Underhill: Saints are interviewing probably 12 coaches (Tracker: officially 9 candidates) [Rapoport: Saints may add more]

St. Widge said
I did not say that Nagy was a good head coach. I said that given their records, Gruden is not a much better coach than Nagy. So, if Nagy isn't a good HC, and he isn't, then neither is Gruden. Period. Gruden had one great year in 2002 and has been mediocre to bad since then.

So if records aren't everything, does this mean we should have "looked beyond the record" for DA? Of course not. Because, in the end records are everything for a head coach.

Gruden didn’t win his playoff appearances after ‘02 but I think he was more above average than mediocre-bad after the SB. He had 2 NFCS titles in Tampa post-SB. 4 winning seasons out of 7 overall there. He had 5 losses of 3 points or less in the 7-9 season the year after the SB. He produced winning seasons with QBs that were 2nd or 3rd QBs anywhere else or out of the league level. But he maxed out Griese, Simms, Gradkowski, and older Brad Johnson enough to win a decent amount of games. I think his wins reflected the furthest he could go with the QB talent that his two Tampa GMs gave him.

For his career, he has 5 division titles, AFCCG app, SB title, and 5 losing seasons out of 14 full seasons. He probably was on his way to a 10+ win season in the resign year in 2021 based on their schedule and the interim producing 10-7 with his team.

I think his post-Oakland/Tampa SB win career is equivalent to most current playoff coaches. Most playoff coaches in the league right now don’t have more than 1 great season, if any, if a conference championship or SB win defines a great season. They’re just winning their division and maybe get to the divisional round. But a lot of times just making a wildcard appearance and follow up with a winning record but missing playoffs. They’re repeating those results every 3 years, wildcard, missed playoffs, divisional. Or wildcard, divisional, missed playoffs. Maybe they’re lucky enough for the divisional app to become a conference round appearance. But then missed playoffs 2 years in a row after that like the Bengals coach.