Lincoln Riley Tops Eagles Wish List to be Their Next Head Coach

[Procus]

https://www.si.com/nfl/eagles/news/lincoln-riley-tops-eagles-wish-list-to-be-their-next-head-coach

Quote

Lincoln Riley Tops Eagles Wish List to be Their Next Head Coach

There are many obstacles to overcome to make it happen, so here are the odds of some other candidates and what owner Jeffrey Lurie had to say about the search

Ed Kracz

A source close to the Eagles said general manager Howie Roseman reached out to Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley about being the team’s next head coach, a call made not long after the team parted ways with Doug Pederson on Monday.

It isn’t the first time the Eagles have talked to Riley about his potential interest in the Eagles. In fact, he and general manager Howie Roseman have a good relationship and it was a consult with Riley that helped sway the Eagles to draft both Jalen Reagor and Jalen Hurts, per sources.

So, put the 37-year-old Sooner at the top of any list to be the next head coach.

Of course, making it happen with Riley is another matter. He is making $6.5 million and has a record of 44-8 over four seasons in Norman.

And based on what happened with Pederson, getting fired just three years after winning a Super Bowl, a coach like Riley and any others may take that short leash into consideration. 

A future coach may also want to consider exactly how much or how little control he would have over not just personnel but his own coaching staff, which was one of the issues Pederson ultimately had in not being able to have much say as to who is on his staff.

Others on the coaching list are the obvious names of Mike Kafka and Eric Bieniemy, the Kansas City duo of quarterback coach and offensive coordinator, respectively.

Then there’s Brian Daboll, the OC in Buffalo, Arthur Long, the OC in Tennessee, as well as in-house candidate Duce Staley.

Some odds from BetOnline to be the next Eagles coach:

Bieniemy and Kafka 4/1

Daboll 9/2

Smith 5/1

Riley 11/2

Joe Brady 6/1

Brandon Staley and Duce Staley 15/2

Greg Roman 8/1

Nathaniel Hackett 9/1

Dave Toub 10/1

Josh McDaniels 12/1

Byron Leftwich 16/1

Matt Campbell 20/1

Ryan Day 20/1

Jim Caldwell and Robert Saleh 25/1

James Urban and Jason Garrett 28/1

Rex Ryan 33/1

So, there is no shortage of candidates.

"I would think it's a very, very attractive job because if I'm a coach, first thing you want to know is if you're going to have as much resources as possible to create a successful team; are the facilities good; what's the organization's track record over the last ten, 20 years, are they a team that rarely makes the playoffs, are they a team that's satisfied to occasionally make the playoffs, how many division titles do they have, do they ever get as far in the playoffs in the way they build their roster or is it just one-and-done or did they get to championship games and Super Bowls and things like that,” said Lurie. "That's what I'm looking for.”

Lurie added more attractive aspects of the job:

"On the quarterback situation, we've got two really interesting assets. They are both young. They are both hungry. They are terrific people, very different, and terrific people. A coach is going to have options. …

"The best fan base in America; there are other great fan bases, but this community really, really cares about their team; the culture of the team and how competitive they are and they want to win divisions. They want to win and get to championship games and further. So I just can't - is the owner committed, is the culture positive, are there good people all over the franchise in terms of operations, business-wise? It's all very, very, very positive.”

Whether or not Riley buys that sales pitch remains to be seen.

If he does, the Eagles could have their man rather quickly.

If not, Lurie said he is in no hurry.

"We’ll think both inside the box and outside the box,” the owner said. "I just want to say there will be no rush here. This notion of an NFL team making a very important decision for itself and its fan and rushing to a decision is unlike any business.

I just don’t think that’s warranted. If we find a head coach soon or it’s early February, it’s totally great. If we’re the last team picking a head coach that’s great, too, because then you have all the opportunity in the world. There's no rush. There's no pressure. There's nothing that should drive you from a decision based on just rational thought and careful analysis and getting to know the person as best you can.”

Ed Kracz is the publisher of EagleMaven. Check out anything you may have missed pertaining to the Eagles by going to www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.

