Give me a list of coaches we could "afford" to hire

[rayzor]

i dont really think any one would want the job in the condition that the team is in...this is when teams usually hire lame duck coaches...the herm edwards's,the jim mora's,the chan galiey's....if they succeed, which is unlikely...good deal...by the time they completely nose dive someone good in the coaching carousel is available for cheap b/c they have something to prove

this is pretty much an ideal situation for any coach that was interested in building a team his way.

lots of young players without much in the way of long term contracts.

tons of cap space for FAs. very good draft position (with the exception of 2nd round). plus there will be quite a few draft picks to use. we've only lost the 2nd rounder but there are still going to be 10+ picks available.

this isn't ideal for a cowher to come in but that isn't the best route to go anyway.

[Anybodyhome]

"...leads me to think that he might have taken a deeper plunge than he wanted. Definitely deeper than his fans wanted."

I, too, think Jerry went 'all in' and was expecting at least 50% of the teams to follow suit, which they have. There were, of course, those few that decided to go their own way and try to build a championship team (New York Jets, Cleveland, Dallas, Chicago) with free agents.

"Brian Schottenheimer..."

this +1

[rayzor]

When was the last time you saw a team that was in good shape have a head coach opening?

Outside of coaching succession (i.e. Dungy to Caldwell) new coaches are pretty much always taking over bad teams.

true. that kind of goes with the territory.

[Stone]

i see frazier on the side line and he always looks pissed. i like it. i want a coach with some fire.

[methodtoll]

I could give you a couple of key names to keep an eye on this offseason:

1) Leslie Frazier, DC, Vikings- Outside of Cowher, Gruden, Harbaugh, etc... Frazier's name seems to appear a lot on this forum and the main reason why is that he basically runs the same "tampa 2" defense in Minny as he would here. On top of that, he fits what Richardson would want in a head coach if he is going the Steelers' route which is a hard nose coach that has an aggressive defense and is willing to run the ball to control the clock

2) Mike Zimmer, DC, Bengals- Another defensive Coordinator who would fit the mold here in Carolina. While his defense is a 4-3 scheme, his defense is more aggressive and could fit well with this young core of players. Plus, he could bring over with him Zampaase (sp?) to help out Clausen

3) Ron Meeks, DC, Panthers- I know, I know... Many feel we shouldn't promote from within but just because Meeks would be a head coach wouldn't mean he would be just like Fox. I think he could bring someone from Dungy's staff when he was in Indy to help offensively and continue making that defense stellar.

4) Greg Manusky, DC, 49ers - I know the 49ers are struggling but it isn't because of their defense. While most of the success of the defense has been because of Singletary, I think Manusky has learned a few things that could make him a pretty good head coach. It would be interesting to see how this team adapts to a 3-4 defense.

[Kevin Greene]

Richardson hasn't become a cheap-o, you're really being way too limited in your thinking when you start with that point of view. A cheap-o would have held on to the contracts he's paying out now instead of swallowing the costs and going young.

Coach is also a position where you can get a huge bang for your buck, and he knows that as well. He's also got a history of paying coaches well.

Finally, it's not like coaches make a fortune, especially compared to players.

So to really answer your question, we can afford to hire whoever we want. If you're looking for potential names, I think there's a long thread on this board that can't be more than a few pages down.

For the record, can you point us out some of the contracts of vets JR has swallowed in favor of going young?

[GRWatcher]

When was the last time you saw a team that was in good shape have a head coach opening?

Outside of coaching succession (i.e. Dungy to Caldwell) new coaches are pretty much always taking over bad teams.

I'm not 100% sure but, as a very casual fan of these teams, just off the top of my head .....

Walsh to Seifert in San Francisco

Dungy to Gruden in Tampa Bay

Cowher to Tomlin in Pittsburgh

Landry to Johnson in (uck) Dallas

[Mr. Scot]

I'm not 100% sure but, as a very casual fan of these teams, just off the top of my head .....

Walsh to Seifert in San Francisco - Coaching succession (Walsh retired)

Dungy to Gruden in Tampa Bay

Cowher to Tomlin in Pittsburgh - Coaching succession, but in fairness they were 8-8 Cowher's last year because he stopped caring after he got his ring

Landry to Johnson in (uck) Dallas - Landry's last 3 years were all losing seasons, the final one being 3-13

See above. "Coaching succession" means a successful coach retiring. It happens once in a while, but the majority of coaching changes that happen annually are dismissals.

Johnson to Switzer would have been the better one for Dallas. That one happened because the owner was drunk and said something stupid. Pretty unique situation (though apparently Jerry Jones getting drunk and saying something stupid isn't a one-time deal).

Dungy to Gruden is legitimate, and one of the very few where such a situation has happened. I can't think of a similar situation off the top of my head. Not many owners let go of a coach who's gotten them to the brink of the Super Bowl repeatedly. The Glazers gambit paid off for one season, but after that it was a ticket to mediocrity.

Bottom Line: In about 99.9% of the cases where a team is changing coaches (outside of succession) the team is not in good shape.

After all, if the team were in good shape, why would you want to let a guy go?

[Jangler]

Caldwell is starting to show he sucks as a head coach, but I knew that already.

[mav1234]

Not sure I want Leslie Frazier to be honest. he might be good, but I have some reservations about him. I would rather have Zimmer.

[mj4life]

Not sure I want Leslie Frazier to be honest. he might be good, but I have some reservations about him. I would rather have Zimmer.

Frazier is considered by most league insiders as the best head coaching candidate among coordinators in the league. like dungy before tampa hired him he has been passed over by several teams and it's just a matter of time before someone gives him a shot. his hiring would likely mean that most of the def staff would probably still be here although i think he would prefer a more aggressive approach to the "tampa 2". if he were willing to hire a oc and let him run the offense, might not be a bad choice.

[Catdaddy]

Pee Wee Stokes

[Davidson Deac II]

Caldwell is starting to show he sucks as a head coach, but I knew that already.

True, and I hate it for him, because you would be hard pressed to find a more decent individual.

[Floppin]

Frazier is considered by most league insiders as the best head coaching candidate among coordinators in the league. like dungy before tampa hired him he has been passed over by several teams and it's just a matter of time before someone gives him a shot. his hiring would likely mean that most of the def staff would probably still be here although i think he would prefer a more aggressive approach to the "tampa 2". if he were willing to hire a oc and let him run the offense, might not be a bad choice.

I think the conservative approach to the tampa 2 is a little bit of Fox influence. I think if Meeks had it all his way it would be more aggressive, although this is just speculation.