Tag: hired

Saints have a deal with Klint Kubiak to become their new offensive coordinator

NFL Network reports the Saints have a deal with Klint Kubiak to become their new offensive coordinator. All is left now is to put pens to paper:

There we go. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports that the New Orleans Saints have a deal with Klint Kubiak to become their new offensive coordinator. All that’s left now is to put pens to paper and formalize the arrangement. Look for the Saints to make an official announcement on Kubiak’s hire in the days ahead.

Kubiak, who turns 37 this week, already brings a lot of NFL experience. He’s worked in the league since 2013 and has called plays for both the Minnesota Vikings (during the 2021 season as their offensive coordinator) and the Denver Broncos (late in the 2022 season after Nathaniel Hackett gave up the responsibility). He most recently worked with the San Francisco 49ers as their passing game specialist under head coach Kyle Shanahan.

And Kubiak is bringing new assistants with him — the Saints are going to experience heavy turnover on the offensive side of the ball with new coaches working with the quarterbacks, offensive line, wide receivers, and running backs. It’s going to be a new system for the first time in some fans’ lifetimes. And given the team’s poor performance in recent years, this change was needed.

[lawrence-auto-related count=4]

Two former Saints assistants reunite with Ryan Nielson

Two ex-New Orleans Saints coaches reunited with Ryan Nielson on the Jacksonville Jaguars: Kris Richard and Cory Robinson

Former New Orleans Saints co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach Ryan Nielsen was recently hired by the Jacksonville Jaguars to be their new defensive coordinator. And it’s shaping up for a very familiar defensive coaching staff in Jacksonville; Nielsen has been quick to reunite with two former Saints colleagues.

Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 has reported the hiring of Kris Richard by the Jaguars. Richard was most recently the co-defensive coordinator (alongside Nielsen) and secondary coach for the Saints in 2022. Before that he was the defensive coordinator for the Seahawks and defensive passing game coordinator for the Cowboys. He did not coach in 2023.

Nielsen also recently added Cory Robinson to the defensive staff as well. Robinson was mostly recently an analyst for the Tennessee Volunteers, but was a part of the 2021-2022 Saints staff with both Nielsen and Richard where he worked as an assistant defensive backs coach. With speculation swirling that Saints star cornerback Marshon Lattimore could be traded this offseason, the Jaguars suddenly look like a possible suitor given all these coaching connections and their bottom-8 finish in both passing yards allowed and touchdown passes yielded in 2023.

[lawrence-auto-related count=4]

Buccaneers to hire Seahawks QB coach Dave Canales as new OC

After interviewing numerous candidates, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are hiring Seahawks QB coach Dave Canales as their offensive coordinator.

The Seattle Seahawks will be losing a member of their coaching staff to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported Wednesday night that Tampa Bay is hiring Seahawks quarterbacks coach, Dave Canales, to be the Buccaneers’ new offensive coordinator.

Canales had interviewed with Tampa Bay in person on Tuesday, the 10th candidate to do so since the Buccaneers and Byron Leftwich parted ways.

After spending the 2009 season at USC with Pete Carroll, Canales joined the Seahawks organization in 2010 as a wide receivers coach and spent eight years in the position before he was promoted to quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator.

[lawrence-related id=101125]

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbycpfe4qgv9nf6 player_id=01eqbvhghtkmz2182d image=]

Kellen Moore expresses excitement over joining Chargers’ coaching staff

Kellen Moore left no doubt about his excitement to join the Chargers in his introductory press conference on Wednesday.

The Chargers hired Kellen Moore to fill their offensive coordinator role this week. Moore spoke to the media on Wednesday in his introductory press conference with the team.

Among other things, Moore clarified that he seeks to be a pivotal figure in the Chargers’ success for years to come and laid out his strategy to revolutionize Los Angeles’ offense. He praised the staff that head coach Brandon Staley has put together ahead of the 2023 season and made a point to let reporters know how he feels about his new role.

