National Football League

Who started the coaching carousel?

Updated Jan. 25, 2023 11:46 a.m. ET

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Anybody who witnessed Mike Singletary jawing on the sidelines with his soon-to-be-benched quarterback Troy Smith, a player he had entrusted the 49ers’ playoff chances with, knew that Jed York had no choice. Singletary had to go. The Hall of Fame player no longer inspired confidence in his players. In fact, he was a detriment to their success.

But what is really unusual, considering the potential for a lame duck NFL 2011 season as a lockout looms with the players, is that team owners are considering more head coaching changes around the league than what was predicted. The general consensus was that teams wouldn’t want to be on the financial hook for two entire coaching staffs when there might not be any players to coach in the offseason based on the lockout threat.

Yes, coaches like Marvin Lewis in Cincinnati and John Fox in Carolina can be easily replaced, considering they are in the final year of their contracts. Lewis may have helped his cause Sunday with an impressive win over the San Diego Chargers, a team that still had playoff aspirations.

There are also the three interim positions in Minnesota, Denver and Dallas to consider. All three of those jobs are definitely in a fluid state with John Elway waiting to be involved with the Broncos while the Vikings could have a lot of personnel turnover, plus the added search for a new quarterback to replace the failed Brett Favre experiment.

On top of that, there have also been failed results in Miami and Houston this season and also major conflicts or differences of opinions in Cleveland and Tennessee. All four of those teams lost on Sunday, adding to the speculation that heads will roll.

If you have been counting the teams, there’s the potential of 10 clubs making major changes at the top.

And you know there will be some fans screaming for the head of Tom Coughlin with the Giants and also Norv Turner with the Chargers. But I really don’t see those organizations cutting either one of those veteran coaches loose.

It was only two seasons ago — 2009 — when NFL owners made eight new coaching hires and already one of them (Denver’s Josh McDaniels) has been fired. Since the 2008 season, 14 franchises have changed their coaches and front offices and it sure looks like that trend is going to continue whether there is a new agreement with the players’ union or not.

The first option with a lot of these clubs should be finding the right general manager to help with the selection of the next coach. San Francisco seems intent on following that course and the names at the top of their list should be veteran personnel men like Atlanta’s Les Snead, Minnesota’s George Paton, Green Bay’s John Dorsey, the Giants’ Marc Ross and Baltimore’s Eric DeCosta.

Of course, the first names to be mentioned in San Francisco will probably be Jon Gruden, the ESPN analyst, and native son Mike Holmgren, who is currently president of the Browns. Gruden had been leaning against returning to the sidelines because of contract conflicts with ESPN, but he has already floated his name out there with the U. of Miami and with a broad selection of coaching jobs to choose from it’s difficult to believe agent Bob Lamont will keep him off the sidelines.

In the Bay area, Stanford is close to upping the ante to almost $3 million to keep Jim Harbaugh from bolting to Michigan or potential NFL locales. In 49ers owner Jed York’s dream world, his most attractive combination might be Harbaugh and his quarterback, Andrew Luck, in some package deal. However, San Francisco isn’t in position to draft Luck, the prohibitive No. 1 pick in next April’s NFL Draft. But those two could solve a lot of issues with York’s rudderless team.

Some say Holmgren may want to coach again. His name is always on the tip of Jerry Jones’ tongue. The two men do have a good rapport and Holmgren has always been intrigued to try the big stage that Dallas provides. There is none bigger in the NFL.

It is this speculation, plus the loss to the Cardinals on Saturday night that is dooming the elevation of Jason Garrett from interim to permanent status with the Cowboys. There is no question that Jones likes Garrett; it’s just that he may need a marquee name to keep filling his new stadium with fans. Before Pat Bowlen hired McDaniels, Jones recommended Garrett to the Denver owner, so you know that Jones will do whatever he can to help Garrett’s future if it’s not in Dallas.

Then there is a broad appeal of current CBS studio analyst Bill Cowher, who never denied the report that he was interested in working for three franchises — the Giants, Dolphins and Texans — even though all three teams don’t currently have an opening. But the one common denominator with those three is that they all have deep-pocket owners who may be willing to pay the former Steelers coach his hefty asking price, most assuredly beginning in the $7 million annual range. Washington’s Mike Shanahan, Seattle’s Pete Carroll and Tennessee’s Jeff Fisher are earning in that ballpark, and New England’s Bill Belichick and Philadelphia’s Andy Reid should be.

Besides Cowher, Gruden and Holmgren, the fourth former Super Bowl coach looking for a potential return is Fox analyst Brian Billick. His career started in San Francisco and there’s no questioning his knowledge of the game. His record in Baltimore was 18 games above .500.

There is no doubt that Minnesota has a strong interest in retaining Leslie Frazier, who would be a strong candidate on the open market. Frazier is ready to be a head coach. There are a number of top assistants like Mike Mularkey with the Falcons and Gregg Williams with the Saints — who face off tonight on Monday Night Football — who failed in their first head coaching gigs but are obviously worthy of a second chance.

In the right organization, experienced coordinators like Chicago’s Mike Martz and Green Bay’s Dom Capers could be appealing. And we all know, despite the Panthers’ sorry record this season, that John Fox is an excellent coach and worthy of consideration. He simply needs a lot better luck at the quarterback position. Also, the names of top assistants like Arizona’s Russ Grimm and Philadelphia’s Sean McDermott have been mentioned to replace Fox in Carolina because their asking price will be right for owner Jerry Richardson.

Although he has had only six winning seasons in 17 years in Tennessee, Fisher would be an attractive candidate should Titans owner Bud Adams allow him to leave because of his strained relationship with quarterback Vince Young. Adams would have to be willing to write Fisher a huge check and also hope that another rich owner like Jones or Houston’s Bob McNair would hire him.

Fisher, co-chairman of the league’s Competition Committee, is a high profile name much like Gruden, Cowher and Holmgren. After we thought a lot of owners would stand down while waiting for a new collective bargaining agreement, there could be a wild bidding process among many teams for their next head coach. The next few weeks should prove to be very enlightening.