthers are the first team to ask permission to speak with him in ’24.

Here we go again.

As the 2023 NFL season came to a disappointing close for 18 teams on Sunday, several of them have already started their rebuilding efforts for 2024. For a handful of those clubs, that means hiring a new head coach. And for the third offseason in a row, Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn looks to be a very popular candidate for those job interviews.

The Carolina Panthers have already gotten in line to speak with Quinn about their head coaching vacancy, the team has announced.

Quinn, 53, sat down with several teams both in early 2022 and 2023 and was considered a front-runner for more than one opening, but he returned to Dallas both times, citing “unfinished business” with the Cowboys defense as they pursue a Super Bowl championship.

The Panthers have submitted requests to interview current coordinators on both sides of the ball. Offensive coordinators being courted are Ben Johnson (Lions), Bobby Slowik (Texans), Brian Callahan (Bengals), Frank Smith (Dolphins), Todd Monken (Ravens), and Dave Canales (Buccaneers). Along with Quinn, the Panthers are also eyeing DCs Mike Macdonald (Ravens) and Raheem Morris (Rams).

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Carolina fired head coach Frank Reich after the team won just one of his first 11 games with the organization. Interim coach Chris Tabor went 1-5 the rest of the way. The Panthers fired general manager Scott Fitterer on Monday, the day after the regular season ended. Owner David Tepper was in the spotlight recently for tossing a drink on a fan at an away game in Jacksonville in Week 17; he was fined $300,000 by the league for the incident.

The Panthers have a combined 24-59 record over the past five seasons.

Head coaching interviews with candidates currently employed by other NFL teams may not be conducted in person until after the conclusion of the divisional round of the playoffs.

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Report: Cowboys DC Dan Quinn already being eyed by Chargers for HC opening

From @ToddBrock24f7: The 53-year-old has been a hot interview candidate the past 2 offseasons; he’s one of several experienced names being talked about in L.A.

Christmas was barely a week ago but the Los Angeles Chargers are already putting together a wish list for 2024. And Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn is reportedly on it.

According to CBS Sports NFL insider Josina Anderson, the Chargers are looking at a handful of very experienced and high-profile candidates to be their next head coach, including Quinn.

University of Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh, Commanders assistant head coach/offensive coordinator Eric Bienemy, and Patriots head coach Bill Belichick are “some early names surfacing,” per a Monday post by Anderson on X, formerly Twitter.

Quinn, 53, figures to be hot prospect for head coaching jobs for the third offseason in a row. Six clubs requested interviews with Quinn in 2022, and he was seen as a frontrunner for openings in Denver and Chicago. Once Nathaniel Hackett and Matt Eberflus, respectively, were hired instead, Quinn elected to return to Dallas.

He was considered by the Broncos again in 2023, along with the Colts and Cardinals; Arizona supposedly thought of him as their top candidate. But Quinn once again opted to return to the Cowboys, a Super Bowl-caliber roster with whom he said he had “unfinished business.”

He hopes to now take care of that business with a deep Cowboys postseason run and perhaps the franchise’s first Super Bowl title in over a quarter-century, but he knows that there will likely be more offers on his table soon enough.

“I didn’t want to see anybody else coaching these guys,” Quinn said this week. “That was a big reason for me [to return], knowing that I had unfinished business with them, and I wanted to see that through as much as I could. I absolutely feel that way again. It’s easy to compartmentalize when you stay here now. I live my life in that space anyway, so it’s not as complicated as you might think.”

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Quinn won a Super Bowl with Seattle as the Seahawks’ defensive coordinator and architect of their famed “Legion of Boom” defense. He later went to Super Bowl LI as head coach of the Falcons and compiled an overall record of 46-44 (postseason included) in five-plus seasons in Atlanta.

The Chargers are 5-11 this season with one game left to play. They fired head coach Brandon Staley in mid-December after going 24-24 (and 0-1 in the playoffs) since his 2021 hire; the club is also in the market for a new general manager after having parted ways with Tom Telesco.

