BREAKING NEWS VIDEO: Shanahan Fired After 14 Seasons With Broncos

Bills Deliberate Jauron’s Future

Buffalo Bills owner Ralph C. Wilson Jr. said Monday afternoon the team would make a decision on the future of head coach Dick Jauron on Wednesday. Wilson met in Detroit today with Russ Brandon, the Bills’ chief operating officer, Tom Modrak, the Bills’ vice president of college scouting, and Jeff Littmann, the Bills’ treasurer. “I have nothing definitive tonight to give you,” Wilson told The Buffalo News by phone from Detroit. “We had a meeting today. We’re going to have a meeting tomorrow and the next day, and then you’ll have your answer.” The Bills ended their third straight 7-9 season under Jauron with Sunday’s 13-0 loss to the New England Patriots. This was the most disappointing of the three seasons because the Bills lost eight of their last 10 games. – Buffalo News

Dick Jauron apparently has a signed contract extension in hand, but what the Buffalo Bills coach really needs is for ownership to tell him he still has the job. Whether Jauron will remain coach will be decided Wednesday, team owner Ralph C. Wilson Jr. told The Buffalo News. According to the newspaper, Wilson had a meeting Monday in Detroit with chief operating officer Russ Brandon, vice president of college scouting Tom Modrak and team treasurer Jeff Littmann. “We’re going to have a meeting [Tuesday] and the next day, and then you’ll have your answer,” Wilson told the News. The Bills, after a 4-0 start to the season, lost eight of their final 10 games to post a third consecutive 7-9 record under Jauron. Several media outlets, including ESPN, reported this fall that Jauron and the Bills had reached agreement on a three-year extension. In December, ESPN and the NFL Network reported that the coach had signed the deal, which runs through the 2011 season. At the time the deal was agreed upon, the Bills were 5-2 and in contention in the AFC East. – ESPN.com

BREAKING NEWS VIDEO: Cowher Still Plans to Interview With Jets

VIDEO: Who Will Inherit The 0-16 Lions?

BREAKING NEWS: Walker to be New NMSU Head Coach

CrimsonIllustrated.com has learned that NMSU’s A.D. McKinley Boston and coach Walker signed a contract at 4:30pm today making Walker NMSU’s next head coach of Aggie football. We are expecting NMSU to make a formal, official announcement on coach Walker’s hiring on Tuesday. – CrimsonIllustrated.com

DeWayne Walker, UCLA’s defensive coordinator, will be named the new head coach at New Mexico State, according to good sources. – BruinReportOnline.com

If Walker is offered the job by NMSU and accepts, he would be the seventh black head football coach in Division 1-A. Walker could replace Hal Mumme, who was dismissed on Dec. 1. Walker just completed his third year as UCLA’s defensive coordinator. He’s also coached in college at Utah State, Brigham Young and Oklahoma State and in the NFL with the New York Giants and New England Patriots. – Las Cruces Sun-News

Shanahan in Trouble with Broncos?

After extending their playoff drought to three consecutive seasons, there had better be better days ahead, or even coach Mike Shanahan might start feeling some warmth beneath his office chair… There is no defending a coach who goes four years without a postseason appearance, so Shanahan will have pressure like never before in 2009. But he deserves more time because the Broncos are trending upward. They were effectively eliminated from the playoffs with two weeks remaining last year. They were in position to clinch the playoffs with two weeks remaining this year. That’s progress. The Broncos have a promising core of young players, led by quarterback Jay Cutler. They have an offense that is a frontline running back from becoming the league’s best. – Denver Post

Gruden Feeling Heat in Tampa Bay

Coach Jon Gruden stepped to the podium Monday morning for the postmortem of his 2008 season. “I feel worse today than I did yesterday,” he said. Not as bad, however, as a trio of colleagues — Detroit’s Rod Marinelli, Cleveland’s Romeo Crennel and the New York Jets’ Eric Mangini — who were fired Monday. Around Tampa Bay, fans of the Buccaneers were in ugly-mob form in the wake of Sunday’s 31-24 home loss to the awful Oakland Raiders, the team’s fourth straight defeat and the death-blow to playoff hopes that started the month as a virtual certainty. The talk-radio circuits were lit up with calls for somebody to pay for the biggest collapse in franchise history. Gruden, with just two playoff appearances (both first-round ousters) in the six seasons since winning the Super Bowl, was the bull’s-eye on everyone’s target. “They have every right to feel the way they do,” Gruden said of a fan base that saw a 9-3 record and utter control of a postseason berth (even an NFC South title and first-round playoff bye) implode before its eyes, including back-to-back ugly home losses to end the year. “I’m working as hard as I can, and I will continue to do that as long as I’m in this position.” – Orlando Sentinel