“Brandon [Staley] and I have been able to talk through this over the course of the last few days,” Moore explained. “I just love the way he really likes this offensive staff. Every interaction that I’ve had, I’ve really enjoyed. I’m really excited to work with these guys.

“I’m really excited to work with this group. It sounds like a fun, interactive, collaborative group. Certainly, we’ll go through the process from a quarterbacks coach standpoint. That’s the one that’s available right now. We’ll go through that process together and find what suits our team best and, certainly, what suits [QB] Justin [Herbert] best.”

Based on Moore’s comments, it seems like most of the offensive staff will stay in place. But there is an opening for the quarterbacks coach position, a void left by Shane Day. Additionally, with an emphasis being placed on the run game, the Chargers could look to hire a run game coordinator.

Moore’s top priority with the Chargers will be finding a way to best utilize Herbert’s skillset as one of the NFL’s most promising young quarterbacks. Paired with Moore’s innovative offense and a roster chock-full of talented veterans on his side of the ball, Herbert could be in for the best season of his career in 2023.

Saints need more than continuity for Dennis Allen’s tenure to find success

The Saints need more than continuity for Dennis Allen to find success. Change isn’t always a bad thing, especially for their bad offense:

[sendtonews_embed video_id=”jKQx8M3hG3-1778263-7498″]

Congratulations to Dennis Allen on winning the New Orleans Saints head coaching job. The longtime Saints defensive coordinator was the favorite to replace Sean Payton upon his sudden retirement, and none of the candidates they met with were able to sway team leadership into going in a different direction.

That’s because Allen offers something no one else on staff or outside the building could bring to the table: continuity. He’s one of the longest-tenured coaches on the team, and the defense he’s built and maintained has been their strongest unit over the last few years. If he can keep them playing at a high level, they should continue to be competitive moving forwards.

But there’s the problem. The Saints need more than continuity to get back in the playoffs next year. If they just trot out more of the same — a vicious defense and opportunistic special teams squad, hamstrung by a talent-poor offense — they’ll be back on the outside looking in.

So it’ll be fascinating to see what Allen’s plan is to get the Saints offense looking more like what fans are used to. Maybe that means acquiring another Hall of Fame quarterback (because that’s so easy, right?). Maybe it means shaking things up on the offensive coaching staff and bringing in some fresh sets of eyes. Or it could be as simple as pouring resources into that side of the depth chart and hoping they turns into upgrades. Knowing the always-aggressive Saints, we might see a mix of all three approaches. Let’s hope it works out.

Good is the enemy of great. If the Saints look at themselves in the mirror and assume that Michael Thomas will be just as effective two years removed from injury, or that a post-ACL Jameis Winston is a lock to bounce back and take a next step, or that the offensive line depth chart is fine as it is, they risk running into trouble. They can’t afford to be complacent.

Change isn’t always a bad thing, and it’s something Allen needs to embrace where it matters most. The Saints offense was league-average at best in most categories last season, only really standing out in red zone execution during Winston’s early run as a starter. Once he went down, their production in that area nosedived, too. They can’t just run it back with everyone and hope for better luck with injuries.

If it’s time to move on from some position coaches or shuffle responsibilities on the weaker side of the ball, so be it. Maybe some players get offloaded, too. Allen isn’t just responsible for the defense anymore. If he can’t get the New Orleans offense back on track, his tenure may be doomed before it even gets off the ground. That starts with figuring out — quickly — who he wants under center. Now that the Saints have their head coach, they’ve got to go get their quarterback.

[listicle id=65612]

Former Notre Dame assistant a Florida possibility?

Will this former Notre Dame assistant soon be a head coach?

In a shocking turn of events from the end of September when Florida was 3-1 with their only blemish being a two-point loss against mighty Alabama, the Gators went just 2-5 since and fired Dan Mullen before their regular season finale against Florida State this week.

Where does Florida now turn for their next head coach?

Adam Dubbin of Gators Wire has put together a list of candidates for Florida to pursue and on it is a recent Notre Dame assistant and current Texas A&M defensive coordinator, Mike Elko.