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Former Cowboys DC wants to return to coaching in 2024

From @ToddBrock24f7: Mike Zimmer won a title with the Cowboys. Could a return to the sidelines reunite him with Deion Sanders or maybe bring him back to Dallas?

A longtime Cowboys assistant who’s been out of the league for the past two seasons will likely be back on a sideline soon, although which team’s colors he’ll be wearing remains to be seen.

Mike Zimmer worked in Dallas from 1994 through 2006 and was promoted from assistant nickel coach to defensive back coach and then finally, to defensive coordinator along the way. He won a ring with the team for Super Bowl XXX and went on to have DC stints with two other NFL teams before being hired as the Vikings head coach in 2014.

After going 72-46-1 in Minnesota and winning two NFC North crowns, Zimmer was fired in early 2022, bringing an end to his eight-year tenure.

Now 67, Zimmer says he wants to get back into coaching.

“I just think it’s something that’s in your blood. My dad was a high school coach for a long, long time. I love being around the players. I love the challenge of trying to make an organization better,” Zimmer said in a recent interview with NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.

“The biggest thing is I love to teach, I love to coach,” he added. “When I was a head coach, I was always trying to teach players, try to get them better.”

Zimmer will be doing just that next month when he serves as one of the head coaches of the Polynesian Bowl, the collegiate all-star game to be played in Honolulu on Jan. 19. Zimmer will coach Team Mauka (Mountain); his former Cincinnati Bengals boss Marvin Lewis will coach Team Makai (Ocean).

Where Zimmer goes after that game has become a topic of some debate in football circles. He’ll certainly get good, long looks as a head coach, but for the purposes of this exercise, we’ll look at three intriguing possibilities should he be interested in a defensive coordinator job in 2024.

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Report: Cowboys DC Dan Quinn scheduled to interview with Broncos on Friday

Quinn will be 1 of 4 candidates Denver speaks to this week; the interview would fall about 48 hours before a Cowboys/49ers playoff game. | From @ToddBrock24f7

The Cowboys hope they’ll be spending the week recuperating (quickly) from a wild-card win over Tampa Bay and then prepping (quickly) for a trip to San Francisco to play the 49ers in the NFC divisional round.

If that comes to pass, Dallas defensive coordinator Dan Quinn might be adding an extra bit of business to an already-short week.

Mike Klis of Denver’s KUSA-TV and NFL insider Adam Schefter are both reporting that Quinn is set to interview in person for the Broncos’ head coaching vacancy on Friday.

The club has already spoken virtually with University of Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh, as well as face-to-face with former Colts and Lions head coach Jim Caldwell, former Stanford head coach David Shaw, and current Denver defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero.

Now the Broncos have four more interviews on the schedule for this week: Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris and ex-Saints head coach Sean Payton on Tuesday, 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans on Thursday, and then Quinn to close out the work week.

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport claimed over the weekend that Harbaugh, Payton, and Quinn appear to be the “three main candidates” for the job.

Should the Cowboys beat Tampa Bay in the wild-card round Monday night, they will face the 49ers at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. on Sunday evening, with Quinn’s interview taking place less than 72 hours before kickoff.

Quinn was said to have been a finalist for the Broncos’ head coaching position last year; Denver chose to hire Nathaniel Hackett, while Quinn returned to Dallas for a second year as defensive coordinator.

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Report: Cowboys DC Dan Quinn already being eyed in Denver as Broncos fire HC Nathaniel Hackett

Quinn was a finalist for the Denver job in January; his familiarity with QB Russell Wilson could make him a top candidate once again. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Just a day after Christmas, some NFL clubs are already putting together wish lists for next year. And just like this time 12 months ago, Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn figures to be one of the hottest must-haves for teams making a change at head coach.

One of last season’s suitors may already getting back in line.

The Denver Broncos fired Nathaniel Hackett on Monday after just 15 games with the organization. And several reports are already naming Quinn as a potential top candidate.

