The Lions have started their search for a permanent head coach.
After researching potential candidates for about a month, they began asking permission to speak to coaches under contract with other teams and setting up interviews Monday.
Team president Matt Millen said Tuesday he would go through an extensive, thorough interview process. He said he would interview interim coach **** Jauron, whom he called an "excellent candidate." Chief operating officer Tom Lewand said the Lions would not confirm or deny interest in any other candidates until they became finalists.
Seven other head coaching jobs are open in the NFL, and that number might grow, so Millen must balance competing with other teams to land his man and taking his time to try to make a good decision. He said he would be "practically patient" and "patiently aggressive."
"I want to move forward pretty quick, yet I want to make sure we get the right guy for this job," Millen said in his first extensive public comments since firing Steve Mariucci on Nov. 28. "I know what we need, we know what we're looking for, and we know those qualities exist out there. We have to find the right guy with the right qualities for this football team."
What are those qualities?
"When I think of the Detroit Lions, I think of a tough, physical group," Millen said. "I think of a disciplined group. I think of all the things that football is. That's what we have to do. I think we have to find the right guy that embodies those qualities, and somebody who can bring everything together."
Millen said he wanted the Lions to fit Detroit.
"I think when you think of certain teams, they take on the personality of their city," Millen said. "I think this is a tough city. I think this is a smart city that knows football. It's a straightforward city. I think that's what we have to be."
Mariucci didn't fit that mold. Although he was from Iron Mountain, a town in the Upper Peninsula, he was known as a West Coast guy because he had come from San Francisco, ran the West Coast offense and was relatively easy on players.
Millen fired Mariucci after an embarrassing, 27-7 Thanksgiving loss to Atlanta dropped the Lions to 4-7. Jauron, the defensive coordinator, took over, stabilized a tumultuous situation and finished 1-4. Millen said he would talk to Jauron this week.
"**** was put in a tough spot and did a good job, and I'm really interested in him," Millen said. "I want to hear everything he has to say."
Millen said his first two coaching searches had taught him to be thorough. Millen hired Marty Mornhinweg in 2001, and in 2003 he was so eager to hire Mariucci he was fined $200,000 for violating the NFL's policy on interviewing minority candidates. This time, Millen said, "that will not be a problem in the least."
Millen said after he fired Mariucci the Lions did extensive research on coaching candidates. He said he consulted with a number of football people -- "all kinds from all walks."
"We've been all over the place," Millen said. "I've been traveling a bunch."
Millen said he would consider anyone from college coaches to hotshot NFL assistants to former NFL head coaches.
A number of names have been linked to the Lions, including Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, Cleveland offensive coordinator Maurice Carthon, Pittsburgh offensive line coach Russ Grimm, Chicago defensive coordinator Ron Rivera, Kansas City offensive coordinator Al Saunders, San Francisco linebackers coach Mike Singletary and former New Orleans coach Jim Haslett.
Saunders and Haslett are expected to interview with the Lions by the end of the week. Singletary told the Associated Press that he had been contacted by the team.
The NFL restricts interviewing coaches on teams in the playoffs. This week, teams can interview coaches on teams with a bye. Next week, teams can interview coaches on teams that didn't have a bye. Teams cannot offer jobs to coaches whose teams are still alive.
So it's possible the Lions won't be able to hire a coach until after Super Bowl XL.
Asked what kind of team the permanent coach would inherit, Millen said: "I think he's picking up a talented team. I think he's picking up a team that wants to learn, that wants to be led, that wants to be good. I think it's a team that has a chance. The ingredients are there and the recipe is there, and we need the right guy to throw it together."
Millen said the coach's challenge would be to change the team's attitude.
"The one thing that doesn't exist right now right here for whatever reason is confidence and a belief, and those things can take talent and push it to a whole other level," Millen said. "You've seen it happen. I've seen it happen. We're watching it happen right now in the league in the playoffs. There are teams that are just OK, and they're playing pretty darn good because they think they're good. It makes a big difference."
