Defensive coordinators are getting paid

Updated: January 9, 2004, 9:28 PM ET

Defensive coordinators have seen their profile and pay increase.

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By Len Pasquarelli
ESPN.com
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Just once in his three-year stint as the Buffalo Bills head coach did Gregg Williams earn a salary of more than $1 million ($1.1 million in 2003). In fact, during his tenure, Williams averaged right at the seven-figure mark in terms of base salary, making him one of the NFL's lowest-paid head coaches.

Now, as the defensive coordinator for the Washington Redskins and Joe Gibbs, who hired Williams on Wednesday night after a hastily arranged interview, he will make more as an assistant than he did as a head coach. Apparently, that's what a 17-31 record and a move that is essentially a demotion, can get you in the NFL these days.

The reports that Williams signed a four-year deal at $1.8 million annually are half-baked, and the folks who have tossed out those numbers the last couple days ought to be stripped of their laptops. But warming in the oven is a deal that includes base salaries of $1 million, $1.1 million, $1.2 million and $1.3 million, respectively, for the 2004-2007 seasons. That represents 15 percent more, on average, than he made as a head coach.

One might explain the demotion in rank but incongruous escalation in salary as just the Dan Snyder factor, since the Redskins owner would pay top dollar to his custodian if he heard that the guy wielded the NFL's meanest mop. But there are three other factors at work here as well: First, while Williams had three straight non-winning seasons as a head coach and may have been miscast in that role, no one has ever questioned his defensive prowess. Second, given that he was a terrific coordinator, Williams was not lacking for job offers this week. Finally, just look around the league, and it is clear that defensive coaches are very hot commodities indeed.

Word is that the Redskins were so ardently pursuing Williams, even before they shocked the world with the Gibbs return, that some team officials actually advocated hiring the defensive coordinator even before they settled on a head coach.

Once the ink has dried on Williams' contract with the Redskins, he will become the fourth defensive coordinator in the elite Million Dollar Club. He joins Monte Kiffin of Tampa Bay, Philadelphia's Jim Johnson and the latest pledge, Mike Zimmer of Dallas, in that lofty tax bracket. Maybe our records are outdated but, the last time we checked on such matters, there were no coordinators on the offensive side earning seven figures.

Heck, if he ever tires of tending to the horses on his Kentucky ranch, and wants to get back in the league, Buddy Ryan would probably command a cool million, right?

"It's become the glamour position on a lot of staffs," said one head coach, speaking about the defensive coordinator post. "A good defensive coordinator is like gold. If you have an outstanding one, you better do everything you can to keep him, believe me. And let's be honest, when you look at the guys getting interviews (for head coach positions), most of them are from the defensive side."

Indeed, since 2000, there have been 17 assistant coaches who were elevated to head coach status, and 12 of them had defensive backgrounds. Among the seven teams with openings for head coach slots this year, there have been 37 total interviews and coaches with defensive-oriented backgrounds had 20 of them.

Just one of the four franchises that hired new head coaches this week -- Atlanta, which agreed to a deal with Jim Mora on Thursday night -- hired a defensive guy. But that seems more an aberration this year and probably won't slow the rush to the defensive side or diminish the critical necessity of having a standout defensive coordinator.

It isn't just coincidence that the one college head coach sought by teams, Nick Saban of co-national champion LSU, is a former NFL defensive coordinator. Offense is sexy, but it's still defenses that win champions, at every level.

Right now there are 11 franchises with defensive coordinator vacancies -- more than one-third of the league's teams -- and the scramble is on to fill those spots. Fortunately for the teams in the defensive coordinator market, there is a glut of excellent candidates. Some of them, such as Dick Jauron, Dave McGinnis and Wade Phillips, are recently dismissed head coaches whose talents on the defensive side are well-documented. Jauron, in fact, could still land the Buffalo head coaching job.

Fired this week by their former teams, Tim Lewis (Pittsburgh) landed the coordinator job with the New York Giants and Ted Cottrell (New York Jets) has a job offer in hand. Notably, the Vikings have offered Cottrell a two-year deal, even though head coach Mike Tice has just one year remaining on his contract. If they are not retained by their current teams, Dick LeBeau (Buffalo), Chuck Bresnahan (Oakland) and Greg Blache (Chicago) won't have to wait long for their phones to ring either.