Quinn interviewed with the Broncos after the team fired Vic Fangio in January. The 2021 NFL Assistant Coach of the Year was reportedly among three finalists for the job and was said to be a favorite of general manager George Paton. Paton will remain in place next season, as per a statement issued by Broncos CEO and co-owner Greg Penner.

Josina Anderson tweeted Monday that Quinn is among the names being discussed internally for the 2023 job.

Paton and Quinn already have history; they were on staff together in Miami in 2005 and 2006, and Quinn reportedly had a “strong interest” in joining forces with Paton in 2015 when Paton was a GM possibility for either the Jets or Bears. Paton ultimately did not pursue either position, and Quinn accepted the head job in Atlanta, where he went on take the Falcons to a Super Bowl.

The Broncos’ statement specifies that Penner will lead this head coaching search “with support” from the ownership group and Paton.

It’s thought that Denver will look for a candidate who can turn things around with quarterback Russell Wilson; Quinn was a defensive coach with Seattle during Wilson’s time there in 2013 and 2014. The two went to back-to-back Super Bowls with the Seahawks in those seasons and won rings for Super Bowl XLVIII.

Anderson went on to suggest that Quinn might also bring Brian Schottenheimer- currently a Cowboys consultant- with him to Denver were he to be hired by the Broncos. Schottenheimer was offensive coordinator in Seattle from 2018 through 2020 and helped guide Wilson to career numbers for the majority of their time together.

Cowboys offensive coordinator Kellen Moore also interviewed with Denver last year, but did not make the first cut of candidates.

A popular interview with several teams this past cycle even as Mike McCarthy was supposedly on the hot seat, Quinn reached out to McCarthy asking if his staying in Dallas would make the work environment worse for both men.

Quinn announced that he would stay on as DC in Dallas just hours after Hackett was announced as the Denver hire on Jan. 27.

Quinn is a vocal proponent of the notion of “being where his feet are,” but he’s also made it clear that he’d like a second crack at being an NFL head coach.

So now with the Broncos position open once again less than 12 months later, Cowboys fans may have to worry about the Mile High City finally luring away the man who’s put the Dallas defense into rarefied air.

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Report: Former Cowboys HC Jason Garrett finalist for job at Stanford

If hired by the Cardinal, we could see fascinating matchups between Garrett and former teammate Deion Sanders, now coaching at Colorado. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Former Cowboys coach Jason Garrett may be heading back to the sidelines and back to school all in one fell swoop.

Garrett is said to be a finalist for the head coaching vacancy at Stanford University, as reported by Stewart Mandel of The Athletic on Thursday. David Shaw, the winningest head coach in the history of the Cardinal, stepped down in late November following a second consecutive 3-9 season.

If Garrett gets the job, it could set up a fascinating clash next fall (and beyond) between Garrett and former Cowboys teammate Deion Sanders, who was just hired to be the next head coach at Colorado, also in the Pac-12 Conference.

Garrett coached the Cowboys from 2010 through the 2019 season, going 85-67 in that time and posting a 2-3 mark in the postseason. From Dallas, Garrett served as offensive coordinator with the Giants for less than two full seasons before being fired.

He was then rumored to be the frontrunner for the head job at Duke, but ultimately was not hired. Instead, Garrett shifted to the broadcast booth, working as an analyst for NBC Sports during USFL games and Notre Dame football games. This fall, he joined the network’s studio show on Sunday nights.

As a player, Garrett went undrafted out of Princeton in 1989. After stints with two CFL squads, he joined the Cowboys, where his father was in the scouting department. Garrett was a backup quarterback for most of his career, but won two Super Bowl rings behind Troy Aikman in the team’s dynasty days.

The highlight of his playing career came in 1994 when he got the start on Thanksgiving Day. The third-stringer improbably threw for over 300 yards and two touchdowns, leading the Cowboys to a dramatic 42-31 comeback win over Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers. Garrett also played for the Giants and spent time on the Buccaneers and Dolphins squads before retiring as a player.

