You heard Danny Rouhier mention at the top of Tuesday’s show, after news of Ben Johnson staying in Detroit broke, that maybe, had the Commanders known what was going to happen, would they have considered other candidates than the seven (plus Eric Bieniemy) they settled on interviewing – perhaps guys like Dave Canales and Brian Callahan, who have already gotten HC jobs elsewhere?
Maybe, and we also heard Danny’s thoughts that with staffs being built by all the new head coaches out there, the Commanders might be behind the eight-ball there – but as the Commanders wrap up their last in-person interview with that group today with Aaron Glenn in Detroit, should they maybe think about re-opening the search?
“Would that shock you? What I mean by that is, if they interview somebody else, we all have been told the process was going to be over on Tuesday night in terms of the interviews, and that this week they'd hire their coach,” Grant said. “I believe that that timeline was based on them thinking they were going to have Ben Johnson done and in place later this week, but everything has now changed. Might they now call someone they didn't interview before? I know your interest would be Vrabel, but for me, like another offensive mind?”
GP was kind of upset guys like Canales and Callahan weren’t looked at initially,
“This is a group that seems, and I don't mean this in the wrong way compared to the Snyder group, like they want to make sure they're viewed as a competent, thoughtful, patient, cohesive organization,” Danny said.
“They’re trying to be judicious, but if they have to start over again, that makes that process look…I don't wanna say amateurish, but not really well done, right? Like, if Mike Vrabel, for the sake of argument, was a candidate before, you should have interviewed him before. If he's only there now, it makes you look like, your only choice was Ben Johnson and now you’re screwed and have to start over. I don't think we would make them look very good.”
Okay, even Grant admits that’s a great point, so now you almost have to pick one of the other five finalists, even if you really need to prioritize getting it right over the optics of it. But which of those five is the best of the rest?
“I think there are two remaining coaching candidates that the fan base would get excited about, and that's Mike MacDonald and Bobby Slowik. I think anyone else, it's not to say none of our callers or nobody would like these hires, but as a mass fan base, Dan Quinn, Aaron Glenn, and Anthony Weaver would not do that. Those are not needle movers. Now, a lot of people have responded to me and said, well, they shouldn't be hiring coaches based on who moves the needle; I’m not suggesting they should make a hire based on who the fans are gonna be excited about, I’m just saying there's gonna be more work to sell the that guy.”
GP doesn’t think there’s any traction with Slowik because his interview was more than a week ago, and MacDonald is Danny’s clear favorite of the best of the bunch, with maybe Anthony Weaver second just because he’s ‘got the Baltimore cologne.’
“That good organization, do it the right way cologne, I’m cool with it,” Danny said. “It's not my ideal, it's not what I would have done to start, but a beloved guy with access to sort of Baltimore underlings, bringing some of that down here and marrying 49ers culture with Baltimore culture? I would take that to a degree. Again, it's not how I would have drawn it up, but maybe it leads you to a good place.”