"If you're good," noted the outspoken Blache, "people will find you."

Around the league

Last week in this spot, we opined that the league was likely to double its number of minority head coaches in 2004, and that the workplace diversity committee was off to an impressive start. Ooops. It now looks as if Dennis Green will be the only black man to fill a head coaching spot. Word is that St. Louis Rams defensive coordinator Lovie Smith did not interview well in some places and that New England defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel is not the favorite in any of the three precincts that still have vacancies. Part of the optimism by us, and at large, was media-created. In Atlanta, for instance, the locals kept touting Smith as the leader in the clubhouse. The truth was, however, that Smith had dropped off the Falcons' radar screen in recent days, and that club officials were far more impressed with the Steelers' Lewis. The end result is that, while the diversity committee chaired by Steelers owner Dan Rooney is terrific in concept and in intent, it still has miles to go. And it has plenty of fence-mending yet to do with a lot of minority assistant coaches whose perception is that, despite the promises and rhetoric, little has changed in the hiring process. "It's the same old (stuff)," one veteran minority coach told ESPN.com, phoning to vent after he found out the Falcons were hiring Jim Mora to fill their vacancy. "They try to make it look good but it still stinks the same way it always has. They dangle the carrot, that's all, and a lot of us bought into it. Even if most of us didn't get interviews, even though we realized early on they weren't really opening up the process to more (black assistants), we figured some of the 'brothers' would get hired. But it hasn't happened and now they're going to have a lot tougher time trying to convince some of us their intentions are (honorable). The proof is in the pudding and this was nothing more than incremental progress." As of Friday morning, there had been six black candidates interviewed a total of 15 times. Crennel had five of the 15 interviews, Smith four and Green three.

In addition to the diversity guidelines, another rule that needs tweaking is the one that limits interviews with coaches for teams that have a first-round bye. When the rule was enacted a couple years ago, it seemed a step forward, a compromise that theoretically should have brought more candidates to the process. In application, though, the rule is not working as well as some league officials felt it would. The biggest reason: Most owners are reluctant to wait on a candidate, even an impressive one, if the sense is that coach's team will advance deep into the playoffs. Once the first domino fell this week, with the New York Giants' hiring of Tom Coughlin, other teams began scrambling to fill their vacancies. Plus it's difficult for the candidates involved, who are preparing for a playoff run, and trying to ready themselves for a critical interview. Honestly, can anyone have expected Crennel, for instance, to be at the top of his game when forced to interview five times in a span of less than 48 hours. Crennel interviewed with three different franchises in one day. By the end of the ordeal, he must have felt like he went through the wringer, and been emotionally spent. We're not saying we have the solution, and the league was well-intentioned when it altered the rules, no doubt. But what looked good on paper has not worked well in the practical world. No one wants a team in the middle of the playoffs to have unnecessary distractions. Certainly there is no advocacy here suggesting coaches be permitted to depart their incumbent franchises for a head coaching job during his current team's playoff stretch run. The current mechanism, though, does need to be revisited given the results of the past two years.

As if the league competition committee doesn't have enough with which to deal, it now appears that the influential group may have to spend some time at its annual meetings in March working up tighter guidelines for videotape exchange between teams. Most fans know that teams must supply that week's opponent with video from its three most recent outings. But two teams recently complained that the Tampa Bay Bucs sent tape that did not include any pre-snap shifts. The two teams claimed they flipped on the video and what they saw was the Bucs aligned just before the snap, no movement or motion, and then the play being run. Of course, a big part of the Jon Gruden-designed offense is all the motion that comes before the snap. The clubs contend that the shifts and motions were intentionally edited out of the tape. The two grieving team are surveying other teams to see if the Bucs sent them edited tapes as well.