The Athletic reports that, besides Garrett, Stanford is also considering Sacramento State head coach Troy Taylor for its head coaching duties.

According to Pete Thamel of ESPN, Garrett was scheduled to visit the school later this week.

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Report: Cowboys icon Deion Sanders offered HC job at Colorado

Colorado finished 1-10 this year; the Hall of Famer is said to have “legitimate interest” in taking over after 3 seasons at Jackson State. | From @ToddBrock24f7

After bringing tiny Jackson State into the national college football spotlight, Coach Prime is suddenly in the running for a primetime Power Five gig.

Deion Sanders, the 55-year-old Hall of Famer who spent five key seasons as a member of the Dallas Cowboys during the tail end of their dynasty years and helped secure the club’s fifth and most recent Lombardi Trophy, has reportedly been offered the head coaching job at the University of Colorado and has “legitimate interest” in the job.

Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports first broke the story on Saturday.

Sanders took over the 4-8 football program at Jackson State, an HBCU that plays in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, in September 2020. After going 4-3 in an abbreviated COVID season, Sanders led the Tigers to an 11-2 record and a conference title in 2021, winning the Eddie Robinson Award as the top FCS coach along the way.

Last December, Jackson State secured the number one high school recruit in the country, improbably stealing the commitment of defensive back Travis Hunter Jr. away from Sanders’s own alma mater of Florida State and other powerhouse programs.

Jackson State finished the 2022 regular season with an 11-0 mark, the first undefeated season in school history. The conference championship is still to be played.

Earlier in the fall, Sanders was mentioned by many observers as a possible candidate to take over at either Georgia Tech or Arizona State after those schools relieved head coaches of their duties midseason.

Sanders’s son Shedeur is the quarterback at Jackson State; it’s been speculated that if Deion were to take a coaching job elsewhere, Shedeur- a sophomore- could follow.

Colorado went 1-10 in the 2022 season to finish at the bottom of the Pac-12 standings. The school fired Karl Dorrell as head coach in early October after an 0-5 start; offensive coordinator Mike Sanford Jr. has been serving as interim coach since then.

The Buffaloes have finished below .500 in 16 of the last 17 seasons.

Feldman reported Saturday: “I’m told if [Sanders] can go there- and there are people at CU who are optimistic- he would make this program nationally relevant for the first time in a long, long time.”

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Former Cowboys DB shares insight into NFL’s Accelerator program

Aaron Glenn was an NFL CB and the Lions’ current DC, but it was a 2-day meeting in Atlanta that may give him a leg up becoming a head coach. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Most everyone these days claims to have their whole life saved on their phone. For Aaron Glenn, though, his phone may now contain the key to his future as an NFL head coach.

The Lions defensive coordinator and longtime defensive back was one of 60-plus participants in the NFL’s new Front Office Accelerator program, which took place in Atlanta during the league’s recent spring owners’ meeting.

Glenn played for Dallas in 2005 and 2006 under head coach Bill Parcells. He also played for the Jets, Texans, Jaguars, and Saints, and had coaching stops in Cleveland and New Orleans before landing in Detroit on the staff of head coach Dan Campbell, one of his old Cowboys’ teammates.

That’s a lot of experience in a lot of NFL facilities, a lot of up-close-and-personal time with a lot of of coaches and team executives.

But unfortunately, despite a healthy list of business contacts and personal references, Glenn is still at a disadvantage when it comes to climbing the coaching ladder in the NFL.

So the league asked each team to nominate two minority or female assistants- prospective head coach or front office candidates- to attend the spring session. There, they would spend two days meeting and interacting with team owners whom they would otherwise be hard-pressed to get time with.

The Cowboys sent two from their current staff: assistant director of college scouting Chris Vaugh and secondary coach Joe Whitt Jr. This offseason, Whitt received interest from several clubs- Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Seattle, and Baltimore- to be their new defensive coordinator.

He, like Glenn, is thought to be a strong head coach candidate in the very near future.

