Patriots Face Criticism as Aaron Glenn Declines Interview
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The New England Patriots met with Mike Vrabel yesterday as they continue their head coaching search, with Ben Johnson reportedly set to speak with the club today.
However, one candidate who declined to speak with them is Johnson’s colleague Aaron Glenn, who is the defensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions. Glenn is likely aware of what’s going on in New England, so it’s not much of a surprise that he turned down the opportunity.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Glenn interviewed with the Jets on Thursday, and he’s set to speak with both the Saints and Raiders today, followed by the Jaguars and Bears on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Marc Bertrand of 98.5 The Sports Hub was on NBC Sports Boston Thursday night and he believes had the club put in the request at the same time they asked to speak to Johnson, Glenn likely would have taken the interview.
“If he had been requested on Monday when they put in the request for Ben Johnson, he’s taking the interview,” said Bertrand. “But they couldn’t even bring themselves to submit that request on Monday because this process is fraudulent. It is a sham process.
“They’re not even going through a process here. If they had just done the right thing and actually said, ‘Wow, Aaron Glenn, this guy’s a good coach. Look at how good of a job he’s doing in Detroit. We should want to talk to that guy.’ He’d actually have reason to talk to them. But the fact is, they were criticized for an entire day about their decision to interview the two guys that they did interview, that then they put in the request for Aaron Glenn. I’m glad he told them no. I’m glad he put his foot down and said, ‘I’m not going to be a pawn in whatever it is you guys are doing there.'”
The Raiders made a move that raised some eyebrows this week, firing GM Tom Telesco, which comes in the middle of their own search for a new head coach. Phil Perry believes that for most teams looking for a “high-end candidate,” having the ability to bring in their own personnel person is likely a factor in their decision-making.
“If you want to attract any high-end head coaching candidate, you have to give that guy the opportunity to work with the front office person that he wants to work with,” said Perry. “It’s weird timing. Again, [I] texted by somebody today, the owner there, even though [Tom] Brady’s involved now, that owner, Mark Davis, is a wild card. The operation and how it’s played out this past week doesn’t make a whole lot of sense unless you’re trying to bring a highly-coveted guy who wants a front office guy alongside him when he starts a new job, unless you want that type, and that would be Vrabel, that would be Ben Johnson, that would be Aaron Glenn.”
There was a report that Tom Brady reached out to his former coach, Bill Belichick, about potentially coming in and taking the job, with Belichick obviously having just settled on his new position at North Carolina. He’s made it clear, at least to this point, that he plans on seeing things through there. Vrabel is another name that has been mentioned as a possible candidate. Still, Betrand believes the move to fire Telesco might potentially have more to do with Belichick – if that’s indeed the direction they might be pursuing – than any other possible candidate.
“[Raiders owner] Mark Davis is a loose canon,” said Bertrand. “That’s probably the real reason why this happened. But if it were about one particular coach, it would be more about Bill Belichick than it would be about Mike Vrabel.”
“If it’s about today, if the timing is important, because you could be having quiet conversations with Bill Belichick. There are no quiet conversations with Mike Vrabel right now.”
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Rampant speculation. Not accepting an interview is on Glenn. Nobody else. Why does the media have to be so negative? Please do not join them in their biases and negativity.
I’m just passing along the fact he declined the interview, and having heard what a couple of people had said, passing along comments from both Perry (a relatively balanced reporter) and Bertrand (a little more opinionated). That’s about where my part ends. I try and give the benefit of the doubt in most cases, which is essentially how I feel going into this current hiring cycle.