It isn't often that two guys who labor at the game's most anonymous position are, quite literally, the centers of attention in a big-time playoff matchup. But young centers Justin Hartwig of Tennessee and New England's Dan Koppen are going to get plenty of focus, and deservedly so, in Saturday evening's divisional round matchup. Hartwig is a second-year veteran and the former sixth-round draft choice started in all 16 games. If the Titans are to run the ball effectively, Hartwig will have to handle New England nose tackle Ted Washington, one of the league's premier interior stuffers. No small feat there. Hartwig has done a nice enough job in 2003 but he isn't naturally strong, doesn't always anchor well, and gets stymied by tackles with the kind of size the gargantuan Washington possesses. A fifth-round pick, and a home-grown talent from the Boston College program, Koppen has started 15 games. He moved into the lineup when injuries forced offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia to switch center Damien Woody to guard. Koppen is the most unsung member of a nearly invisible line unit, has handled himself well, and demonstrated steady improvement. He'll be asked to block one of the Titans' tackles, Albert Haynesworth or Robaire Smith, most times Saturday night. Like his counterpart Hartwig, he's not drawing an easy task, as Haynesworth and Smith are a superb young tandem and the heart of the NFL's top-rated run defense. So if you are looking for a good subplot to the AFC division round game, take some time to scrutinize the play of both teams' centers for at least a few snaps.

Speaking of offensive linemen, one blocking unit that hasn't garnered nearly enough credit this year is that of the Green Bay Packers, arguably among the top two or three quintets in the league. Only one player, right guard Marco Rivera, earned a spot on the Pro Bowl squad. And while he played well, Rivera might not have even been the unit's top performer. Tackles Chad Clifton (left) and Mark Tauscher (right) were very good. Left guard Mike Wahle probably should have been in the Pro Bowl and center Mike Flanagan, now over the injuries that nearly wrecked his career early in his pro tenure, is excellent. Larry Beightol has long been among the top offensive line coaches in the NFL, but he did an extraordinary job this season. It's especially notable that both Clifton (hip) and Tauscher (knee) came back from career-threatening injuries to excel in 2003. The unit permitted just 19 sacks, the fewest in franchise history, and spearheaded the NFL's third-best rushing attack. But in Sunday's game at Philadelphia, the Packers' blockers might need even more brain than brawn, as they confront the schemes conjured up by Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson. A big part of hanging with the Eagles is being able to identify Johnson's exotic blitz package, to figure where the odd man is coming from, and the Green Bay line will have to be mentally well-honed.

Much has been made about the one season that Carolina coach John Fox spent as a "consultant" to the St. Louis Rams in 1996. The inference is that, because of that season, Fox has a better handle on the St. Louis personnel. The premise is more than a bit flawed, though, since the only player on the current Rams roster who was with the team in 1996 is wide receiver Isaac Bruce. What is accurate, though, is that the Rams are not all that thrilled about facing the Fox defense, because they have struggled against it in the past. When he was the New York Giants' defensive coordinator Fox faced the Rams four times and lost on every occasion. But in two of those outings, the Giants held the Rams to 15 points or less. Since the sly Fox is very clever in disguising coverages and also blitz angles, St. Louis quarterback Marc Bulger, making his first postseason start, will need a strong game mentally. Also notable is that the St. Louis organization might well have saved Fox's career in the league by giving him the consultant job in '96. That was the year in which Fox, under circumstances that to this day remain a mystery and never have been fully addressed by the coach, resigned as the Oakland Raiders defensive coordinator. There was a lot of rumor and innuendo surrounding Fox at the time. The job with the Rams kept him in the league and around the game and, just a year later, he was hired by Giants coach Jim Fassel to be his defensive coordinator. His success with the Giants, of course, led to Fox getting the Carolina head coach position.

Bruce's return to health after being hampered the past month by a high ankle sprain means the suspect Carolina secondary will have to face two big-play wide receivers, and won't be able to concentrate so much on Torry Holt. But there will be another emerging wideout on the field, in Steve Smith of the Panthers, who has emerged as the go-to guy for improving Carolina quarterback Jake Delhomme. Smith caught 89 passes this season for 1,110 yards, and absolutely torched the Dallas cornerbacks, in particular Terence Newman, in last weekend's wild card victory. In addition, Smith still returns punts and kickoffs, and thus had 143 "touches" in '03. He averaged 13.0 yards every time he got his hands on the ball. What should worry the St. Louis secondary, and especially its very young cornerback tandem, is that the elusive Smith should be even quicker on the artificial surface of the Edward Jones Dome.

