Jonathan Gannon is the head coach for the Arizona Cardinals. Vic Fangio is the defensive coordinator for the Miami Dolphins.
Gannon was the defensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles last season. Many feel Fangio should have replaced him and believe that he would have done so had Gannon’s hiring by the Cardinals been handled differently.
ESPN’s Josh Weinfuss and Tim McManus put the timeline together in a story.
Early in the Eagles’ playoff run when Gannon was getting interest from other teams for head-coaching jobs, he said publicly he intended on returning to be DC for the Eagles.
As has been detailed previously, Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort called Gannon after the Eagles won the NFC Championship Game to congratulate him and to gauge interest in interviewing after the Super Bowl.
That contact was impermissible although Gannon didn’t think anything of it,
In the ESPN report, Gannon is quoted as saying that it was a question of whether he would be open to interviewing if the job was still open. He didn’t know it was not allowed. Apparently, Ossenfort didn’t either.
Gannon never told the Eagles of the call so the team never knew they were going to potentially have to replace him so they never talked to Fangio about it. Fangio was consulting the Eagles leading up to the Super Bowl.
When the Eagles found out from the Cardinals (two days before the Super Bowl) that they intended on interviewing Gannon after the big game, it was too late.
Fangio, who was connected to the Denver Broncos’ and Miami Dolphins’ jobs, had already committed to the Dolphins. The Eagles tried to sway his decision to get him to decommit but he didn’t change his mind.
Eagles fans love to blame Gannon for things. That now makes two things Gannon’s departure and “tampering” are blamed for.
According to Eagles fans, Gannon didn’t prepare enough for the Super Bowl because his mind was on the Cardinals’ job. And now he is the reason why Fangio isn’t their current defensive coordinator.
Got it.
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