Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier hasn’t had a head coaching opportunity since his run with the Minnesota Vikings.
He took over the team in an interim role in 2010 after the firing of coach Brad Childress. And then the Vikings offered him the official head coaching job the following season.
His run in Minnesota didn’t last very long with the team eventually making the decision to fire him after three seasons. Since his firing, which was well over eight years ago, Frazier has been waiting for the phone to ring with his next head coaching opportunity .
But so far, it’s been nothing but dead silence.
Even as he helped coach the playoff-contending Bills defense to being the top-ranked unit in the league, the opportunity to lead another NFL team has continued to elude him.
“I’d be lying if I told you that I felt like it would take this long to have that opportunity come along, especially after some of the success and particularly the most recent success we’ve had in Buffalo,” said Frazier, during an appearance on the AP Pro Football Podcast, via the Associated Press. “So it’s discouraging in some ways, but you just have to be able to control what you can control.”
Frazier had interviews in the offseason for coaching jobs with the Chicago Bears, Miami Dolphins and New York Giants. But none of them panned out with all three teams making the decision to hire first-year head coaches.
It’s easy to see where the frustrations would come in for someone as experienced as Frazier.
According to the defensive coordinator, two teams informed him they were looking for an offensive coach to help in the development of their young quarterbacks. Those teams were obviously the Dolphins and Giants considering both hired former offensive coordinators as head coaches.
“It’s unfortunate. I think it’s very narrow-minded to only see the head coach as an offensive guy because you have a young quarterback,” said Frazier. “You need the right leader in that role because you’ve got to be able to handle multiple responsibilities, not just call offensive plays. I just I think that’s a misguided approach, but I’m not the guy doing the hiring.”
Frazier will keep his focus on the present in an effort to help the Bills finally get over the hump and win a Super Bowl. At this point, winning a Lombardi Trophy might be his one and only ticket back to being an NFL head coach.
