SCHWARTZ NOT YET GENERATING MUCH BUZZ
Posted by Mike Florio on January 10, 2009, 2:57 p.m.
The media has a formula for identifying the hot head-coaching candidates from the ranks of current NFL coaching staffs.
It goes like this.
1. Who are the best teams?
2. For each of the best teams, is the team known for its offense, its defense, or both?
3. If known for offense, then the offensive coordinator is a candidate for a head-coaching job.
4. If known for defense, then the defensive coordinator is a candidate for a head-coaching job.
5. If known for both, then both.
So, this year, Titans defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz has been pegged by the media as a candidate.
But he has been linked to only half of the six head-coaching vacancies.
As Adam Schefter of NFLN points out, Schwartz has interviewed with the Browns and the Lions. While he has been mentioned as a candidate with the Rams, Schwartz has yet to be interviewed and cant be interviewed again until the Titans playoff run ends.
[UPDATE: As a reader points out in the comments, Schwartz was never actually interviewed by the Browns.]
So what gives? Schwartz is supposed to be one of the hot candidates. But only 33 percent of the teams looking for coaches have interviewed him.
Maybe the people who decide which coaches to hire know something that those of us who compile the list of hot candidates dont.
Or maybe something else is going on this year.
One of the potential dynamics is that, because most of the teams hiring head coaches have front-office personnel in place who presumably hope to retain their power and influence, hot candidates might want more juice than the teams are prepared to give them. And so hot candidates arent as attractive as theyd been in past years.
It also doesnt hurt that there arent any A-list, must-have candidates that multiple teams are clamoring to get under contract.
So the process is moving slowly, and the teams filling these vacancies might take as much time as they need (Chris Mortensen of ESPN suggested that the Lions could wait until February) to find the right man for the job.
In several cities, the right man isnt necessarily the best coach. Its the best coach who wont try to take the place once he enjoys some success."