 

[CaliEagle]

I doubt Lincoln Riley would want to be at the mercy of Howie's drafting.  Is Howie willing to give up some personnel control after the last time he and Lurie hired a high profile college coach? I doubt it, too.

[Road to Victory]

 

17 minutes ago, CaliEagle said:

I doubt Lincoln Riley would want to be at the mercy of Howie's drafting.  Is Howie willing to give up some personnel control after the last time he and Lurie hired a high profile college coach? I doubt it, too.

Agree- Howie is going to scare the best candidates away from this job. 

First- he can’t draft.

Second- he micromanages the team. Listen to what Doug supposedly said- he got tired of being told what to do. 

[CaliEagle]

2 minutes ago, Road to Victory said:

 

 

 

Agree- Howie is going to scare the best candidates away from this job. 

First- he can’t draft.

Second- he micromanages the team. Listen to what Doug supposedly said- he got tired of being told what to do. 

I think they will either settle for Duce (yet pretend he was their guy all along) or they will hire someone that is on nobody's radar like Doug wasn't on anyone's radar. They will look for someone who will go along with their FO structure and someone who wont' rock the boat.  There are several other job openings that are more desirable than this one.

[Procus]

52 minutes ago, CaliEagle said:

I doubt Lincoln Riley would want to be at the mercy of Howie's drafting.  Is Howie willing to give up some personnel control after the last time he and Lurie hired a high profile college coach? I doubt it, too.

One of the benefits of hiring a college coach is that they have first hand knowledge about the players in the draft and generally during their first couple of years with a team, contribute to better drafts than others.  I would think Riley would have a major say in the draft and personnel if he came to the Eagles.

[Road to Victory]

42 minutes ago, Procus said:

 I would think Riley would have a major say in the draft and personnel if he came to the Eagles.

So cross him off the list. Howie doesn’t want to be banished to the basement again. 

[UK_EaglesFan89]

Do you know what... I think this is one of the few options that I'm really quite excited about. Lincoln Riley would be a fantastic choice in my opinion. It's a bit of a gamble, it may not work out but I like the idea a lot. 

[Infam]

Get Riley, draft Smith, trade Wentz. And all of a sudden, things look very different on offense.

I mean lets draw that picture for a second: Right side of the line is aging but still elite with Brooks and Lane. Mailata played excellent at LT. Then you get Smith and Reagor at WR, maybe Ward in the slot, Sanders, Goedert and Hurts.. with Riley calling the plays. 

I can see that to be pretty good! 

[UK_EaglesFan89]

39 minutes ago, Infam said:

Get Riley, draft Smith, trade Wentz. And all of a sudden, things look very different on offense.

I mean lets draw that picture for a second: Right side of the line is aging but still elite with Brooks and Lane. Mailata played excellent at LT. Then you get Smith and Reagor at WR, maybe Ward in the slot, Sanders, Goedert and Hurts.. with Riley calling the plays. 

I can see that to be pretty good! 

We agree on this for sure! Although I'd be happy with Smith or Chase.

[20dawk4life]

Brian Schottenheimer!!!!!!

[time2rock]

Arthur Long??? 

[nipples]

9 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Do you know what... I think this is one of the few options that I'm really quite excited about. Lincoln Riley would be a fantastic choice in my opinion. It's a bit of a gamble, it may not work out but I like the idea a lot. 

I’m confident he can get the best out of Hurts if he’s the guy. 

[Miami]

7 hours ago, Infam said:

Get Riley, draft Smith, trade Wentz. And all of a sudden, things look very different on offense.

I mean lets draw that picture for a second: Right side of the line is aging but still elite with Brooks and Lane. Mailata played excellent at LT. Then you get Smith and Reagor at WR, maybe Ward in the slot, Sanders, Goedert and Hurts.. with Riley calling the plays. 

I can see that to be pretty good! 

Yes sir.

[PoconoDon]

Daboll. Everything the Eagles need to happen, he just did for the Bills. I bet he could do it again.

