feel pretty good.
That Brian Flores dismissal as head. Coach of the Miami
Dolphins was not a setback but a setup that he is going to
land on his feet. Hopefully
during his coaching cycle
is reported to be a hot candidate understandably. So
for somebody that's won 19 games. The last two years,
the interview requests are already starting
and Chicago is talking to him about
that vacant. Head coach position, as a cargo coaching
search. That is
being guided in part by Bill polian who head coach, Tony,
Dungy knows quite well, of course, from their super
bowl-winning days in Indianapolis. So coach Dungy
would love to we're still unpacking. The Fallout
from Brian Flores has
firing in Miami. I know you got your ear to the street. I know,
you know, people you talk to people. What do you know? And
what do you think
about what happened
with Brian Flores and wide?
Workout in Miami because that's still
even though we have theories,
it is still a shocker, given
the rebuilding job he done.
No, it was a shock to me and you just don't expect it. You
mentioned 19 wins and two years that's hard to do so you don't
expect it. So
the only thing I can say is there's got to be something
more to the story. It can't be just on wins and losses and
direction of the team. They're getting better. They're
competing. They'd beat the New England, Patriots twice.
That's not a coach, you get rid of unless something else is
going on.
What did you think about just his ability though to go in
there and
and turn that print? I didn't say turn a franchise around and
win a championship. They never got to the playoffs with him,
even though 9 and 8 this year 10 and six last year.
But what did you think about that? Just going around and
Shifting the culture where they could get to a point where not
only. Can they beat the Patriots twice twice? This
year. Brian floors is 4 and 2 versus bill.
Check. What did you think about his ability to just kind of
turn the franchise around a little bit?
Well, I thought the team was definitely going in the right
direction and I'm a voter on the AP Poland, and
I was considering voting for Brian for coach of the year.
I looked yeah, there's some coaches have done some great
things. But Rich passage is stepping in and taking that
situation and taking the Raiders to the playoffs. You
got to give that some consideration, right?
Variable.
Number one seed, with all the injuries that Tennessee's had
but Brian Freud's. You lose seven games in a row and
the kid team doesn't quit. They come on and they get themselves
back in playoff, contention
that to me was remarkable. So
I thought
there's no question you watch their team. They respect him.
They responded to him there. They're
moving in the right direction. So again, it was very much of
a surprise to me
and you look at the reaction from those players that
responded to him. It speaks to they seemed not only shocked
with disappointed
to see Ryan Flores move on. So he mentioned his interview with
the Bears. I wonder and again your carefully monitoring.
The interview cycle is somebody who Advocates on behalf of
black coaches, somebody who holds the league accountable
when it comes to the Rooney Rule practices. I wonder
what what other interviews are than Brian Flores
in Chicago, have caught your eye, or have even encouraged
you about. Maybe it's somebody we need to keep our eye on,
maybe it's a situation
and a fit for a coach
that really stood out to you based on the interviews that
you take a note of so far.
Well, you know, I don't know who's talking to, who Chicago.
And I've been on record. I'd talk about Jim Caldwell and
Jacksonville. I think that's a perfect fit
with a Young quarterback. And you look at Jim Caldwell's
record. All you have to do. Look at Peyton, Manning's
record pre Jim Caldwell post. Jim Caldwell. Look at Matthew
Stafford's numbers after Jim Caldwell got there to Detroit.
Look at Joe Flacco during the Super Bowl year. When Jim
Caldwell was the offensive coordinator matched up with his
other. Years. And what he did, after that, you can see what
Jim does with the Young quarterback. So if I was in
Chicago or
Jacksonville, that'd be one of the first guys, I would call.
Okay,
you have to look at less than car is called. When Chicago,
I like the ring to that. I like to read. I like the Ring of
that. Call Caldwell
you go. That's that's that's the headline. I got you.
I remember when Mike Ditka got hired in Chicago,
and I had coached against Mike in the past and
I just said, I don't know if I
I see this but George Halas at that time. He said, hey, I want
somebody who knows the history of the Bears, somebody who's
passionate about the bears that the Bears is is a big deal to
them
and Mike did could fit in
perfectly there.
Okay, Leslie Frazier is a guy who knows the history of
Chicago. He knows what wins he knows good defense and
Leslie. Frazier has been in a situation now where they took
a Young quarterback in Buffalo and watched Josh Allen mature
and they built the team around him and Leslie
has that Chicago background, he's got a Super Bowl ring from
the Bears. He knows how that team is supposed to function.
So that's another guy that I would look at and there's a ton
of good candidates. I live here
in Tampa. And yes, Bruce Arians has done a tremendous job here.
But all Bruce talks about is Byron Leftwich and Todd Bowles
and maybe one of those guys is already set to step in when
Bruce retires here. I don't know that
but I would talk to those two guys, two
championship pedigree.
They'd been around it.
It
done it done a great job. So there's a number of guys who
we've got to keep an eye out for and I just hope these teams
actually really go through the process, take their time,
investigate. Look at the candidates, and don't just say,
hey, I'm going to pick the guy from the Super Bowl winning
team or I'm going to pick this guy because he's a known
commodity.
I like the way you said that coach. He said go through
the process, you hope these teams do it. And unfortunately,
we have to have the Rooney Rule in place because some teams
without it. I mean even with it, some teams records are not
necessarily great when it comes to,
you know, broadening the field. Broadening the search and
hiring diverse candidates, but
how do you know,
from your experience? How do you know, if a team is serious
about its interviewing process? Because they can bring you in
and still not be serious. How do you know is you're sitting
there?
Hey, they're really taking me seriously.
You really don't know.
