Coaching Buzz: Eagles To Reportedly Interview Koetter

The Eagles are one of three teams that will interview Falcons offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter, according to Alex Marvez of FoxSports.com.

Owner Jeffrey Lurie denied the report, although he very well could just be trying to keep the coaching search quiet.

“We’ve contacted no coaches,” he said. “That’s all starting today. There’s no trips planned, there’s nothing planned yet. That’s all to be done.”

Lurie did admit that the team had its list of candidates made.

“While you’re trying to decide what you’re going to do with your coach, at least the way that I operate, is in doing a lot of research over the last month or so,” Lurie said. “That is done meticulously and in great detail. We do have a very, very defined list of candidates. And we hope to be able to meet with some of them as soon as possible.”

Koetter is in his first season with Atlanta. He previously spent five seasons as the offensive coordinator of the Jacksonville Jaguars and also served as the head coach at Arizona State (2001-2006) and Boise State (1998-2000). The Falcons are seventh in scoring offense (26.2 PPG) and 10th in Football Outsiders’ rankings, as Matt Ryan has turned in the best year of his career.

The fact that Koetter’s being looked at by three different teams speaks to his reputation, even though the results haven’t always been there. The Jaguars certainly didn’t have an abundance of talent, but they finished in the top-15 in scoring offense just once under Koetter.

Arizona State was 40-34 under his direction, and Boise State 26-10.

Earlier in his career, Koetter coached with Andy Reid at three different spots – San Francisco State, Missouri and UTEP.

Last January, he offered thoughts on his offensive philosophy during a Q&A with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“Running the football is definitely a part of professional football. That’s never going to go away,” Koetter said. “I’m a big believer in the vertical passing game. Everywhere I’ve been we’ve had an element of the vertical game. Your offense is always going to be dictated to some extent by your personnel. Every team in the NFL knows that you have to be able to run it even when they know you’re going to run it. You have to be able to throw it even when they know you’re going to throw it. Running the football, there’s definitely still a place for that in the NFL. You ask any defensive coach and one of the hardest things to defend is balance. Balance is difficult to defend.”

Koetter is 53-years-old. Coordinators from teams who have first-round byes in the playoffs are allowed to interview for head-coaching vacancies this week.

Click here for our full list of coaching candidates.

MCCOY IN DEMAND?

One name we have on our list of candidates is Broncos offensive coordinator Mike McCoy. McCoy will interview for the Chicago Bears vacancy, according to Jay Glazer of FoxSports.com. The Bears decided to part ways with head coach Lovie Smith. He’ll also get a look from the Arizona Cardinals, per Adam Schefter of ESPN.

As of this writing, there are seven job openings: Arizona, San Diego, Buffalo, Chicago, Kansas City, Cleveland and Philadelphia.

Follow Sheil Kapadia on Twitter and e-mail him at skapadia@phillymag.com.
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