[Procus]

Should have told Reid to take a one year sabbatical after 2012 and kept him

[Road to Victory]

14 hours ago, Procus said:

Should have told Reid to take a one year sabbatical after 2012 and kept him

I’m not sure he would’ve ever won a Super Bowl here. He made the same mistakes over and over in Philly. I mean, some really dumb decisions. 

Things just worked out perfectly for him in KC. How do you not win with Mahomes, Hill, Kelce and all the other talent on the team. We’re nowhere near that talent level- not even in 2017. 

[UK_EaglesFan89]

32 minutes ago, Road to Victory said:

Things just worked out perfectly for him in KC. How do you not win with Mahomes, Hill, Kelce and all the other talent on the team. We’re nowhere near that talent level- not even in 2017. 

Agreed! He's struck gold in KC. There's no doubt he's a really really good HC, he enjoyed a lot of success here in Philly but bottom line he's struck gold with those weapons in KC.

[Procus]

3 hours ago, Road to Victory said:

I’m not sure he would’ve ever won a Super Bowl here. He made the same mistakes over and over in Philly. I mean, some really dumb decisions. 

Things just worked out perfectly for him in KC. How do you not win with Mahomes, Hill, Kelce and all the other talent on the team. We’re nowhere near that talent level- not even in 2017. 

Reid started to correct some, not all of his mistakes.  Remember when he couldn't draft a receiver for the life of him.  Then we struck gold with DJax and JMac. 

Putting aside the tragic death of his son, Reid's undoing in Philly was hiring Howard Mudd and Jim Washburn.  Mudd displaced Juan Castillo, and AR, being the loyal HC that he was, promoted Castillo to DC instead of letting him go.  That, combined with giving Washburn too much independence and adopting the Wide 9 scheme without a strong DC was really his undoing here.

[Madriver]

On 1/12/2021 at 1:33 AM, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Do you know what... I think this is one of the few options that I'm really quite excited about. Lincoln Riley would be a fantastic choice in my opinion. It's a bit of a gamble, it may not work out but I like the idea a lot. 

He's my 1st choice.

[SPIDER-MAN]

Paul Domowitch wrote an article about the HC job and he said Reilly turned it down.

[time2rock]

12 minutes ago, SPIDER-MAN said:

Paul Domowitch wrote an article about the HC job and he said Reilly turned it down.

True

https://www.nj.com/eagles/2021/01/oklahomas-lincoln-riley-reportedly-turned-down-eagles-head-coaching-job.html

[EricAllenPick6]

Duce is 15/2?  I'd take those odds. 

At some point we have to face facts: this is not an attractive job.  At the present we have an aging roster.  We have a terrible cap situation.  We've got major QB drama.  Underachieving young players.  Howie.

Duce may actually be the only one who WANTS this job.

[PoconoDon]

22 hours ago, EricAllenPick6 said:

Duce is 15/2?  I'd take those odds. 

At some point we have to face facts: this is not an attractive job.  At the present we have an aging roster.  We have a terrible cap situation.  We've got major QB drama.  Underachieving young players.  Howie.

Duce may actually be the only one who WANTS this job.

I don't think he does. His chances for real longevity in the league, which he seems to enjoy, is better served as a top shelf assistant than the temp HC which is what the Eagles offer, a temporary job set up for you to fail. As the HC you will have NO say in player personnel or who is on your coaching staff. How's that for attractive? Duce isn't stupid enough to take that job.

The problems are all spawned from the influence of Howie Roseman. Until he's gone completely, no HC will succeed here.

[Procus]

On 1/22/2021 at 12:17 PM, PoconoDon said:

I don't think he does. His chances for real longevity in the league, which he seems to enjoy, is better served as a top shelf assistant than the temp HC which is what the Eagles offer, a temporary job set up for you to fail. As the HC you will have NO say in player personnel or who is on your coaching staff. How's that for attractive? Duce isn't stupid enough to take that job.

The problems are all spawned from the influence of Howie Roseman. Until he's gone completely, no HC will succeed here.

There are many position coaches who are failed head coaches.  If anything, head coaching experience makes somebody a hotter position coach to hire.  But that being said, I agree with your point about being a top shelf position coach.