The Name Game: Gilbride, Fassel Among Candidates at Oakland

“The Name Game” at Football Rumor Mill focuses on active coaching searches around the NFL. The latest edition centers on the Oakland Raiders…

The offseason was but a day old and already a group of potential Raiders head coaches has emerged. Raiders owner Al Davis will begin interviewing candidates this week, a team source confirmed Monday. The list is expected to include Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride, Raiders advance scout Paul Hackett and Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh, according to team sources. Former Giants coach Jim Fassel has openly lobbied for the job and went so far as to send Davis a letter expressing his interest. As usual, Davis will decide the next coach, and “he wants to move quickly,” club spokesman John Herrera said. Interim coach Tom Cable remains very much in play after finishing the 5-11 season with two straight victories, two sources said on the condition of anonymity. – San Francisco Chronicle

The Raiders plan to ask permission to speak with offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride, although interim coach Tom Cable has a solid chance to be hired by mercurial owner Al Davis. – New York Post

The Name Game: Rams Begin Search for New Head Coach

“The Name Game” at Football Rumor Mill focuses on active coaching searches around the NFL. The latest edition centers on the St. Louis Rams…

Add one more name to the list of candidates the St. Louis Rams are considering as their next head coach. St. Louis asked for and received permission Monday from Green Bay to interview Packers linebackers coach Winston Moss. It’s not the first time that Rams general manager Billy Devaney has turned to Moss. He did the same last season when he was leading Atlanta’s head-coaching search that resulted in the hire of Jaguars defensive coordinator Mike Smith. Moss spent Monday getting ready for the interview and soon enough he will have his chance to try to impress the Rams. – NFL.com

Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier and Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator-assistant head coach Rex Ryan also could be added to the Rams’ interview list following this weekend’s wild-card playoff games. The Ravens travel to Miami and the Vikings play host to Philadelphia on Sunday. Win or lose, the Rams can’t talk to Frazier or Ryan until after those games. “I sat in last year with Frazier and Ryan,” Rams general manager Billy Devaney said Monday. “So I have a good feel for those guys. But there’s a couple of guys that popped up this year that I’m not familiar with. I mean, I know who they are, but I’m in the process of researching them right now, and they may be in the mix.” Devaney, who is heading the Rams’ coach search, was part of the search team last year in Atlanta that led to the hiring of Mike Smith by the Falcons. According to league sources, early indications are that two of the hottest coordinators on the market, New York Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo and New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels will be out of the Rams’ price range. – St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Jim Haslett acted as if it was business as usual on Monday, grading game tape when he wasn’t giving a farewell address to St. Louis Rams players and reviewing the season with media. But things have changed. The coach during a 10-game losing streak to end another sorry season has been reduced to a candidate to coach in 2009, with chances that hinge on a wish list that will need to reflect a radical makeover for a franchise that’s missed the playoffs five straight years. General manager Billy Devaney, who’ll head the coaching search, has talked several times with Haslett about the future but only in general terms. “We need to talk with Jim about specifics, and just how radical the changes would be,” Devaney said in an interview with The Associated Press. “It’s not working around here, there’s no getting around that, and what we want to hear from Jim is what exactly he’s going to do.” – Chicago Tribune

The Name Game: Garrett to Talk With Lions

“The Name Game” at Football Rumor Mill focuses on active coaching searches around the NFL. The latest edition centers on the Detroit Lions…

The Detroit Lions have been granted permission to interview Cowboys offense coordinator Jason Garrett for their head coaching vacancy, a source said. Detroit owner William Clay Ford fired coach Rod Marinelli on Monday after the club became the first team in NFL history to post an 0-16 record. Garrett interviewed with Baltimore and Atlanta last off-season when he was viewed as one of the hottest assistant coaches in the NFL. This was after the Cowboys put up some of the best offensive numbers in franchise history, including 455 points. Garrett is now being criticized for the team’s offensive inconsistency in December. The Cowboys finished the regular season ranked 13th in the NFL with 344.5 yards per game and 18th with 362 points. – Dallas Morning News

With three firings around the NFL yesterday, Steve Spagnuolo is in demand. The winless Lions fired Rod Marinelli and have asked for and received permission to interview Spagnuolo. The Browns, who canned general manager Phil Savage and coach Romeo Crennel, have expressed interest in speaking with Spagnuolo. The Rams are expected to become involved. The Jets, who fired Eric Mangini, reportedly have asked permission to talk with Spagnuolo. Spagnuolo is not the only one in demand on Tom Coughlin’s staff. The Raiders plan to ask permission to speak with offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride, although interim coach Tom Cable has a solid chance to be hired by mercurial owner Al Davis. – New York Post

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