UNCrules2187

So what I'm reading is, if we had conducted a second interview with, say, Macdonald on Monday and hired Canales on Tuesday, you'd be fine with it? I suppose I understand doing due diligence, but I don't really feel all that up in arms about moving on it now rather than 4 days later. Maybe Dave and Dan decided Canales was their guy and didn't want to have a repeat of what happened last season with Johnson pulling out of the process the night before his interview. I think given what by all accounts was reportedly Tepper's hard on for Johnson, there's a reason they didn't wait until he was available for a second interview.

Who were you hoping to get? Let's assume Ben Johnson has already bowed out. For me, I wasn't a fan of Vrabel, felt like he was an overrated HC. I wanted Harbaugh (think you made pretty clear you didn't). Mike Macdonald I think is an intriguing candidate and would've loved to see him get a second interview, but then again he also only has one year (this year) of NFL DC experience. Not sure what his plan for OC coming in (and for what he would do if that OC got poached in year 1/2) would be. I don't think Monken ever made much sense for a variety of reasons (mostly mediocre results except for when he had 5 star talent at UGA and an MVP QB in Lamar). I was never on the Belichick or Quinn train personally. Slowik I'd have been okay with, but you have a similar situation with Canales and only one year of OC experience. Bengals moved quickly on Callahan. After that you're pretty much left with Morris or Evero if not Canales.

Yes, because one game defines the entire tenure. Thank god we didn't end up with Ben Johnson who could only muster 6 points vs the Ravens and 13 points vs the Bears.

I understand the sentiment, but I think it's pretty likely Johnson through his agent/back channels already let it be known he's not coming here. Monken would be intriguing but there's no Lamar Jackson here. I like Mike Macdonald as well but the only team that has requested a second interview with him is the Falcons who are seemingly doing a second interview with every single candidate (and I would bet they hire a HC pretty shortly here).

Yep, I'm sure it is. I just think the experience thing isn't really a knock. We tried the college route, we tried the retread route, now we're trying to young hotshot OC route. There is no sure thing.

Current head coaches who had either one year of coordinator experience or less than that: Zac Taylor, Bengals (no coordinator experience) Kevin Stefanksi, Browns (one year as Vikings OC; had a 3-game interim stint season prior) Mike Tomlin, Steelers (one year as Vikings DC prior to landing Steelers HC gig) Dan Campbell, Lions (no coordinator experience; 12 game interim HC stint in 2015, six years prior to landing Detroit HC gig) Mike McDaniel, Dolphins (one year as 49ers OC, was not playcaller) This hire ultimately may be a colossal failure, but it's not like experience is a prerequisite to success.

Bro, please go touch grass. It’s gonna be ok. Frazier would be a Dungy link who is Canales’ mentor

I wonder if Carroll comes over as a senior advisor type figure - he hired Canales at USC and brought him over to Seattle when he took the HC job there. Canales worked under him for 9 years.

Who would you have preferred be the hire? In any case, will be interesting to track how the first time HCs do this upcoming season.

Matt LaFleur's offense ranked 27th in the league when he got the Packers job, safe to say that one worked out? Like I said, pros and cons to anyone that will be hired. There was no slam dunk (well, except Harbaugh), even Ben Johnson.

His offense also just orchestrated an average of 27.5ppg across two playoff games??

I have no clue if this will work out or not. Every single HC hire is a crapshoot. The only guy I think is a sure thing on the circuit this year is Harbaugh and I wanted him, but given that apparently wasn’t an option, I’m not going to be too high or low on anyone that got hired.

And even less of a guarantee that a former HC would work out either, hell we just tried that last season. Check this out: https://thecapisfake.com/2023/07/13/should-nfl-teams-hire-retread-head-coaches/

Ben Johnson - no HC experience Brian Callahan - no HC experience Jerrod Mayo - no HC experience Antonio Pierce - interim HC, only other HC experience on HS level

If we keep Evero on board I'm pretty ok with this

Honestly the only hire I would have truly been excited about is Harbaugh, but either he or Tepper or both of them didn't want it to happen. All of the OC candidates, including Johnson, could be massive flops, and I don't feel all that jealous about the Pats, Raiders, or Titans hires. But I remember being excited about the Rhule hire and, to a lesser extent, thinking Reich would be able to right the ship, and those were both massive disasters, so wtf do I know.

The one reason I lean Ben Johnson or Dave Canales is still the same though - offensive continuity. Forget where I read, but every single team has or will have a different OC than they did during the 2022 regular season. If you're an OC, you get 2 years, and either you're great and get hired as a HC or you suck and get fired. HCs that are playcallers have a leg up here. Also I don't understand folks who think Canales doesn't have enough experience given guys like LaFleur, Ben Johnson as a candidate last year, hell even Mike Tomlin were playcalling coordinators for only one year before being hired/strongly considered as HC candidates.

Yeah folks just want to wallow in misery. I get it, the past 6 years have sucked, but being so negative has to be exhausting. We didn't even give Brian Johnson (Eagles OC) a 1st interview. Vrabel isn't high on my personal preference list, but he's a real bonafide candidate, honestly I'd be fine with any of Evero, Canales, or Morris getting the gig if Ben Johnson doesn't want to come here.

Haven't read through the thread, but am I the only one that honestly would prefer either Canales or Morris to Vrabel?

Posted in another thread, but what makes a candidate "qualified"? Was Matt LaFleur who had one year of playcalling experience directing the 27th ranked scoring offense a qualified candidate when the Packers hired him? Was Zac Taylor a qualified candidate when he was most immediately the QB coach for the Rams when hired by the Bengals? Was Dan Campbell a qualified candidate when he was the TE coach for the Saints when he was hired by the Lions? Hell, was Ben Johnson a supposed qualified candidate last offseason with one year as an OC (like Canales this offseason)?

I agree, just saying I don't know if 6 spot difference should be that much of a knock on Canales. And with rookie phenom QBs, it's hard to tell how much is the coordinator vs the QB himself (a la Cam, Luck, Mahomes, Burrow, etc). The difference between 14 and 20 was only 4.6% whereas the difference between 14 and 12 was 5.2% alone so they were closer performance wise than the raw rankings might suggest.

https://www.joebucsfan.com/2024/01/is-tony-dungy-selling-dave-canales-to-carolina/ edit: Bucs fans in the comments are hoping the Glazers dump Bowles and promote Canales to HC rather than see him go to Carolina

The benefit to hiring a Canales is you can likely keep Evero as DC assuming he doesn't land a HC position. Saw earlier he was mentioned as a DC candidate for the Packers as he has a connection to Matt Lafleur.

I think it's actually more likely for a HC to be announced first given Panthers need to interview one external minority or female candidate for a newly created senior executive role before they can hire Tilis. Haven't seen any mention of an interview there. After the Canales and Morris interviews, Panthers are free and clear to hire whoever they want as HC. I'd like to wait to for in-person second interviews with Ben Johnson and Monken/Macdonald as well, but wouldn't be surprised if Johnson at least has tacitly communicated via his agent that he isn't interested in moving forward with the Panthers (all speculation on my part).