It’s Monday. That means it’s Tom Coughlin’s turn. The Eagles will reportedly interview him for their head coaching vacancy.
Coughlin won two Super Bowls with the Giants. He’s also 69. He might be the first pick if they were entering a Mahjong tournament in Boca, but you have to wonder if a soon-to-be septuagenarian is a good option for the Eagles. But sure, add him to the list. It’s long and growing longer.
The Eagles’ coaching search is evidently adhering to Little League rules — everyone gets a shot to play. They’ve already interviewed Duce Staley, Pat Shurmur and Ben McAdoo. They brought in Adam Gase and liked him so much they reportedly scheduled a second interview. Gase liked them less; he signed with the Dolphins over the weekend. Weird, right? (A source denied to CSN's Reuben Frank that a second interview was scheduled with Gase. Roob would know. Either way, Gase is gone.)
Bengals defensive coordinator Paul Guenther and Bucs offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter will be the next candidates to meet with the Eagles. According to various reports, Koetter is a favorite to take over for Lovie Smith in Tampa Bay, though.
Who else? Bengals offensive coordinator Hue Jackson is the newest hot name, but apparently the 49ers are in pursuit. Panthers defensive coordinator Sean McDermott expressed interest in the Eagles job. He checks off the Philly Guy/Football Guy criteria, but the Eagles seem less enthused. And besides, the Browns are apparently going after him. Poor McDermott.
There were conflicting reports about whether Jon Gruden wants the gig. And the Eagles met with Andy Reid proxy Doug Pederson over the weekend. If you’re counting, that’s ... a lot of names. In fact, when NFL Network talker Heath Evans made a joke (?) about the Eagles' asking permission to interview Andy Reid, some people bought it. So many names have been floated for the vacancy that it’s getting difficult to distinguish between what’s phony and for real. The other day I got a breathless email from a fan wondering why the Eagles haven’t interviewed Dick Vermeil. He might be the only guy who hasn’t gotten a call — and we probably shouldn’t rule it out yet given how the search has gone.
To be clear, the timing isn’t the thing here. It ultimately doesn’t matter how long the process has taken or how long it will take. What does matter is that the Eagles hire someone they really want. Which is why this whole thing feels a little wonky. It’s fine to be thorough. Due diligence is good. But if you’re interviewing everyone, have you identified anyone?
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Let’s go back to Jeffrey Lurie’s recent press conference. When he was asked about the curious timing surrounding Chip Kelly’s firing — sorry, release; I still can’t get that right — Lurie said there were three reasons. He wanted to spend time talking to the players about what transpired. He wanted to give Kelly time to “view the marketplace” and see what’s “possible in terms of employers.” (He said that part with a straight face, which must have been tough.) And, most important of all, he said it would give the Eagles an advantage as they look for a replacement.
“I wanted to get a jump start on our head coaching search and I knew already what we were going to do,” Lurie said. “I thought having six extra days was pretty important, because as you know, it's a chaotic, rushed schedule when you're looking for a head coach.”
The part about it being rushed and chaotic seems right, but it doesn’t appear the Eagles got a jump start on anything. Does it seem to you that they’ve benefited from those extra six days? More specifically, do you believe they had a specific plan in place? Because the way this search has gone, it feels less like they had an in-order, top-to-bottom wish list than a grab bag of potential candidates.
The last search ultimately failed, but at least the Eagles had a clear idea of what and who they wanted. Chip Kelly was their guy. They got their guy. And if they hadn’t gotten their guy, they probably would have gotten Gus Bradley, who was almost their guy. Whatever you may think about those two men as coaches, the Eagles knew exactly what they set out to accomplish in the last search. That’s not nothing. There’s no guarantee when hiring a coach. No one is certain to fail or succeed. The best any team can do is select someone it really wants before he gets away.
When the Eagles finally hire someone, they’ll swear he’s the coach they wanted all along. Maybe that will be true. Or maybe, after all this searching, he’ll just be a guy who sits in the chair when the music stops.