Around this time last year, teams with head-coaching vacancies were permitted interview candidates on other staffs. Those interviews could take place during the final two weeks of the regular season, but the guinea pig franchise here — the Jaguars — encountered mixed results regarding early interview summons.
The Jaguars were the only team with a vacancy at this point last year, and they did end up speaking to a few HC candidates — Kellen Moore, Byron Leftwich, Todd Bowles — before the regular season ended. Other candidates — like Dan Quinn, Nathaniel Hackett, Matt Eberflus — opted to bypass the early interview circuit. Hackett and Eberflus waited to interview with the Jags until after their teams’ regular seasons ended; Quinn did not interview. The NFL will pass on this option this year.
The Colts and Panthers will not have a chance to speak with candidates currently on staffs, with CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones reporting owners voted not to renew the process. Last year, the Jags were allowed to request interviews and meet with candidates — so long as the assistants’ teams OK’d it. The Panthers and Colts will need to wait until the regular season ends to conduct interviews with coaches currently under contract.
Carolina and Indianapolis can interview coaches not in the league presently. The Jaguars ended up finding their current HC this way. Doug Pederson interviewed with Jacksonville during Week 17 of last season. Jim Caldwell also met with the team in-season. Jacksonville’s search process ended up lasting into late January, featuring some twists and turns, but Pederson landed the gig.
It will be interesting to see if the Panthers or Colts try to conduct interviews before their interim hires’ auditions end. Steve Wilks and Jeff Saturday are believed to be true candidates to take over on a full-time basis, though no interim HC has earned such a promotion since the Jags changed Doug Marrone‘s title nearly six years ago.
Saturday’s interim appointment generated considerable pushback from the coaching community and media, and the Fritz Pollard Alliance called on the NFL to move interim hires under the Rooney Rule umbrella. That will not happen, at least not this year. Although the NFL has steadily expanded the Rooney Rule in recent years, Jones tweets the league is sticking with its current setup. Teams will not have to interview a minority candidate before naming an interim coach. Teams will still need to meet with two external minority candidates before making a full-time hire, however.
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