First time poster...
At this point (conceding Gruden, etc.) my head coaching candidate is
Mike Zimmer, DC for the Bengals. I am probably going to take heat for
this one, but this guy is a coach and it's time for him to be a HC. He
is a coach's son who works hard and he has worked with or under Bill
Parcells, Barry Switzer, Marvin Lewis, etc. Having followed his career I
believe he would make an excellent head choice. I believe he has always
had less talented defenses that he coached up, especially in Dallas in
the early 2000s when they were the #1 Defense in the NFL. His son
coaches at New Orleans. I believe he is a coach that can develop players
and coaches. I think his hire could leave the majority of the staff in
place and bring in others good coaches while maintaining the NFL
pedigree. Reference the Nebraska opportunity below - as a Cowboys fan I
remember this well and he would have been gone if Jerry Jones hadn't
upped his salary to stay.
Coaching career per Wikipedia,
"His first coaching job was as a part-time defensive assistant at the
University of Missouri (1979-80). He then went to Weber State College,
where he was the inside linebackers coach (1981-84), defensive backs
coach (1985-88), and defensive coordinator (1983-88). He then went to
Washington State University (1989-93) as the defensive coordinator and
secondary coach. In 1993, the Cougars finished eighth in the nation in
total defense and second in rushing defense.
He joined the Dallas Cowboys in 1994 as an assistant coach of the nickel
defense under Barry Switzer. He was promoted to defensive backs coach
(1995-99) before being promoted to defensive coordinator in 2000. The
2004 Dallas Cowboys gave up the fewest yards in the NFL while running an
aggressive speedy 4-3 defense. Despite the Cowboys' problems over the
years, Zimmer has survived coaching changes (Switzer, Chan Gailey, Dave
Campo, Bill Parcells) and rumored to have been a candidate for the head
coaching job at the University of Nebraska (2003). For the 2005 season,
he implemented the 3-4 defense favored by head coach Parcells, although
Zimmer had no prior experience with it.
When Bobby Petrino was hired to coach the Atlanta Falcons early in 2007,
Mike Zimmer agreed to become the new defensive coordinator in Atlanta.
On January 15th, 2008 Mike became the Defensive Coordinator for the
Cincinnati Bengals.
His wife, Vikki, died at their home on October 8, 2009. Three days later
Zimmer was awarded the game ball by head coach Marvin Lewis after the
team's 17-14 victory over the Baltimore Ravens."
someone