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Buffalo Bills interested in Mike Shanahan as next coach, ESPN report claims
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Is Mike Shanahan a real candidate for the Buffalo Bills head-coaching position?
Ten weeks into the 2009 NFL season is all it took for a team to show interest in former Denver Broncos Coach Mike Shanahan.
Only a day after the Buffalo Bills fired Coach Dick Jauron, ESPN.com reports the Bills have contacted Shanahan and are arranging a meeting with the two-time Super Bowl champion coach. ESPN.com's Adam Schefter, who covered the Broncos for several years at the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post, reported Shanahan is willing to listen to Bills officials. Schefter also wrote a 1999 book with Shanahan, "Think Like a Champion: Building Success One Victory at a Time."
NFL.com reports the Bills have denied they have set up a meeting with Shanahan. Bills chief operating officer/general manager Russ Brandon told NFL.com's Vic Carucci he has no meeting scheduled with Shanahan. Brandon named defensive coordinator Perry Fewell the interim head coach.
Shanahan had a 138-86 record (.616 winning percentage) in 14 seasons with the Broncos, including seven playoff appearances and back-to-back Super Bowl titles after the 1998 and '99 seasons.
Shanahan, who also coached less than two seasons for the Los Angeles Raiders (1988-89, 8-12 record), has been called an offensive mastermind. But, after John Elway retired after the second Super Bowl victory, Shanahan's Broncos won only one playoff game in four appearances in his final 10 seasons in Denver. Shanahan's detractors claimed he wasn't quite the mastermind after Elway retired and running back Terrell Davis was forced to retire because of a career-ending injury.
Shanahan's final three seasons netted a 24-24 showing and no playoff appearances. Still, his firing in December of 2008 was somewhat surprising since he had three years left on $21 million contract. Broncos owner Pat Bowlen had said Shanahan -- a friend of Bowlen's -- was his coach for life.
Since his firing, Shanahan was linked to several job openings, including Cleveland and Kansas City. reports on both turned out inaccurate. Earlier this week, one of Denver's meathead radio talk-show yakkers even surmised that if the University of Colorado fired Coach Dan Hawkins, it would hire Shanahan's son, Kyle, who is the Houston Texans offensive coordinator. Even more asinine the same talk-show host said Kyle would hire his dad as the CU offensive coordinator.
The Bills are 3-6 and the offense has been inept all season, scoring just 140 points (15.6 average). Only St. Louis (100), Oakland (88) and Cleveland (78) have scored less points than Buffalo. Fewell announced Wednesday he is benching quarterback Trent Edwards and replacing him with Ryan Fitzpatrick.
Other possible candidates for the Bills job: former Saints and Rams Coach Jim Haslett, New York Giants coordinator Kevin Gilbride and Marc Trestman, head coach of the Canadian Football League's Montreal Alouettes. Hiring a CFL coach would be a blast to the past -- the Bills hired Marv Levy away from a CFL team. Levy led the Bills to four Super Bowl appearances.
MORE ON EXAMINER.COM:
Shanahan's Colorado golf ties.
Shanahan among Colorado Sports Hall of Fame inductees in 2010.
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