Says Dubbin of Elko:

Jimbo Fisher made a big splash when he got Elko, the defensive coordinator at Notre Dame, to follow him to College Station in 2018. Elko, 44, is considered one of the up-and-coming coaches in college football, and given the fact that he is leading his best defense, which ranks in the top 10, expect his name to come up quite a bit during the coaching carousel this offseason.

Elko is a good coach and could be a candidate for jobs like TCU, but given the importance of this hire for UF, it seems unlikely it chooses to go with a first-time head coach.

I’m with Adam in that line of thinking.  I also remember the last time Florida hired a defensive coordinator from a Texas program who didn’t have any head coach experience and I can’t imagine doing that again would go over too well in Gator country.

Related:

See the latest on all FBS college football coaching hirings and firings in our 2021 coaching tracker

College football head coaching tracker

Rank these jobs from best to worst and give us a reason why…

It’s already been a busy off-season of coaching changes in college football and we’re still two weeks from the regular season actually drawing to a close.  With Justin Fuente’s announced firing from Virginia Tech there have now already been 12 head college football coaches fired since the season began.

Some are staying on to finish the year while others technically resigned, but the the fact remains there will be at least 12 different head coaches in college football’s FBS when the 2022 season begins late next summer.

Here at Fighting Irish Wire we’re certainly not expecting Brian Kelly to be exiting anytime soon, even if Kirk Herbstreit has him on a plane to Southern California, but we certainly would be curious about a Kelly assistant getting a chance at a head coaching job.

Below is our tracker of all FBS coaching changes that will be updated through the fall and into the early parts of 2022.

Detroit Lions hire Todd Wash as DL coach, plus 3 more assistant coaches

The Detroit Lions announced that they have hired Todd Wash as their defensive line coach, as well as three other assistant coaches.

The Detroit Lions announced that they have hired former Jacksonville Jaguars defensive coordinator Todd Wash as their defensive line coach, Seth Ryan as an assistant wide receiver coach, as well as Kelvin Shepard and Brian Duker as defensive assistants.

“Wash joins the Lions as the team’s defensive line coach in 2021, his 26th season as a coach and his 15th in the NFL,” the Lions said in a press release. “Wash spent the last eight seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars, originally joining the staff as a defensive line coach/run game coordinator in 2013 and serving as the defensive coordinator from 2016-20.”

Wash’s is now the second former defensive coordinator to join the Lions’ staff to coach under first-time coordinator Aaron Glenn — 47-year veteran Dom Capers was hired last weekend as a senior defensive assistant.

What’s most intriguing about the hiring of Wash is that all of his NFL experience is in coaching four-man defensive lines. That suggests the Lions will indeed be shifting their scheme to more of a one-gapping defensive front.

“Ryan joins the Lions as the team’s assistant wide receivers coach in 2021 after spending the past four seasons (2017-20) with the Los Angeles Chargers, serving as a coaching intern from 2017-18 and an offensive quality control coach from 2019-20,” the Lions said.

Ryan was hired into the Chargers organization by new Lions offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn. When Lynn was in Buffalo, he was an assistant head coach/running backs coach/offensive coordinator under Rex Ryan — Seth Ryan’s dad.

But the younger Ryan isn’t coasting on his father’s name. “In his stint in L.A., Ryan worked primarily with the team’s wide receivers and helped guide WRs Mike Williams and Keenan Allen (three) to 1,000-yard seasons in that span,” the Lions continued. “Allen made the Pro Bowl in all four years working with Ryan and produced a franchise-record 104 receptions in 2019. Ryan was a wide receiver at Clemson from 2013-16 and helped the Tigers win the 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship.”

At this time, the Lions have yet to hire a wide receiver’s coach, but several names have been rumored to be connected to the Lions including former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receivers Hines Ward (with the Jets in 2020) and Antwaan Randel El (who is coaching with Tampa Bay in this weekend’s Super Bowl).

