Zac Robinson is in his first season as an NFL offensive coordinator, quickly moving to the Falcons once Raheem Morris landed the team’s HC job. Other clubs showed interest in Robinson for OC posts as well. Before Robinson entered the coaching ranks, however, he played quarterback at Oklahoma State. Robinson started three seasons with the Cowboys, playing under longtime coach Mike Gundy. Had the latter not agreed to a recent contract restructure, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport notes Robinson was the school’s top replacement choice. Robinson, 41, started for the Big 12 program from 2007-09. Gundy, himself a former Oklahoma State QB, has been in charge in Stillwater since 2005. Robinson could land interviews on next year’s NFL HC carousel, and no other rumors have connected the first-year OC to the college game.
Here is the latest from the coaching ranks:
- The Bears have been connected to at least one college coach (Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman) about their now-vacant HC post, and others could be on the radar. An anonymous GM told the Washington Post’s Jason La Canfora he expects the Bears to interview multiple college coaches during their upcoming search. Serving as team president since early 2023, Kevin Warren has a background in the college game stemming from his time as Big Ten commissioner. Although GM Ryan Poles is running Chicago’s search, Warren will have a major role to play in whom the team hires to replace Matt Eberflus.
- Woody Johnson is again staffing out his HC search, bringing in ex-Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum and former Vikings GM Rick Spielman to tab the team’s next coach and GM. The latter shed some light into the process recently, indicating during the NFL on CBS podcast (via ESPN.com’s Rich Cimini) he has already interviewed “a lot of the guys” who will be on his Jets recommendation list. Spielman having worked as an advisor during the Commanders’ recent searches points to familiar names being part of this upcoming Jets research effort. It will still be Johnson making the final call, but this is not the first time he has farmed out his hiring process. He did so in 2015 as well, using former GMs Charley Casserley and Ron Wolf ahead of the Mike Maccagnan and Todd Bowles hires.
- Todd Grantham has been back in the NFL for the past two seasons, serving as a Saints assistant. While Robinson is not heading to Stillwater, Grantham will indeed be going to reprise his role as a college defensive coordinator. Oklahoma State is hiring Grantham as its DC, NewOrleans.football’s Mike Triplett notes. A former Browns DC under Romeo Crennel in the 2000s, Grantham had been the Saints’ D-line coach for the past two seasons. New Orleans firing Dennis Allen will lead to a staff overhaul, and Grantham — formerly the DC at Georgia, Louisville, Mississippi State and Florida — will jump ship early.
- Rams assistant special teams coach Scott Frost is returning to Central Florida. The former Knights HC will take on that job once again, The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman reports. Frost coached the Knights from 2016-17, using the mid-major program as a springboard to Nebraska. Matt Rhule’s Cornhuskers predecessor had caught on with the Rams this year.
- Former Jets tight end Anthony Becht coached the United Football League’s St. Louis BattleHawks last season and recently interviewed for the West Virginia HC job. Becht has also drawn interest from the NFL, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The two-year St. Louis HC, the first season coming in XFL 3.0 in 2023, has never coached in the NFL and would presumably not be too close to the HC radar were he to explore a job in the league soon.
I sincerely hope that the Bears and Jags get the right HC hire. I would love to see what Trevor & Caleb are supposed to be able to do, rather than constant losing seasons (for Trevor so far) & injuries because both franchises forget about getting O line help!
A college coach would be a stupid roll of the dice for the Bears. But it would be such a McCaskey thing to do. Good grief.
The Bears absolutely need to get the head coach decision right. This is not the time for a college coach or the next great coordinator to be promoted to head coach. Not the time to be learning on the job. That’s just me. The Bears need a proven leader with experience at that level. This entire organization is ridiculous, dysfunctional and at times hilarious as to how they go about the business of the NFL. There’s not many head coaches other than Mike Vrabel at this time who fit that profile. Again, that’s just me. Possibly, by Black Monday or shortly afterwards, additional head coaches may be available. Zac Taylor-Bengals, Kevin Stafansky-Browns, Mike McCarthy-Cowboys.
The need for experience in running the on field show, insuring accountability, finding the right coordinators, then in turn finding the right position coaches. Leading and developing players is absolutely critical. As fans we are fed up with how the Bears operate. Even if some of the coaches are available, would they come to Chicago? Maybe they would want no part of it.
Just when you think the Bears are doing things right comes news that Poles isn’t happy reporting to Warren. Can this team ever learn anything? So now your GM is unhappy he’s not reporting to McCaskey. So when he got the job he was reporting to Phillips who said he was going to retire soon. Did he think they wouldn’t replace him? Did he think he was going to get the job? Is he kidding? So now after a few weeks of the right power structure we now have another power structure nightmare. Maybe Poles needs to go too now leaving no doubt who’s in charge. One thing is certain, Before anybody gets hired they better get this power structure straight before next off season. Wasting another rookie QB deal can’t happen again. McCaskey, Poles and Warren need to take a meeting and get this hashed out. I don’t know what Poles was told when he was hired but making him the goat for hiring Eberlose was a bad start. I don’t know when the freaking McCaskey’s will figure out the proper order for hiring top management, But you have to hope it happens soon. This team has talent everywhere except the O line. Please don’t bungle it again. And no college coach should even get an interview except Dan Lanning. When they hired Warren he should have had the authority to fire Poles and start over. The one thing we know is a McCaskey should never be involved in the football decisions.
Two additional rumors being set our there over the past 24 Hours in addition to the “Poles being unhappy with the power structure”. One is Poles and the Bears will mutually end the relationship. A soft termination if you will. The other being Poles will receive an extension as his current contract is 4 years which expires at the end of the 2025 season. The big wheels in the Halas Hall bunker keeps turning.