The Broncos’ first round of head coaching interviews has reached halftime.
Denver’s search committee, led by CEO Greg Penner, limited shareholder Condoleezza Rice and general manager George Paton conducted interviews with four candidates this week and has four more slated for next week.
At that point, the group will start making decisions about who, if anybody, to talk with a second time. By the time next week is out, it’s possible they will have met with seven of the eight known candidates in person.
A quick recap:
The Broncos interviewed Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh virtually Monday, then their own defensive coordinator, Ejiro Evero, Tuesday in Denver. On Wednesday, a pair of new names popped up when the search committee interviewed former Detroit and Indianapolis head coach Jim Caldwell and also former Stanford head coach David Shaw in California.
Next week, they are slated to interview former New Orleans head coach Sean Payton and Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris on Tuesday in Los Angeles, and then Dallas defensive coordinator Dan Quinn and San Francisco defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans likely late in the week.
Quinn is not eligible to be interviewed until Wednesday at the earliest because the Cowboys’ Wild Card game isn’t until Monday night. Ryans’ 49ers play Saturday at home against Seattle, so one question is whether Denver interviews both men in person or, as they did last year in one situation with Cincinnati’s Brian Callahan and then-Rams coordinator Kevin O’Connell, conducts one virtual and one in-person interview on the same day. Some of that may well depend on if the Cowboys and 49ers advance to the Divisional round of the playoffs.
As the process heats up, so too does the competition. Payton has reportedly also received requests to interview in Arizona and Houston. Evero interviewed with Indianapolis Thursday and is scheduled to meet with the Texans next week.
It also appears Harbaugh’s current employer is fighting to keep him. Michigan president Santa Ono on Thursday afternoon tweeted, “I (am) pleased to share that I have been having very positive and constructive conversations with our Athletic Director and Football Coach. (AD) Warde Manuel and I both want to see Jim Harbaugh stay as the head football coach of the University of Michigan Wolverines.”
Said Harbaugh in another non-committal statement: “I am in full support of President Ono’s message to our fans and appreciate his support of me and the team.”
Other observations after the first week of interviews:
Experience matters
Five of the eight total candidates have NFL head coaching experience and Shaw was in charge at Stanford for 12 seasons until he resigned in November. The only candidates who haven’t been a head coach are Evero, 42, and Ryans, 38, who are also the two youngest in consideration for the job.
“If you have experience, it helps,” Paton said after firing Nathaniel Hackett. “It certainly helps, but it’s not necessary. We are going to keep an open mind through this search.”
Said Penner, “Obviously, the X’s and O’s are important, but we need a strong leader for this organization that’s focused on winning. That starts with culture. It’s instilling a sense of accountability and discipline. … At the starting point, it has to be about culture and leadership. Those characteristics are what we’ll be focused on the most.”
No Hackett profile
Every year the NFL’s candidate lists are filled with sought-after young offensive coordinators and play-callers. This year is no different for the other four teams looking for a coach as names such as Philadelphia offensive coordinator Shane Steichen and Detroit offensive coordinator Ben Johnson start to pile up interview requests. That’s the bill Nathaniel Hackett fit last year in addition to several of the other candidates Denver interviewed.
Not this year for the Broncos. None of the eight candidates is currently an offensive coordinator. Several are noted offensive minds — Caldwell worked with Peyton Manning and several other talented quarterbacks over his career, Harbaugh was himself a quarterback in his playing days and Shaw served as Harbaugh’s offensive coordinator before he became the head man himself at Stanford — but they are all coaching veterans.
Stanford connections
The power of The Tree. Or The Farm. Whatever moniker associated with Stanford, it’s clear the Broncos ownership group has a familiarity level with the school and is using it.
Penner and Carrie Walton-Penner each have degrees from there and Rice, the former Secretary of State, remains in charge of the Hoover Institute, a public policy think tank at the school. It’s also, of course, the alma mater of John Elway, who’s not on the primary search committee but remains a consultant for the organization.
Diverse group of candidates
Five of the Broncos’ eight known candidates are Black and Rice’s presence on the search committee lends a diverse perspective, too, in addition to her deep football acumen.
On a conference call with reporters Thursday, NFL senior vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer Jonathan Beane pointed out that the NFL’s 32 teams feature eight diverse general managers, eight diverse team presidents — including Denver’s Damani Leech and former Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren, who became the Bears’ president formally on Thursday — and that the percentage of diverse coaches in the NFL had ticked up to 42 percent in 2022 from 35 percent in 2020.
As far as Denver’s coaching search, the expanded Rooney Rule requires teams to interview at least two diverse external head coaching candidates in person, which the Broncos have already done by interviewing Caldwell and Shaw in addition to Evero, an internal candidate.
