The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Falcons owner thinks big in hunt for new coach
Years after a failed pursuit of Parcells, Blank now trying to land his protégé.
FLOWERY BRANCH — Falcons owner Arthur Blank has interviewed two of the biggest names in the coaching industry as he attempts to replace coach Arthur Smith. Apparently, tired of the franchise’s six consecutive losing seasons, Blank interviewed former New England coach Bill Belichick on Monday and Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh on Tuesday. A second interview with Belichick was conducted Friday. This is the sixth time that Blank has searched for a coach, and this time, he’s swinging for the fences. He has hired Jim Mora, Bobby Petrino, Mike Smith, Dan Quinn and Arthur Smith. All of them were former coordinators with no NFL head coaching experience.
It was 2007, after the Petrino experiment/embarrassment, that the Falcons last went big-game hunting in the NFL, and things didn’t go so well.
Blank had done his “extensive homework” on Bill Parcells, including consulting with Dallas owner Jerry Jones, according to a book titled “Parcells: A Football Life” by Parcells and Nunyo Demasio.
On Dec. 11, 2007, Wayne Huizenga, who was the owner of the Dolphins, flew to Albany, New York, and then drove to Saratoga Springs for lunch at Parcells’ favorite restaurant: the West Side Stadium Café.
A tentative deal was hashed out for him to become the Dolphins’ executive vice president of football operations.
On Dec. 13, Blank called and wanted to talk about Parcells becoming the Falcons’ vice president of football operations. Parcells told him about the meeting with the Dolphins and that it could fall through because of a potential sale to Stephen Ross.
Huizenga was worried about the amount of estate taxes his family would have to pay if he died.
Blank, with Parcells’ blessing, traveled to Saratoga Springs for a meeting. They met for several hours.
Parcells had a deadline of Dec. 18 to make a decision.
Blank flew back to upstate New York with his attorney Dec. 19 to close the deal. He offered a fouryear deal, to the Dolphins’ threeyear deal.
The New York Daily News and ESPN.com posted articles quoting Parcells on the likelihood of his joining the Falcons.
The Dolphins matched the Falcons’ offer and tossed in a company car. After Blank returned to Parcells’ house after lunch, he was told that Parcells decided to join the Dolphins.
“I’m disappointed,” Blank said. “I thought we had a deal.”
Blank had to regroup. On Jan. 13, 2008, the Falcons hired Thomas Dimitroff as general manager and Mike Smith as head coach.
Parcells ended up helping the Falcons by drafting offensive tackle Jake Long with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2008 draft. St. Louis took Chris Long a pick later, and Dimitroff selected Matt Ryan at No. 3.
Belichick doesn’t appear to have a second team to leverage against the Falcons. The Cowboys elected to retain coach Mike McCarthy, and Harbaugh is considered the front-runner for the Chargers job.
However, the Falcons have not complied with the league’s Rooney Rule as of Thursday. The Falcons are required to hold two in-person interviews with minority candidates. The Falcons have held several virtual interviews with minority candidates.
Blank, one of the founders of the league’s diversity, equity and inclusion committee, has said the team will follow the rules.
“We’ll take as much time as we need to do that and do it correctly,” Blank said. “I think it’s a good thing, as (CEO) Rich (McKay) and I have chatted about this more than once — and I serve on the DEI committee for the NFL and have been involved in a number of these changes — the NFL, by design, has kind of slowed the process down as multiple teams that are in playoffs now that there are different rules about when you can talk to each person, rules when they can talk to them on their way to the bathroom, on their way from the bathroom. (He was joking.)
“I mean, there’s like a million different rules you have to pay a tremendous amount of attention to. I’m making a joke of it, but it’s very serious and very well thought out to make sure the coaches are respected, their teams are respected and their efforts being where they are, are fully respected as well, and to make sure that all candidates are getting a fair opportunity to compete for these unique opportunities.
“So, we will pay all attention to those rules; we did last time in 2021. I think our search process that we went through with coach (Arthur) Smith was widely saluted, supported at the league level as being kind of a model as to what they would like to see clubs do. I think we did it well.”
But after three seasons, Smith was terminated with a 21-30 record. Belichick had a similar record in his first three seasons as a head coach in Cleveland. He was 6-10, 7-9 and 7-9 (20-28) in his first three seasons with the
Browns.
“We certainly had hard, factual reasons why we selected coach Smith,” Blank said. “So, we will take our time and do it as well.”
If Belichick becomes the Falcons’ head coach, his first order of business will be to find a quarterback.
The Falcons are at the early stages of their quarterback evaluations. But the new coach will drive the direction of the evaluations based on how a quarterback would fit his offensive schemes.
The Falcons will look at the potential free-agent quarterbacks, possibly Minnesota’s Kirk Cousins. Then, they’ll have look at the quarterbacks who could be traded, including revisiting Bears quarterback Justin Fields and Raiders quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.
The Falcons passed on Fields when they had the fourth overall pick in the 2021 draft.
Those evaluations must be completed and ready for the new coach.
Then, the Falcons, who have the eighth overall pick in the draft, have to evaluate the rookie quarterbacks in the draft. They’ll have to set up in-person meetings and get all of the film work done for the new coach to know what his options are.
There usually are two good quarterbacks in the draft. Some years, there are three, and other years there are no legitimate NFL prospects.
In this year’s draft, there are different styles of quarterbacks. USC’s Caleb Williams has the most dynamic combination of arm talent and athletic ability.
LSU’s Jayden Daniels is a dazzling runner, while North Carolina’s Drake Maye is more balanced. Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. is considered an accurate pocket passer, and Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy has a 27-1 record as a starter, but he would be a reach at No. 8.
So, if Blank lands his coach, the next order of business in a potential turnaround is to get the quarterback.
With the stadium named Mercedes-Benz Stadium, there shouldn’t be a snag in getting Belichick a company car like there was with Parcells.