With former Ravens coach Brian Billick reportedly on the list of potential candidates for the Bills’ head-coaching job, WGR radio in Buffalo reports that Billick “is already assembling” a coaching staff.
While the move isn’t unusual, it potentially bolsters the perception that Billick thinks a lot of himself, and that he’s being a little presumptuous regarding his chances of getting the gig.
But it shouldn’t.
The reality is that few candidates for the position of head coach enter the interview room without a firm plan for hiring key personnel to join him -- and something more concrete than “well, I’ll call him if I get the job” strategy for landing assistant coaches.
The men who get hired to be NFL head coaches are as prepared when they interview as they are for a Super Bowl. They know the offense they’ll run, they know the defense they’ll use.
And they know who’ll join them, and they know who won’t.
The process of making those calls increases the likelihood that someone will blab, and that’s apparently what happened here.
So none of this means Billick is getting the job, and none of it means that he’s being pushy.