Peter King shared Glenn’s experience in his latest Football Morning in America column.

Glenn called the program “a really good experience,” one that helped him gain exposure and make solid connections with several team leaders, including the Cowboys’ executive vice president Stephen Jones.

“I had maybe 40 minutes with Stephen Jones,” Glenn said, “and a lot of what we talked about was who was the best NBA player of all time: LeBron, Kobe, or Michael Jordan. I found it amazing, the commonality between me and the majority of these owners on so many things. The only difference is their bank accounts are bigger than mine.”

Glenn says his mindset going in was to be himself, to let the owners get to know his real personality.

“Me coming to the meeting didn’t change anything about me,” Glenn told King. “I feel like I am an NFL head coach. How the owners feel, I can’t answer that. The change now has to be: Do they feel I’m worthy?”

That answer will only come with time, with future coaches’ hiring cycles. Will candidates like Glenn, Whitt, and Vaugh get more interviews? Will they be seriously considered for top openings? Will they get hired as head coaches?

Maybe. Hopefully.

“Is this the answer? No. Is it part of a solution? It may be,” NFL executive VP of football operations Troy Vincent told King. “This is a new day. It’s not about forcing anyone to hire anyone. It’s about exposing good coaches to those who make the calls.”

And if Glenn gets the call, it may ultimately be thanks to a two-day networking event where a room full of up-and-coming football assistants and established team owners got together to shake hands, share experiences, and exchange contact info.

“I not only talked to them, but exchanged personal phone numbers,” Glenn said. “I told my wife, ‘My phone is worth a trillion dollars now.’ Those conversations didn’t have a lot to do with football, [but] who am I as a person, who are they as people.”

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Cowboys OC Kellen Moore to have 2nd interview with Miami on Saturday

Despite the firestorm surrounding the Miami franchise, they’ll sit down with Kellen Moore as 1 of 2 finalists for their head coaching job. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Cowboys offensive coordinator Kellen Moore is set to sit down with the Miami Dolphins on Saturday for his second formal interview regarding their head coaching position.

The Dolphins held a second interview Friday with the other apparent finalist for the job, San Francisco offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel. Also on Friday, the 49ers announced that they had hired rushing-game guru Anthony Lynn as their team’s new assistant head coach. Many around the league took that as a preemptive clue that McDaniel must be, for all intents and purposes, a shoo-in for the Miami gig.

Yet Moore’s interview reportedly remains on the Dolphins’ slate for Saturday.

Moore first met with Miami on Jan. 20; the 33-year-old helmed Dallas to the league’s top ranking in both yards and points.

Brian Flores was fired as Dolphins head coach at the conclusion of the regular season that saw the team go on both a seven-game losing streak and then a seven-game winning streak. While Flores overachieved in three seasons in Miami, the club chalked up his release to poor communication and malfunctioning dynamics with owner Stephen Ross.

In recent days, though, Flores has made allegations that Ross purposely gutted the roster and tanked the team to improve their draft position. He even maintains that Ross offered to pay him a $100,000 bonus for every game the Dolphins lost in 2019 in order to climb in the draft order.

Those troubling allegations and the pending lawsuit will no doubt hang over the Dolphins organization, whoever ends up as their next head coach.

Moore interviewed with multiple teams about a head coaching role over the past few weeks; all but Miami have filled their position with someone else.

“I think he’s ready,” Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy said during the regular season. “My personal opinion- I’ve worked with him for over a year- I think he would be excellent for any head coaching job.”

McCarthy is staying in place with the Cowboys. So is defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, despite being a leading candidate and finalist for several head coaching jobs. Team owner Jerry Jones says he believes Quinn actually had offers on the table, but turned them down to stay in Dallas.

Jones is on record as saying he wants to keep Moore as well.

“I would be upset if Kellen left,” Jones told the Dallas Morning News recently.

With McDaniel supposedly the favorite in Miami, it could come down to how well Moore performs in his interview Saturday.

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