One week since they gave Raheem Morris the boot as head coach, the Glazer family seems to be conducting an exhaustive search for his replacement as Tampa Bay Bucs head coach.
If, by exhaustive, you mean candidates who are exhausted, that is.
The Glazer braintrust has gone from the young and restless regime of 36-year-old Morris to a list of potential successors well into their AARP years — most of whom have been head coaches before, but with no recent glory to show for it.
Clearly, the owners believe that a course correction to the venerable, gray-haired side of the game is badly needed for their inexperienced team.
Let's look at the field that's emerged in the past seven days:
• Former Green Bay Packers head coach and offensive coordinator Mike Sherman, 57, interviewed last week;
• Former Vikings head coach Brad Childress, 55, who was set to be interviewed Monday;
• Wade Phillips, 64, ex-head coach of the Cowboys, Bills, Saints and Broncos, who is down for a Glazer meeting Friday;
• Jerry Gray, 51, Titans defensive coordinator, whom the owners interviewed last week and who, as a minority candidate, keeps the Bucs in line with the Rooney Rule.
• Marty Schottenheimer, 68, who once led the Cleveland Browns to the verge of greatness with Bernie Kosar as his quarterback. Schottenheimer was later fired after going 14-2 in 2006 with San Diego but losing in the second round of the playoffs.
He was also fired by flighty Redskins owner Dan Snyder after an 8-8 finish in his only season on the job in 2001 (to allow Snyder to clear the decks for the ill-fated 'Skins tenure of Steve Spurrier). Most recently, he was employed as head coach/GM of the UFL's Virginia Destroyers.
• Mike Zimmer, 55, defensive coordinator of the Cincinnati Bengals, who didn't exactly cover themselves with glory during a 31-10 blowout loss Saturday to Houston in the wild-card round.
Of that group, Schottenheimer has had by far the most sustained head-coaching success, with a career record of 200-126-1, and maybe he'd bring along his son Brian Schottenheimer, who seems to be on shaky ground as Jets offensive coordinator despite his share of notable accomplishments in New York.
But the senior Schottenheimer is hardly an exciting choice. He hasn't been called "Martinet Marty" for nothing. He has a strict, old-school style that could light a fire under the Bucs, but won't do much to fire about the disenchanted fan base.
As stated before in this space, the Bucs needed to create a "Wow!" factor with their hire — not a "Why?" factor.
Which, once again, leads to why the Glazers apparently haven't added former Ravens head coach Brian Billick, an offensive-minded tactician and a 57-year-old football guy with an actual Super Bowl ring, hasn't been added (at least publicly) to the interview list.
And why didn't they move aggressively to get the attention of former Oilers/Titans head coach Jeff Fisher?
From the looks of things, the Glazers were never particularly interested in pursuing him — perhaps dissuaded by Fisher's apparent interest in the Miami Dolphins and the St. Louis Rams. Miami has suddenly and surprisingly dropped out of the Fisher sweepstakes. That suggests he may be on the verge of locking in with the Rams, possibly this week.
It also should suggest to the Glazers that he's the most desirable candidate in the field this year — a coach with a strong pedigree (a 146-120 career mark as head coach and a near Super Bowl victory in 2000), ample charisma to connect with the fans, a youthful demeanor and football past players can respect as a former USC star with Ronnie Lott and Joey Browner and a defensive back with the Chicago Bears from 1981-84.
Maybe it's too late in the game to get Fisher's attention now. Or maybe he privately communicated to the Glazers that he had no interest in trying to pick up the shattered pieces in Tampa Bay.
But think about this: If Fisher, 52, is interested in the Rams, one of the absolute worst teams in the NFL at 2-14, with a quarterback (Sam Bradford) who doesn't possess nearly the up side of Josh Freeman, wouldn't it stand to reason he'd give the Bucs a look if the Glazers made a good enough case to get his attention?
The Glazers should throw a Hail Mary — and do it now. Be like Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate and race into the church screaming like maniacs and banging on the windows, anything to stop the looming union between Fisher and the Rams.
Or not. They've shown no visible inclination to pursue him, so why expect anything different at this late stage?
They're apparently happy checking off names on their exhaustive list of exhausted names, leaving fans and followers of the team to ask, "Why?"
Is there really already a deal done with Sherman, and is this parade no more than a charade?
