Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Teryl Austin has become something of a hot property in coaching circles over the last two seasons. This offseason, he interviewed for four jobs. There’s a caveat, however – Austin feels that two of those interviews weren’t exactly serious.
Austin interviewed with the Giants, Browns, Titans, and Dolphins during the offseason, and on Thursday, Austin said of the process that he felt like only two of the four interviews were “legitimate,” according to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press.
“Like a legitimate job interview,” Austin said. “Like I had a legitimate shot at the job.”
Austin was evasive when asked if he felt those two other interviews were solely to satisfy the Rooney Rule, which requires any team searching for a head coach to interview at least one minority candidate.
“Take it however you want,” Austin said.
You can probably rule out the Browns, whose interest was almost certainly legitimate. They eventually hired a black head coach in Hue Jackson, so an interview with Austin wouldn’t have been necessary to satisfy the rule. This probably happens every offseason, which is disappointing. Others will say that there are still benefits for coaches like Austin, who still got to go through the interview process and has now spoken to a full quarter of NFL teams. Still, it’s not exactly fair to him that he had to go through interviews with a pair of teams who weren’t really all that serious about hiring him.
