Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn named top minority head coach candidate

After getting two head coaching interviews this year, Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn has been tabbed as a top minority candidate in the NFL.

Despite the big picture struggles of his unit last season, Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn got not just one but two head coaching interviews in the 2022 hiring cycle. The Denver Broncos and New Orleans Saints both ultimately went another direction, so Glenn will stay on the staff in Detroit for at least one more season.

In his new “Football Morning In America” column out on Monday morning after the NFL Combine, Peter King of NBC Sports had a blurb about Glenn.

"A new leader in the Black coach packWhen I asked around about Black coach candidates to a few NFL GMs, I heard only one name out of three mouths: Detroit defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn. A Bill Parcells disciple, Glenn, 49, is a former 15-year NFL corner with 41 career interceptions. He’s a steely, bright guy who players (I’m told) love playing for.Glenn interviewed for the Saints’ head-coaching job, and GM Mickey Loomis told me he had a great one. The problem there was Dennis Allen, who’d been on the New Orleans staff since 2015 and has choreographed one of the best defenses in the league. Someone was going to overwhelm the Saints to knock out Allen. Glenn came close.“Aaron will be a head coach in our league,” Loomis told me."

It’s not necessarily a huge revelation that Glenn almost got the Saints job over the in-house favorite Dennis Allen. It’s also not a huge revelation from Saints general manager Mickey Loomis that Glenn will be a head coach in the league at some point.

I don’t love King’s crude-sounding language classifying Glenn as “a new leader in the Black coach pack.” Yes, many worthy black assistant coaches don’t get the serious looks they should to become head coaches in the NFL. But a label as “the Black coach pack” looks weird and I think it comes off badly–but maybe that’s just me. I welcome feedback on that.

Apart from my issue with some of the wording King used, Glenn is a rising star among NFL assistant coaches. He’s surely not long for the Lions’ coaching staff.