[Schneed10]

I think the team's actions say they don't intend to hire GW at all. I think that's wishful thinking on our part. Consider:

1) Bringing in Schwartz for an interview may mean they intend to interview him to be the DC and work UNDER Gregg Williams. But this would mean that JLC's "league sources" are wrong in saying Schwartz has been identified as a head coach candidate. And wouldn't it be wierd for Schwartz to come here to interview for a lateral move? Jeff Fisher and the Titans don't have to grant permission to let him interview for lateral moves.

2) JLC indicated in his blog that "team and league sources" indicated that the Skins are interested in Cowher. It seems Cowher doesn't want to coach yet. But if the team was really interested, that points to the team not being totally thrilled with Williams. Neither Cowher nor Schwartz are minorities, so they're not here to satisfy the Rooney rule. The fact that their names surfaced first tells me they're likely towards the top of Danny's list.

3) Gibbs is telling the media that the coaching search is Dan's decision and he respects that. He'll be there to advise Dan. Dan is saying "we'll go through a process." There's not much process to go through if you already think GW is your guy. And what motive is there to hide your feeling that GW is your guy? There's nothing to gain by hiding that sentiment and playing coy. He's under contract here already, and if you want to promote him, you just promote him. The fact that we haven't seen GW promoted at this point tells me Snyder is AT LEAST thinking about other candidates. And given that Cowher and Schwartz are now connected to the vacancy, if you ended up hiring GW, doesn't that say you're settling on him? After all, you knew what you had in GW, but you looked around at Cowher and Schwartz thinking you could do better. That's got to tell you that you're not thrilled with GW in the first place.

4) I guess it's possible Dan is throwing up major smokescreens and trying to confuse the media and throw people off the scent. But that seems like a conspiracy theory. Wouldn't Dan's time be better spent by actually trying to find a coach.

It's not going to be GW folks. I'm not sure if Gibbs agrees with that, though. Publicly, he's supporting his coaches, but he's not saying GW should be the next guy. He's saying Dan should go through the process and make the decision. It seems Gibbs may not see GW as head coach material. And if Gibbs thinks that, then I'm cool with the decision. If Gibbs is involved with this process, I feel good about his ability to identify the intangible leadership qualities a good coach has to have. And if that eschews GW, then I trust that call. But if Snyder is making this decision on his own, then I'm uncomfortable.

Fortunately, I think Snyder's listening to Gibbs. I hope.