We love reading local coverage of the Packers because it’s obvious the readership (and writers) love everything about football: the backstories, the strategy, the profile on the 47th guy on the roster.
We love the minutia too, which is a long way of explaining why we’re posting an item on Mike Nolan turning down the Packers . . . a year ago. If Packers fans care, so do we.
Greg A. Bedard of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that Nolan turned down Packers coach Mike McCarthy when he offered the defensive coordinator position last offseason. Ultimately, the gig went to Dom Capers.
Nolan said he made the decision to turn the job down for family reasons.
“You could say, ‘Well, now you’re in Miami so I’m not really buying that reason,’” Nolan said. “But I had a son who was a senior [in high school] and it was important for me to stay close.”
Nolan would up leaving Denver after just one season because he wasn’t able to work with Josh McDaniels. Capers did quite well until the playoffs. And that’s the rest of the story.