The Great Philadelphia Eagles coaching search of 2011 continues. 610-WIP’s Howard Eskin reported yesterday that the Eagles interviewed yet another defensive back coach. This time it was 40 year-old Joe Woods of the Minnesota Vikings.
I’m sure that one of the reasons for interviewing Woods is the fact that he left the Tampa Buccaneers and went to the Vikings in 2006 with a then defensive backs coach by the name of Mike Tomlin, who is now head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. They might have wanted to know if he had any of Tomlin’s charisma and leadership abilities.
The fact that Andy Reid’s best friend Brad Childress might have recommended Woods probably didn’t hurt him was likely one of the reasons he was interviewed. Woods is probably familiar with the Eagles secondary coverages because he was an assistant under Leslie Frazier, who was a former Eagles assistant and was the Vikings defensive coordinator under Childress before taking over as head coach when Childress was fired.
The Vikings secondary hasn’t been out of this world but they were good a year ago when they went to the NFC Conference championship game where they lost to the New Orleans Saints.
Still, the play of the Vikings defensive line led by Pro Bowlers Jared Allen and Kevin Williams was the key to the improved play of the secondary rather than vice versa.
He was a quality control coach for a Jon Gruden-led Tampa Buccaneers squad before going to the Vikings.
Prior to Minnesota, Woods coached in college at a number of universities such as Western Michigan, Hofstra and Grand Valley State.
Seems like the Birds are shotgunning, OR no quality coordinators wants to come here. I would have thought that a 10-6 young team, with an owner that is willing to pay assistants would be attractive. Course maybe the water is bad in S. Philly, who knows.
They must be looking for the words Miracle Worker on everyones resumes.
Does this process tell us who is making the decisions?
If it is not Andy then he should have been fired as well. If you dont trust a HC to bring in his own staff then you don’t trust the HC.
What’s wrong with touching all bases while waiting for your guy to become available after the super bowl? Let’s face it – Andy is in charge and that’s not going to change for the foreseeable future. Best to get use to it!
This has nothing to do with the topic but I just want to ask y’all a question to show a buddy how knowledgeable, or lackthereof, Eagles fans are.
What quarterback was the starter in the Eagles first regular season game following the McNabb era?
Beijingjake–WHAT quality coordinators are you talking about? Here are the DCs that have changed jobs since the end of the season–
Ron Rivera–went from DC to HC at Carolina
John Fox–was hired as HC at Denver
Wade Phillips–was hired two days after the regular season ended by the Texans
Rob Ryan–he was hired by Dallas–but then again, Cleveland’s defense was 22nd in the league
Reid’s got plenty of contacts throughout the league and they’re taking their time. If, after two weeks from Monday, they haven’t got a DC, then as a fan, I’ll be worried. Most of this is because Reid isn’t telling the Philly media anything, and they’re all riled up about it.
They can’t talk to other assistants who are under contract–the reason they talked to the Bears secondary coach was his contract was up; the reason they talked to Joe Woods was because that coaching staff is in transition. You’ll perhaps notice that in the paper today, Moss and a couple of other assistants went out of their way to talk about the Eagles job–Keith Butler went so far to say that the rumor he’s got a clause in his contract that makes him the Steelers DC in waiting is a false rumor.
I live here in MN… The answer is no andy.
To DixieFan,
Don’t you love it when a poster comments on his opinions, as if it’s a fact..
How do you know Coach AR is still in charge and calling all the shots, are you in the Nova Care Complex.. ( What goes around, comes around…)
And just for the record, Coach Andy is not calling all the shots anymore and hasn’t for the last 2-3 off-seasons, so get used to it for there will be some other changes coming down the pike in the future
clearly im the best candidate for this position
want a chip hire me
This seems too risky. We would be taking a chance if we went after a guy like Joe Woods. We have to go after a guy like WInston Moss.
Bring in as many people and circulate new ideas on that side of the ball. Remember McD and Shuey have been in the building for years and I dont think have introduced anything new and as a result….franchaise record low in the red zone stops. I think Reid and company are engaging in a couple of things: Learning about other ways of attacking people and not just Jim Johnson’s way and looking at it from an offensive perspective as well. Im sure that they are drawing up plays and discussing the X and O’s of how you would attack certain formations so there’s an exchange of ideas. I think taking this time is good, and as I said to IdleRich on twitter, if he tells the media everything he will soon be part of the media.
I think in the end Reid will choose a coordinator who has new ideas on attacking offenses within a 4-3 scheme but has different ideas on player makeup i.e. Brandon Graham (6-0 278) vs Jean Paul Whatever on the Gnats (6-6 270 with long arms). Simply put these areas are the areas that have to be discussed and if Reid still has this idea of “fastballs” and won’t accept input on players from his DCoordinator then his butt and this coaching staff will hit the door in two years.
I think the Eagles are talking to as many Secondary coaches as theycan about the a possible DC position but most likely are also interviewing for the open Secondary Coach position..
Bobby – what I meant was I am surprised they did not close the loop or have people that have more experience at the coordinator level be more interested in the position. Hiring a secondary coach for DC is a promotion for the prospective coach, and to some extent a risk for the hiring group. I hope that what Paul says is correct, that they are really interviewing secondary coaches for the Bird’s secondary coach, rather than DC. I do have confidence in Big Red, and it seems logical that he is at least in charge of his staff. Course I’m sitting up here in upstate NY under 2′ of snow so what do I know.
Hiring of NFL coaches is as much about politics and doing friends a favor as it is about substance. Two of the 3 interviewees (Allen and Woods) worked for former Reid assistants. Getting the interviews puts these coaches names in the spotlight for other roles or future hires. Reid is essentially killing time until the GB and Pittsburgh assistants are available, but he may strike gold with an “A” level coach in the process. Protracted hiring processes in the public eye invite scrutiny and criticism from people on the sidelines. They can also make the “hiring manager” look like they don’t know what they’re doing – because the observers (like us) are left guessing.
Actually Reid has won 10 playoff games and lossed 9 all 9 losses he ran the ball less than 16 times ave of 12 every team that beat Eagles ran the ball 29 times or more …very interesting 9 out 10 victories were 22-24 rushes only win less than 20 was amazing win against Packers with 14 carries that really didn’t feel like a win.
2000 Win over Bucs 25 rushes, Loss to Giants Reid rushed 9 times winner 41:::;2001 wins Bucs and Bears 25 and 23 rushes,Loss Rams, Eagles 16rush winner 31rushes;;;;2002 win Falcons 22ru, LOSS Bucs Staley 13 rush Winner 32 rushes;;;;2003 win packers 14rush, Loss Panthers Staley 13 winner 40 rushes;;;;;;2004 Win vikings 22ru Win Falcons 22rushes, Loss Patriots 15 rushes Winner 29;;;;;2006 Win Giants 26 ru, Loss Saints Westbrook 13 Winner 34 rushes;;;;;2008 Wins over vikings & giants 22,23 rushes,Loss CARDinals u guessed it 29 times;;;;2009 LOSS Cowboys McCoy 5 rushes, Weaver 5 ru Winner 33 freaken rushes;;;my favorite;;;;;2010 Loss mcCoy 12 rushes Harrison 1 Winner PACKERS 29 rushes…..Sad thing is our RB had better yd/carry than opposition