FanHouse NFL Coaches 2008

With NFL head coaching jobs beginning to open, we'll profile some of the candidates to fill those openings.

Name: Kennedy Pola

Current job: Running backs coach, Jacksonville Jaguars

Past jobs: Assistant coach, UCLA (1992-93), San Diego State (1994-95 and 1999), Colorado (1997-98), USC (200-03), Cleveland Browns (2004)

Pros: Everywhere he's been, the running backs have looked well-coached, and players who have worked with him are just about universal in their praise.

Cons: No experience as a coordinator.

Conclusions: Pola probably won't get any interviews this year, but he should. He's regarded as a good assistant, and the NFL also has a looming problem with the fact that Pacific Islanders are woefully underrepresented in coaching ranks, compared to their numbers among NFL players. The Samoan Pola (who is Troy Polamalu's uncle but changed his surname to make it easier to pronounce) deserves to be considered, both on the basis of his accomplishments as an assistant and because the NFL's owners say they're committed to diversity.

With NFL head coaching jobs beginning to open, we'll profile some of the candidates to fill those openings.

Name: Jim Caldwell

Current job: Assistant head coach/quarterbacks coach, Indianapolis Colts

Past jobs: College assistant at Iowa, Southern Illinois, Northwestern, Colorado, Louisville and Penn State. Head coach, Wake Forest, 1993-2000; assistant coach, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2001

Pros: He coaches the quarterbacks in Indianapolis, and in case you haven't noticed, Indianapolis has had some pretty good production out of its quarterback . Colts coach Tony Dungy, who also had Caldwell on his staff in Tampa Bay, will lobby for Caldwell behind the scenes and give him all the time off he needs for interviews while the Colts are in the playoffs.

Cons: Went 26-63 in his eight years as head coach at Wake Forest.

Conclusions: The Falcons showed some interest in Caldwell before hiring Bobby Petrino last year and are expected to interview him again this year. The biggest problems, though, are the perception that Peyton Manning would look good no matter who was coaching him, and that record at Wake Forest. It's tough to sell your fans on a guy who had so little success the last time he was a head coach, and Falcons owner Arthur Blank desperately wants to get the fans excited about his team again.

With NFL head coaching jobs beginning to open, we'll profile some of the candidates to fill those openings.

Name: Rex Ryan

Current job: Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator

Past jobs: Assistant coach at Eastern Kentucky (1987-88), New Mexico Highlands (1989), Morehead State (1990-93), Arizona Cardinals (1994-95), University of Cincinnati (1996-97), Oklahoma (1998).

Pros: With a decade of experience as an NFL assistant and another decade as a college assistant, he's one of the most experienced coaches in football who has never gotten a head-coaching chance. His defenses always play a tough, aggressive scheme.

Cons: No head coaching experience. Made some questionable decisions in his highest-profile game this year, against the Patriots.

Conclusions: Ryan is one of those guys who's mentioned as a candidate every year but never seems to break through. The Falcons are expected to interview him this week, though, and he seems to have a fairly good chance at this job, as well as possibly some other openings that could come up in the next few days.

With NFL head coaching jobs beginning to open, we'll profile some of the candidates to fill those openings.

Name: Jason Garrett

Current job: Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator

Past jobs: Miami Dolphins quarterbacks coach, 2005-06.

Pros: The Cowboys' offense has been outstanding this year with Garrett running the show. Garrett spent 12 seasons as an NFL backup, mostly to Troy Aikman in Dallas, and he's widely regarded as a smart, strategic coach.

Cons: With only three years of coaching, he's the most inexperienced candidate in the league.

Conclusions: Garrett is expected to interview with the Falcons this week, and depending on which other coaches get fired, he could have more interviews. But Cowboys owner Jerry Jones loves Garrett and would likely make it worth Garrett's while financially to turn a head-coaching offer down: Jones might even give Garrett a new contract that guarantees him the top job in Dallas whenever Wade Phillips leaves. Although Garrett is a hot candidate, the prediction here is that he will still be the Cowboys' offensive coordinator next year.

With NFL head coaching jobs beginning to open, we'll profile some of the candidates to fill those openings.

Name: Mike Singletary

Current job: Assistant head coach/ linebackers coach, San Francisco 49ers

Past jobs: Assistant coach, Baltimore Ravens, 2003-04.

Pros: As a Pro Football Hall of Famer who played linebacker for 12 years on the Chicago Bears, Singletary would have instant credibility in any NFL locker room. He was a head-coaching candidate in a couple of places last year and was said to interview well.

Cons: Singletary would be one of the league's most inexperienced head coaches. He has only five years of coaching experience, and none as a coordinator.

Conclusions: Last year the Falcons' final decision came down to Singletary or Bobby Petrino. Think they wish they could have that one back? This year Singletary turned down the head-coaching job at Baylor, his alma mater, because he thinks he has a chance at a head-coaching job in the NFL, and that may have been a smart move: He will again be a strong candidate in Atlanta.