The moment Josh McDaniels turned down the Colts, Dave McGinnis’ name was taken in vain.
McGinnis explains his situation with the Bears in 1999 was “a whole lot different” than what happened with McDaniels and the Colts on Tuesday.
“It’s not really the same,” McGinnis told the Talk of Fame Network. “I was never offered a contract. I was announced as the head coach before I had even been offered the job. I had gone in for a day interview, and they wanted to stretch it to two days, and I said, ‘Sure.’ I spent the night in the hotel room, and the next morning waiting for a call back to come up to finish my interview, and the phone rang. I thought it was the Bears’ front office calling, but it was Les Frazier, who I was going to hire on my staff. Les told me he had another job being offered to him, and that if I would just tell him he had a job with him that he would turn the other people down. I told him, ‘Les, I don’t have this job yet; I can’t in good faith tell you that.’ He said, ‘Well, coach, it’s been on the radio for an hour. You’re the head coach. There’s a press conference at 11.’ This is about 8:30 or 9 in the morning. So, yeah, it’s a whole lot different.”
McGinnis, then the Cardinals’ defensive coordinator, walked away. He ended up becoming Arizona’s head coach in 2000.