There are suggestions in Atlanta that senior advisor Bobby Beathard, who will depart the Falcons after the draft, had more to do with the hiring of Jim Mora (please note, there is no "Jr." appendage at the end of his name, despite media reports to the contrary), than did new general manager Rich McKay. That isn't true, even though Beathard certainly was the most ardent Mora advocate in the hiring process. What likely is true is that the team went with a guy who represented the consensus top candidate and, in a process where the owner and general manager should have the most input and ultimately make the call, that is dangerous. Owner Arthur Blank is well-intentioned but his star has fallen considerably in Atlanta, in part because he often acts like he's still running The Home Depot, where he wanted inclusiveness. At some point, for the franchise to succeed, and it certainly as the potential to be a terrific situation, Blank has to realize the NFL isn't a democracy. Even a usually-soft Atlanta media took Blank to task for not working harder to land Joe Gibbs, once he found out weeks ago his minority partner wanted to return to coaching. Then for a few hours Thursday, the fans got griping about Blank, because of ESPN.com's report that the Falcons were set to interview Nick Saban. A few hours later, though, when the team changed course and opted for Mora, fans were screaming again. So it has been a tough week for Blank, who could do nothing wrong in the eyes of fans his first season as owner, and now is perceived by some locals as a novice. Certainly the handling of the Saban situation was poorly done. Blank is not, however, the only one culpable for that. McKay had essentially promised Saban's representatives he wouldn't even arrange for an interview unless Blank was onboard with the notion that the LSU coach was the guy Atlanta had to have. But even McKay, who claimed Mora reminded him of Tony Dungy during the interview process, got cold feet when the scheduled Friday interview with Saban grew closer. Give credit to the Falcons for going with a "fresh" name and for not being bullied by the NFL into hiring a minority. But the process seemed ill-directed and uneven at times and now Atlanta, with a skeptical fan base again, needs Mora to succeed. Beathard, by the way, certainly helped to scuttle the potential candidacy of Maryland head coach Ralph Friedgen with the Falcons. Friedgen worked on the Bobby Ross staff in San Diego, when Beathard was general manager there.

If you don't believe Blank was intimately involved in the Mora hire, consider this: On Thursday, just before Falcons officials offered Mora the job, Blank phoned former San Francisco quarterback Steve Young. He wanted Young's opinion on 49ers offensive coordinator Gregg Knapp, who was being pitched by Mora for the same job, and who will move to Atlanta as Michael Vick's primary tutor. Young, by the way, gave Knapp very strong reviews. As for Vick, well, he continued right to the very end of the coaching search, to overestimate his own role in the process. Remember, last month, Vick told Ron Jaworski before the Dec. 14 game in Indianapolis that he would have a voice in selecting the new coach. Blank, after seeing the scathing rebuke of Vick in "The Morning After" on ESPN.com, took Vick to task for those comments. But the young quarterback clearly hasn't learned his lesson. Contacted on Thursday night for his reaction to the Mora hiring, Vick responded: "Until I hear something (from a Falcons official), I advise you not to write anything, for real." Uh, sorry, Michael. As it turns out, you didn't have veto power on the head coaching decision.

Although the perception is that the Chicago Bears won't ante up to lure Nick Saban away from LSU, don't count them out. General manager Jerry Angelo is a very close friend of Saban but fraternity, past relationship and all those weekly phone calls won't be enough. But for Saban to even agree to an interview with the Bears, which will come in the next few days, Chicago officials had to convince him the money will be there. That means the bidding starts at $4 million per year, maybe more, and Angelo has promised Saban and his representatives the Bears will be financially competitive and won't waste his time interviewing him just for the heck of it.

His dismissal by the Pittsburgh Steelers last week cost Tim Lewis not only his job as the defensive coordinator there but also a shot at the Atlanta head coach spot. As it turns out, Lewis wasn't the scapegoat coach Bill Cowher typically has after a losing season, but he actually brought on his own demise. Cowher actually had no plan to fire Lewis. But for weeks, Lewis walked around the team's complex telling even the lowest staffers that he was on the chopping block, and that ultimately became a self-fulfilling prophesy. Team officials grew weary of hearing from others that Lewis anticipated his dismissal. So tired, in fact, that they eventually decided Lewis had to go.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.