UNCrules2187

The people shitting on the Reich hire calling him a mediocre coach with a 40-33-1 head coaching record and caping for Wilks to get the job with a career *checks notes* 9-19 head coaching record really amuse me

Nope: After working as an assistant at the University of Iowa, the University of Oregon, and Stanford University,[6] Seifert was hired as head coach at Cornell University. He was fired after going 3–15 in two seasons.[7] He then returned to Stanford in 1977, where he met Bill Walsh. When Walsh moved to the 49ers in 1979, Seifert joined his coaching staff the following year as the team's defensive backs coach. Seifert was promoted to defensive coordinator in 1983. As a 49er assistant, Seifert defenses finished in the top ten in fewest points allowed in each of his six seasons in that capacity: fourth in 1983, first in 1984, second in 1985, third in 1986 and 1987, and eighth in 1988. His final two defenses, 1987 and 1988, finished first and third in fewest yards allowed, respectively. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Seifert

I don't hate Wilks. I think he did an admirable job. I just don't think his philosophy can build a consistent winner in today's NFL. The most telling stat, IMO, is that he went 1-4 when the opposing team scored first (with the one win being the 10-7 snoozer in week 18 vs the Saints). Ground and pound is great when you take a 7-10 point lead, but when others teams can score first or quickly, you need to have a counterpunch, and I just don't think Steve's mentality on that side of the ball will bring that.

Lmao the guy went 6-6 not 12-0

Would love to aggressively go after Fangio now

This isn't entirely true. The only assistant coach hires were DC, OL, and DL coach before McDaniels backed out (DL coach was Mike Phair who ironically was hired as DL coach for one year under Rhule here in Carolina). And I think they'd probably speak highly of Reich for keeping them on when he could've told the Colts he wanted to bring his own guys in. https://www.wthr.com/article/sports/bob-kravitz/kravitz-three-colts-assistants-who-were-hired-and-then-snubbed-by-mcdaniels-are-all-on-board/531-69998711-1215-4448-9754-1757c4838812

This is what I don't get about people saying "well Reich got fired for an inept offense and going 3-5-1." First, he was 3-3-1 and I think the Colts were in maybe 2nd place at the time in the AFC South before Irsay mandated he start Ehlinger. And secondly, yes it seemed like he was on his way to his worst record during his tenure, but that kind of thing happens to all head coaches (except for Mike Tomlin apparently). Don't forget, even Andy Reid went 4-12 and was fired before being scooped up by KC. John Harbaugh went 5-11 in 2015. Sean McVay just went 5-12. Kyle Shanahan went 6-10 in 2020. It happens.

Because he's making gobs of money to sit at home anyway?

To be fair here, it's hard to assess how much a coach is making an average player elite vs a player taking himself to the next level with his own development. It's hard to untangle Belichick's success with Brady, Payton's success with Brees, Reid's success with Mahomes, etc. I think you can clearly point to someone like Kyle Shanahan in being able to elevate the level of play of his signal callers, but even then there are limits to that (Trey Lance has looked like an enormous bust). And like I said, Wentz, who's looked like an average bum under other coaches, had his best years and was playing at an MVP level early in his Philly tenure with Reich as his OC. But I totally understand why folks aren't excited by the hire if that's how it goes. I'll be happy with it if only because it's someone who is an offensive mind and not just a sentimental hire.

I'll admit that if Reich is the hire, it's not sexy or overwhelming. I was in the Ben Johnson or Shane Steichen camp (really moreso I was all in on Ben Johnson but he took himself out of the running - we'll see if that was smart or a mistake a la Leftwich passing on Jacksonville last year). But I do think Reich is well positioned to turn this team around quickly and I think he can be a successful HC. I like that no matter who is QB is, he is aggressive on offense (article here: https://www.espn.com/blog/indianapolis-colts/post/_/id/26647/win-or-lose-colts-coach-frank-reichs-aggressiveness-on-fourth-down-is-here-to-stay). I like that he's spent his time around great QBs in Manning and Rivers and helped prepare both Wentz and Foles to career heights while in Philly. I think he would be great for a rookie QB (I'm hoping that rookie is CJ Stroud honestly). It's not the hot shot OC route, but I think between experience and his chops on the offensive side, it'll be a pretty good hire.

Honestly I think it's probably best for all parties for Wilks to move on if he's not going to be the HC. And if I'm Reich, I'm not trying to be an OC after I get two interviews for the head gig. I'd rather take a year off, collect my paycheck, and probably get hired for a HC role next year when there's more openings. Typically there are 7-8 openings every offseason, this offseason is a bit odd in the sense more jobs didn't come open, but rather coordinators were fired instead. I appreciate what Steve Wilks did for the team this year and his connection to the Carolinas, but I'm not a huge fan of his defensive philosophy and would prefer we go a different route with the DC role.

Wasn’t that Todd guy one of the ones who was claiming Watson to Carolina was a done deal?

Great post, thanks for all the info! BTW, one nit, you have Reich listed as OC for the Eagles twice; think the second one is supposed to say OC of Chargers I believe.

He interviewed for the Arizona HC job as well. Doubt he’s hired as an OC here.

Zero chance, the Eagles would block the move anyway.

That's not at all what it reads like? Sounds like you're twisting the words of "didn't go as hoped" into what you want to believe (that he turned Carolina down in his initial interview?) rather than what most people logically concluded (that the interview, maybe on both sides, didn't go well).

Yep and he was actually pretty respectable for Cleveland - better than Watson at least. Put up 2,600 yards, 12 TDs, 6 INTs in 12 games.

I mean I literally said I'm assuming since he can't interview until next week. But we've heard that Ryans is a top candidate in Houston and Denver and they're not rushing their second round before they can speak with him. Haven't heard any of those sorts of rumblings for Steichen (yet).

While I was hoping Steichen would get a second interview (and he may yet still), it is interesting that he went through the initial rounds with three teams (Carolina, Indy, Houston), and as of now, it doesn't look like anyone was impressed enough to want to include him in their second/final round. Now obviously, I'm just assuming here given he can't even interview until after Sunday, so maybe he will get a second look from Carolina or Indy. Just seems like he didn't quite blow anyone away enough for them to put their search in a holding pattern (compared to a guy like Ryans who's being mentioned as one of the top two candidates in Houston and Denver).

He interviewed Sat, 1/14 virtually. After that coaches who are still alive in the playoffs cannot interview again until after the conference championship games.

Colts did as well but don't see him landing the gig there either. He may end up being back in Philly.

Maybe they went into Steichen's interview thinking he would be one of their frontrunners/preferred choices, but he bombed the interview and then Ben Johnson pulled out, so they pivoted to other candidates.