P. King: Interesting year for coaching changes.

[TheSaint]

Obviously an important issue for Carolina....interesting

It's going to be a very odd year for coaching changes.

You're an owner, and you want to make a coaching change for 2011. Here's what you're thinking about as this disappointing (presumably) season winds down:

1. There's a very good chance the new coach won't have access to the players beginning in March, when a potential lockout would happen. He may not have access to the players until a new labor deal is signed, which seems more and more like it won't happen until at least the summer. And that's being optimistic.

2. The new coach won't be able to work with his new staff very much either, because most teams will put assistant coaches on varying part-time contracts. The new coaches won't be in the building much, if at all, during a work stoppage.

3. The big-name coaches -- Bill Cowher, Jon Gruden -- will be in play. But will you want to lock them in at a big number for 2011 if you're not sure when or if you'll be playing football?

"What all that means,'' one head coach not on the hot seat told me Friday, "is an advantage for the in-house candidate unlike there's ever been. Financially and functionally, the top coordinator makes sense more than it ever has.''

In Minnesota, if Zygi Wilf succumbs to the masses and fires Brad Childress, he's got a reasonably priced defensive coordinator in place, Leslie Frazier, who's already a go-to confidant for many of the players, and the offense would be in good shape with coordinator Darrell Bevell keeping the reins. In Cincinnati, if Marvin Lewis leaves, firebrand Mike Zimmer could ascend to the job, with offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski staying in place. In Dallas, Jason Garrett, who has righted the ship in just two weeks, might make the point moot anyway because owner Jerry Jones already seems to be thinking of giving him a shot to win the job in 2011*. In Carolina, there's not an obvious guy in-house, though owner Jerry Richardson wants to keep the coaching payroll down, so he could think of promoting from within.

*Jones inquired about whether he could make Garrett the permanent coach without opening up the job for interviews after the season. The NFL has a policy, known as the Rooney Rule, that requires each team with a coaching opening to interview at least one minority candidate. And Jones has been told that, whether he intends to hire Garrett or not, he'll have to abide by the Rooney Rule once the season ends.

"I can't imagine what the landscape would be like,'' the current head coach said, "if a new coach walks into his first team meeting on August 11th and says to his team, 'OK, guys, we're switching from the 3-4 to the 4-3, so here's the new defense. And we're going to run the West Coast offense now. We play a game that counts in three weeks. Let's get to work.' I mean, it's impossible. That's why the in-house candidate will be more attractive than ever. When I talk to other coaches, we all see which way it's going. And I'd be surprised if there were a lot of changes that went to guys who planned to come in and change everything.''

I'm hearing more and more that Gruden could live with another year at ESPN -- he has one hard-and-fast year left on his contract there -- but would love to be in play for the right job. I think Cowher would go only to a place where the circumstances were right, and that job might not exist this year. The third-most desirable guy (unless John Fox's star is not totally tarnished by this awful season in Carolina) might be Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh, who I think would love an NFL job someday. This just might not be the day. Even if potential franchise quarterback Andrew Luck leaves Stanford early, the weirdness of the 2011 landscape may make college a lot more desirable in 2011 for Harbaugh.

So add that little wrinkle to what promises to be a year unlike any other in recent NFL history in 2011.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/peter_king/11/21/monday-morning-qb-week-11/index.html#ixzz161go9Z00

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/peter_king/11/21/monday-morning-qb-week-11/index.html

[Jpjr]

Peter King just said on Twitter the Panthers would be crazy not to take Andrew Luck.

That was right after Mike Golic on Mike and Mike this morning said he does not see a franchise quarterback in the 2011 draft class.

Pick your poison. My guess is Jimmy has the rest of the season to show whether he gets another season as starter in Carolina regardless of the coaching change.

[Black]

Peter King had us going deep in the playoffs with Matt Moore leading the way. Disregard his opinions.

[Floppin]

Very few pundits pegged Moore to be as bad as he has been.

[Black]

And even fewer had us making the playoffs.

[Dpantherman]

http://www.carolinahuddle.com/forum/carolina-panthers/50465-peter-king-factors-in-the-lockout-into-2011-coaching-carousel.html

[Floppin]

Predictions are like assholes. How many people had the Cowboys going deep into the playoffs?