SUNDAY, 8:45pm: The Chargers will interview Austin on Tuesday, ESPN.com’s Josina Anderson reports (on Twitter).
SUNDAY, 8:05am: Now that the Lions have been eliminated from the playoffs, Austin will interview with the Rams and Chargers, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter (via Twitter). It is not yet clear when those interviews will take place.
TUESDAY, 5:36pm: Two teams with head coaching vacancies, the Rams and Chargers, have requested interviews with Lions defensive coordinator Teryl Austin, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com and Tom Pelissero of USA Today (Twitter links). Austin, who’s preparing for the Lions’ wild-card game against the Seahawks on Saturday, will likely meet with the Rams and Chargers at the end of this week, per Rapoport.
The Rams and Chargers are the first clubs this offseason to court Austin, who has been a popular head coaching candidate over the past couple years. The well-regarded 51-year-old interviewed with four teams last winter, but he ended up staying in Detroit for his third season atop its defense. The results weren’t particularly impressive, though, as the Lions’ defense finished 13th in scoring, 18th in yardage and dead last in DVOA.
Austin is already the 10th known candidate whom the Rams at least hope to interview, as PFR’s head coaching search tracker indicates. The Chargers, who could join the Rams in Los Angeles next season, have Austin, Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia and Chiefs special teams coach Dave Toub on their target list thus far.
Likely a bridesmaid yet again.