Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis met with the media on Friday for the first time since Sean Payton stepped down as the team’s head coach and the search for his successor was the main topic of conversation.
Loomis called this search process “completely different” than the 2006 one that ended with Payton being hired and that’s largely because of how successful the team was over Payton’s 16 years in the team. Loomis said that he feels Payton left the team in much better shape than he found it and that the organization isn’t looking for “wholesale change” with the hiring of a new coach.
The search for that coach got off to a later start than those of other teams, but Loomis said he isn’t feeling pressured to speed the process up as a result.
“I wouldn’t say that I have some drop dead date,” Loomis said. “Obviously, you want to move the process around as quickly as possible and yet it’s more important to get it right than it is to do it quick. We’re going to be diligent about that.”
Loomis called defensive coordinator Dennis Allen “an excellent candidate” while noting that there are others outside the organization who fit the same description. He said the team will keep interviewing until they find “someone that we’re in love with” and make that person the next head coach in New Orleans.