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We've learned about another topic that the owners will take up later this month in Arizona, when they convene for the 2007 Annual Meeting.
Of the resolutions to be presented, one measure would identify coordinators as a distinct tier of the coaching staff, and would require that assistant coaches under contract be permitted to interview for coordinator jobs with other teams.
The league's current rule is one of the great injustices in the sport, in our view. Position coaches -- like Rod Marinelli when he was the defensive line coach in Tampa -- can be blocked from interviewing for a coordinator job if they are under contract with their current teams. Several teams (most notably the Buccaneers) consistently decline permission in these circumstances.
But in an industry that is based on the notion that every position short of head coach is merely a stopover toward a greater goal, it makes no sense to tie the hands of the guys who are trying to make the climb.
The counter to this view is that assistant coaches on one hand want the security of a multi-year contract, but on the other hand want to be able to tear the thing up when a better job comes along. We've heard several league insiders argue over the years that the assistant coaches who think they are on the fast track should insist on one-year deals.
Still, we believe that it makes sense to let the assistants become coordinators, since it really is a distinct level -- and since it is one of the most common sources of head-coaching hires.
Of the resolutions to be presented, one measure would identify coordinators as a distinct tier of the coaching staff, and would require that assistant coaches under contract be permitted to interview for coordinator jobs with other teams.
The league's current rule is one of the great injustices in the sport, in our view. Position coaches -- like Rod Marinelli when he was the defensive line coach in Tampa -- can be blocked from interviewing for a coordinator job if they are under contract with their current teams. Several teams (most notably the Buccaneers) consistently decline permission in these circumstances.
But in an industry that is based on the notion that every position short of head coach is merely a stopover toward a greater goal, it makes no sense to tie the hands of the guys who are trying to make the climb.
The counter to this view is that assistant coaches on one hand want the security of a multi-year contract, but on the other hand want to be able to tear the thing up when a better job comes along. We've heard several league insiders argue over the years that the assistant coaches who think they are on the fast track should insist on one-year deals.
Still, we believe that it makes sense to let the assistants become coordinators, since it really is a distinct level -- and since it is one of the most common sources of head-coaching hires.