Sheppard’s hiring was leaked out this past weekend, but his role was unknown until today.

“Sheppard joins the Lions as a defensive assistant in 2021, his first position as an NFL coach,” the Lions said. “He was originally selected by the Buffalo Bills in the third round (68th overall) of the 2011 NFL Draft out of LSU and split eight seasons (2011-18) with the Bills, Indianapolis Colts, Miami Dolphins, New York Giants and Detroit.”

Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic Baltimore tweeted out the Duker news yesterday, but like with Sheppard, his position was not known until today.

“Duker joins the Lions as a defensive assistant in 2021 after spending the last three seasons with the Baltimore Ravens,” the Lions said. “He joined the team in 2018 as defensive staff assistant/coaching analyst, before being promoted in 2019 to coaching analyst – defense. Prior to the Ravens, Duker had stops with the San Francisco 49ers (2016-17) as a defensive analyst and Cleveland Browns (2015-16) as a defensive intern.”

Detroit Lions hire Dom Capers as senior defensive assistant

The Detroit Lions announced that they have hired 47-year coaching veteran Dom Capers as a senior defensive assistant.

The Detroit Lions announced that they have hired veteran coach Dom Capers as a senior defensive assistant.

“Capers enters his 47th season as a coach, including his 35th in the NFL,” the Lions said in a press release. “He joins the Lions staff after serving in the same position with the Jacksonville Jaguars (2019) and Minnesota Vikings (2020), respectively.”

Capers got his start as a defensive backs coach, entered the NFL in the mid-1980’s coaching secondaries, and in 1992 he got his first coordinator job with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He has been a defensive coordinator with four different organizations over his career, in Pittsburgh (1992-94), Jacksonville Jaguars (1999-2000) — where he was assistant coach of the year in 1999 –, Miami Dolphins (2006-07), and with the Green Bay Packers (2009-17).

Additionally, Capers was also head coach of the Carolina Panthers (1995-98) — he was AP coach of the year in 1996 — and Houston Texans (2002-05). He was the head coach for both teams during their inaugural seasons in the NFL.

Even more impressive, Capers also has coached four NFL Defensive Players of the Year including, Pat Swilling (Saints linebacker in 1991), Rod Woodson (Steelers corner in1993),  Jason Taylor (Dolphins defensive end in 2006), and Charles Woodson (Packers cornerback/safety in 2009).

Three offseasons ago, Capers turned down a defensive coordinator position with the Cincinnati Bengals and has settled into a senior defensive assistant role.

It’s unclear exactly what Capers’ specific role will be in Detroit, — the nature of the title lends itself to flexibility — but Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn played for him over three seasons while in Houston, and Capers will likely help guide the first-year coordinator in 2021.

Falcons hire Washington’s Kyle Smith as VP of player personnel

The Falcons are hiring Kyle Smith away from Washington, making him the new VP of player personnel.

In a move that will surely frustrate a large portion of the fanbase, the Washington Football Team has lost a key member of the front office. Kyle Smith, the young hotshot VP of player personnel who has been credited with a lot of the young talent that’s been added to Washington’s roster over the past few seasons, is heading to Atlanta.

The Falcons announced on Friday that they have hired Smith as their VP of player personnel.

With the addition of both Martin Mayhew, the new general manager, and Marty Hurney, the new cxecutive VP of football/player personnel, it seemed that Smith was being pushed to the side as Ron Rivera opted to get more experience into the front office. With both Mayhew and Hurney now at Rivera’s sides, there are more than 60 years of front-office experience in Washington.

After letting young coaching talents like Sean McVay, Kyle Shanahan, Matt LaFleur and Kevin O’Connell leave Washington to find greener pastures elsewhere, it makes sense that fans are a bit wary to let Smith leave, especially when they had an open GM spot this offseason.

Nonetheless, it is Rivera who is making these moves, and he’s the one who is still in charge. Losing Smith hurts, but the front office remains in good hands with plenty of experienced talent evaluators.

[listicle id=46380]