You hope you get a chance to really impress someone.
I remember one of the first interviews I had
I was a young coach still in my early 30s and the Green Bay
Packers had an opening and I was surprised. I got a call and
went through the whole process and it was great for me,
a learning experience, and answering questions and trying
to formulate my my program,
but then I asked the guy at the end
of the interview I said hey. What exactly? Are you looking
for?
And he said, well,
really? What we want
is somebody with head coaching experience
and somebody who's really strong on the offensive side of
the ball.
And I thought to myself, why am I here? You want? An offensive
coordinator has been a head coach. I'm 33 years old. I've
never been a head coach and I coach defense. Why am I here?
Are you really
serious about this?
So you just don't know and they can go through the process and
I'm Fortunately, I think that's what some teams have done. They
said we've got this, Rooney Rule. We've got an interview
certain people, but we really know who we're going to hire.
We know, we're going to hire Urban Meyer. We may have
15 different interviews, but we really aren't serious about it.
We're hiring Urban Meyer, but then you have other people that
go through the process. When I got the job
and Tampa. I was not the first candidate and I went through
three or four different interviews with them and took
a long time. We didn't make the playoffs that year in Minnesota
and I think First interview was kind of late December, and it
was toward the
end of January before I got hired. But they knew me by that
time. I knew them and it ended up being a good fit but teams
have to slow down to have to not worry about looking. Like
they didn't get their first choice. You know, that
was part of the deal when I got to Tampa. They wanted Steve
Spurrier. He didn't take the job. They want to Jimmie
Johnson. He went to Miami, so hey look too bad. We got our
third choice, our fourth choice for our family.
Fifth choice, but if you get the right guy, it doesn't matter.
Coach. I love to
go into the process of marriages,
you know, because the the word that was tossed around when
Brian Flores was let go, was relationships or lack thereof,
right? But you look at
Chicago and Minnesota clean house gym and head coach
starting from scratch, right,
but then you guys Jacksonville, retains Trent baalke. We know
the fans aren't happy about that. Miami still has Chris
Greer.
He's the common denominator. All these changes
and then even in New York Joe judge. And I know you'd never
advocate for a colleague or fellow coach to lose his job.
But they've got them on retires.
What is the thought process of what should be the thought
process? Because I'm like, if you got a head coach, that is
struggling
with it. Maybe it's because of the general manager, who knows,
but to bring in another general manager, who was going to be,
who's going to have to inherit that head coach, just feels
like the wrong.
Wrong way to build your organization, like, either you together
or you're not at the top. Like, what's your thought process
on that particular process of pairing?
You know, it's difficult. If you're not winning to sell that
to the the community to sell that to the fans to sell that
to the team. Hey, we've got a head coach here and we think
he's really good. He hasn't really one,
but we think he's good. Now. We're going to bring in
a new GM to work with him and it's going to be
roses, you know, hopefully it works out a lot of times. It
doesn't work that way.
I'll tell you though, I can speak from experience.
I stepped into two situations where the general manager was
there and it wasn't a clean.
Operation in Tampa, they hadn't won for a long time and there
was questions also, can they Scout? You know, they've made
mistakes. They have had busting the dress, Rich McKay. How good
is he? Well, Rich. McKay was very good.
And I ended up you talk about a marriage. I ended up being
the right person for them
and we had a great relationship and we won
it doesn't. Yeah, and I Bill polian had a track record. He'd
put together Super Bowl winning teams. And but again,
the marriage was good. I was someone that bill wanted. We
worked well.
Together. And that's what it's all about. Whether one guy is
there whether you come together is got to be
where you and the general manager can work together as
a unit. It's got to be a good marriage or it's not going to
work.
Well, I guess the if we're going to stick with
the marriage analogy, the Pittsburgh Steelers, that would
be marriage goals
because they State they get in a relationship and they just
never leave. Okay, that's it. Yeah, and you look at Mike
Tomlin. We're big fans until death do us part, right? Yeah,
that's right. That's it. That's it.
And we love Tomlin on this show
Coach and not only are they in the playoffs. But once again,
Mike Tomlin steam has a winning record. He's never had a losing
record as a head coach. I just want to ask you as a Hall of
Famer. Can you just put that in perspective? We know just from
the outside looking in. Hey, that's pretty good. But
could you take us a little deeper and tell us how
unusual that is? And what that means?
It is difficult to go through a career and not have a losing
record.
Mike had the benefit of not taking over a downtrodden
franchise. So when he got to Pittsburgh, he didn't have to
rebuild it. So that's a plus. But
I think the thing that
Maybe gets underestimated about Mike when they have a down
year, when they have an off year. It's nine and seven, you
know, a lot of teams would kill for that type of year and
that's an off year in Pittsburgh. So
there's something to be said for that. And I know people
want, they want a Super Bowl every year, and that type of
thing. But in the Steelers organization, they have a way
of doing things and they're not going to worry about
the occasional
off year. They know they've got a good coach. They know they've
got a great system and we're going to stick with it. No
matter how frustrated the fans get no matter. What everybody
else says,
and what that does
is that lets your players know. Hey, we're playing for this
coach, because guess what? He's going to be here. So don't
think
he's not, you've got to adjust the him and that helps everybody.
You're right. It's much like marriage. There's no blueprint
every relationship
arranged marriage,
you know stability. Everybody's is different. What works in
your house then working my coach. We appreciate Hall of
Fame. Coach. Tony Dungy, football night in America.
Throne of God. You thank you so much for the knowledge
and I will see you soon. We'll see how in LA.
All right. Looking forward to it, guys.
All right. Thank you.
Thank you.