The night of Jan. 25, Mike Mickens broke the news to Notre Dame that he’d decided to leave his role as the Fighting Irish’s defensive pass game coordinator and defensive backs coach to take a similar role with the Baltimore Ravens.
That move by the Ravens to hire Mickens, who was also of interest to the Dallas Cowboys, was essentially the start of something we see every year: NFL teams hiring respected coaches from the college space.
It’s something that’s continued in recent days with moves like the Los Angeles Chargers hiring Western Michigan’s Chris O’Leary as their new defensive coordinator and the Buffalo Bills hiring Oklahoma co-defensive coordinator Jay Valai as well as Minnesota edge rushers coach Bobby April. It’s also something we’ll probably see more of in the near future.
In the last few days, sources have mentioned a number of college assistants as currently being of interest for NFL openings. Among them: Colorado defensive coordinator Robert Livingston, USC defensive line coach Eric Henderson and Georgia outside linebackers coach Chidera Uzo-Diribe.
The 40-year-old Livingston, who spent nearly 10 years with the Bengals before joining Deion Sanders in Boulder, interviewed with the Cowboys and is also viewed as a possibility for a role with the Denver Broncos, who recently lost defensive pass game coordinator Jim Leonhard to the defensive coordinator job with the Bills.
Henderson, who began at USC in 2024 but also has NFL experience with the Rams and the Chargers, interviewed with Dallas before the team hired former Minnesota Vikings defensive line coach Marcus Dixon. He continues to garnering interest from other NFL teams.
Georgia’s Uzo-Diribe is one of at least two college assistants under consideration for the outside linebackers coach position with the Cowboys along with Texas Tech’s C.J. Ah You, who is also talking to the Pittsburgh Steelers about a job.
Some of the others that have come up in recent days as being of interest to NFL teams: Akron head coach Joe Moorhead, Indiana co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Chandler Whitmer and Miami defensive pass game coordinator Zac Etheridge. There have been others, too. Colleges used to hold off on making assistant coaching moves until after National Signing Day, so that it did not upset prospects before they had to sign their letters of intent. The timing of this year’s batch is not related to that — colleges now make their coaching moves in December, both before and after the Early Signing Day — and is instead tethered to the NFL’s carousel calendar.
Coordinator notes
— Those still in the mix for the New York Jets offensive coordinator job include former Indianapolis Colts and Carolina Panthers head coach Frank Reich, veteran offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell and former Los Angeles and Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman.
— New Orleans Saints quarterbacks coach Scott Tolzien was among the top candidates for the Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator job but has opted to stay in New Orleans.
— Some sources see Leslie Frazier among the possibilities for Kubiak’s defensive coordinator job in Vegas. The former Minnesota Vikings head coach, who has been a defensive coordinator for several teams, has been Seattle’s assistant head coach the last two seasons and thus has worked with new Las Vegas Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak, who comes from SEattle.
A popular former defensive coordinator
At least a few teams are interested in former Ravens defensive coordinator Zach Orr for high-ranking positions.
The Cowboys, New York Giants and Chargers are among the teams that have been in communication with Orr, who interviewed for the Chargers defensive coordinator job before they hired O’Leary. The former Baltimore standout linebacker was the Ravens’ defensive coordinator the last two seasons.
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