Hire the resume, not the mustache

This originally began as a comment on Greg Eno's blog, Out of Bounds, where the topic du jour is the prospect of the Detroit Lions hiring Russ Grimm as their new head coach. But as my fingers kept typing and the comment grew longer, I decided it might fit better as an entry here instead. But please, read Greg's post first.

Greg thinks Grimm would be a good hire because of the expertise he'd bring to this team as Pittsburgh's current offensive line coach, along with an attitude that suits a blue collar city. I like the tough mentality and persona Grimm would presumably bring to Detroit, too. And I agree he'd be embraced by the fans as "one of us." If Grimm could be to Detroit what Cowher is to Pittsburgh, I would regularly jump up and kick my heels together while walking down the street.

But I'd feel a whole lot better about Grimm if he was in demand by other teams and worked as an offensive or defensive coordinator at some point.

There's a reason coordinator jobs are the natural step to a head coaching position. Those coaches proved they could run an entire unit and oversee a staff. And in most cases, they called plays, which should give a clear indication as to a preferred scheme or philosophy. (Is he aggressive? Does he take risks? Is he conservative? Does he play it safe?) Being a position coach might prove you can teach technique, but it doesn't show if you can lead a team.

I can think of two people off the top of my head that went from position coach to head coach: Mike Tice and Herm Edwards. I realize that's not really a representative sample. But I'd say Tice didn't work out and Edwards did. Which was the rule and which was the exception?

According to Nick Cotsonika in today's Detroit Free Press and ESPN.com's Michael Smith (thanks to MLive.com's Highlight Reel for the link), Grimm could be the Lions head coach as soon as the Steelers are eliminated from the playoffs. And if that kind of buzz is surrounding Grimm before Millen's even interviewed him, doesn't that indicate he's probably already made his decision? Isn't that exactly what happened with the Mornhinweg and Mariucci hirings?

So what's really changed, other than Grimm looking more like a "Millen guy"? More interviews? What did they matter if Millen already knew he wanted to hire his buddy? That just makes the whole process even more fraudulent than the failure to interview coaches before Mariucci was hired.

(What would've happened if each candidate showed up for his interview with the same type of macho mustache Grimm and Millen sport on their lips? Machismo, baby! Does Singletary still have his mustache?)

Maybe Grimm really is the best candidate. But it doesn't look that way when it sounds as if a decision's been made before a fair interview process has been completed. I really hope Millen knows what the #@$% he's doing this time. Because this is beginning to look familiar.