Little was set in stone less than 24 hours removed from a Week 18 loss to the Panthers, but Dennis Allen seemed confident on at least one piece of the looming offseason's plans.
He fully expects to be back at the helm for another year as Saints head coach following a 7-10 season that fell short of the playoffs.
“I don’t think there’s any need to discuss that any further, and I’m certainly going forward with that anticipation," Allen said, flashing a quick grin when asked about his status. "That’s the indication that I’ve been given and I’m excited about it. Look, again, 7-10 is not where we want to be, but we’re not as far off as maybe some might think. But there’s areas that we have to improve on.”
Beyond that, Allen wouldn't commit to much more than plans to make a plan. As of Monday he'd had some preliminary discussions with GM Mickey Loomis, but there would be larger discussions had involving the GM, head coach, Director of Pro Personnel Michael Parenton, Assistant GM Jeff Ireland, VP of Football Administration Khai Harley and others with a hand in the process.
From there the plan will be established on what levers need to be pulled, what areas of the roster need to be addressed and any potential coaching changes. The position that appears to be the furthest up in the air is that of offensive coordinator, with Pete Carmichael's group skidding to the finish while failing to score in the second half of back-to-back games. It still wasn't something that'd be addressed on the first official day of the Saints' offseason.
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"That’s not where we’re at right now," Allen said when pressed specifically on Carmichael. "Look, we’re going to evaluate everything, just like I get evaluated. We’re going to evaluate where we need to improve and that evaluation has not taken place yet. But that’ll happen here shortly and we’ll have a plan moving forward.”
All that said, there's no timetable set on when decisions would need to be made. It would all happen in due time, with Allen and the team continuing to process the end of a frustrating season. A return for Allen might not sit well with some of the more critical fans or talking heads out there, but there's never been any indication from the team that the head coach's job was in jeopardy. The question looming is the future of Sean Payton as a head coach in the NFL, but that has been the case throughout and Allen has indicated it is not something he can control or will be concerning himself with.
Critics of the decision would point to the team's slow start (2-5), even if it was reclaimed by a 5-5 finish. They'd also point to a career record of 15-38 in his 3-plus seasons as a head coach. A saving grace for this season would be the surging defense that did not allow and opponents to score more than 20 points over the final 8 games of the season.
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“I think there’s a methodical approach to what we want to do," Allen said/ "The key is making sure that whatever decisions that we make, we make the right decisions. And I don’t think there’s a timetable on making right decisions.”