By Ross Jackson
With six games left to play for the New Orleans Saints, the course of their future will see its fair share of speculation. The team started off 2-7 before firing coach Dennis Allen and replacing him with special teams coordinator and assistant head coach Darren Rizzi who is now 2-0 as the interim. But the long-term role of head coach for the franchise is still very much in the air.
Sports Illustrated’s NFL Insider Albert Breer posited a guess as to who the next head coach New Orleans may be. His answer varies depending upon how the remainder of the season goes.
“If they get to, say, nine wins, the idea of going forward with Darren Rizzi as head coach might have legs,” Breer wrote. “If the roster shows well the rest of the year, and they don’t quite make it there, then perhaps (general manager Mickey Loomis) would be on the trigger for the coaching search. My guess is that Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn would be a prime target.”
Many would expect that the two coaches mentioned, Rizzi and Glenn, are set to the favorites for the position. So, this guess isn’t exactly revelatory. But one interesting element to come from the question and answer was who may be leading the charge on the head coach search.
Breer reported soon after Allen’s firing that the decision was driven by owner Gayle Benson and “her group” moreso than Loomis who reportedly preferred to wait until the end of the season before making any changes.
In Breer’s newest address of the situation, he alludes to a situation wherein the hiring of the new head coach could follow a similar trajectory. Breer muses that if the Saints do not find much success to close out the season after the bye week that he “would guess that ownership may take more command of the search and look for someone from outside the Loomis–Sean Payton family to lead the team.”
One could make the argument that, if the team were going to hire outside the organization, bringing in an unfamiliar coach would be the best course of action. The organization has long been hoping that remnants of day’s past will rekindle the flames of previous success. Instead, the Saints could foster in new ideas and energy. It’s a logical move.
If the team were interested in keeping things familiar, the candidate may already be in the building. Glenn is expected to be an excellent head coach when he gets the opportunity he deserves. However, New Orleans could decide that if they wanted another Payton-tree coach, Rizzi’s head start may be more comfortable. He already has the connection with the organization and players who clearly love working with him, and he’s already begun to endear himself with the fanbase.
The Saints will have a big decision to make when it comes to finding their next head coach. Going outside the facility makes a ton of sense. But hiring an internal candidate to keep things comfortably within the past regime may not be as wise depending on how the remaining games of the season pan out with Rizzi. If they want to rely on an established relationship, they may already have it.
