There has been a great deal of speculation as to whom the Raiders will consider for their head coaching vacancy. Up until now, the only interview of which we were aware was of Dolphins interim head coach Todd Bowles. Now three additional candidates have emerged, one of whom reportedly has already interviewed for the job.
Monday Mike Triplett of the New Orleans Time Picayune reported that the Raiders received permission to speak to Saints offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael, Jr. The Saints coaches are now fair game after they were knocked out of the playoffs by the 49ers on Saturday.
It makes sense that Carmichael would be a hot commodity given the level at which the Saints offense has operated during his tenure. The Saints won the Super Bowl in his first season as the team’s offensive coordinator. He was promoted from quarterbacks coach and is credited with the development of Drew Brees, whom he followed over from San Diego where Carmichael was the assistant wide receivers coach. He has coached in the NFL for 12 seasons.
The other two candidates the Raiders have asked to talk to are Broncos’ offensive coordinator Mike McCoy and defensive coordinator Dennis Allen.
Allen is also a former New Orleans Saint assistant from their Super Bowl winning team. He was their secondary coach. When John Fox was hired on to coach the Broncos this season, he hired Allen as his defensive coordinator. In just one season, the Broncos went from one of the worst defenses in the NFL to one of the best. Allen has been an NFL coach for ten seasons.
Mike McCoy is sought after as well at the moment. He is interviewing with the Miami Dolphins this week for their vacant head coaching position. McCoy is credited with accomplishing the difficult task of taking an offense designed for Kyle Orton and tailoring it to fit the talents of Tim Tebow. In the process he helped the Broncos get into the playoffs by winning the AFC West. Now every team wants to know how he did it and if he can do the same for them.
McCoy has coached in the NFL for 12 seasons. For the first nine seasons of his coaching career, he held several offensive positions. He joined the Broncos in 2009 as their offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under Josh McDaniels and was retained as the offensive coordinator under John Fox.
There are several names that have been mentioned in conjunction with the Raiders’ head coaching job. But thus far, these four are the only ones that are known to have either interviewed or been contacted by the Raiders.
With the Packers out of the playoffs after losing to the Giants on Sunday, one or more of their coaches are expected to be interviewed as well. But with the way this is going, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few more unexpected names pop up before new GM Reggie McKenzie makes his choice.
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