KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Chiefs hired former Dallas Cowboys head coach Chan Gailey as offensive coordinator on Wednesday, handing him one of the NFL's weakest attacks.
He replaces Mike Solari, who took the Chiefs from being one of the league's top offenses to one of the worst in two years.
Kansas City ended the season with a 4-12 record and on a nine-game losing streak after scoring only 226 points. That's 70 fewer than any Kansas City team has scored in 30 years.
Gailey, fired after this past season as head coach at Georgia Tech, inherits a massive rebuilding project and will be working for a head coach, Herm Edwards, who has a reputation for being an offensive stick in the mud.
But unlike Solari, a respected offensive line coach who had never been a coordinator until 2006, Gailey brings a wealth of college and NFL experience.
In 14 seasons in the NFL, he has been on the staff of 11 playoff teams and coached in the Super Bowl four times, including three with Denver. He has been either a head coach or an offensive coordinator eight years. Full story
'Skins not rushing coaching search
ASHBURN, Va. -- There were some well-publicized candidates the last time Dan Snyder went looking for a coach. Jim Fassel, Dennis Green and Ray Rhodes all were interviewed, with Fassel getting more than 12 hours of face time with the owner over three different sessions in what the Washington Redskins claimed were merely preliminary talks.
The end result? None got the job. Snyder stunned the football world by bringing Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs out of retirement. Gibbs, of course, didn't need to be interviewed - just persuaded.
Four years later, Snyder is once again taking a meticulous approach as he seeks a successor to Gibbs, who resigned last week. The choice this time could be another surprise -- because the owner's full list of names is still a well-kept secret.
What is known is that former Atlanta Falcons coach Jim Mora interviewed for the job on Wednesday, and that Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator Ron Meeks is scheduled to speak with Snyder on Thursday.
Titans to interview Denver's Heimerdinger
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee Titans were granted permission to talk to Denver assistant head coach Mike Heimerdinger, a day after dismissing offensive coordinator Norm Chow.
Tennessee coach Jeff Fisher hired Heimerdinger away from the Broncos to be his offensive coordinator in 2000 and let him leave in 2005 for the same job with the New York Jets.
The Jets went 4-12 and Heimerdinger was passed over for the head coaching job that went to Eric Mangini. Days later, Heimerdinger was back in Denver with his former college roommate, Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan.
'Hawks to focus on O in offseason
KIRKLAND, Wash. -- Mike Holmgren has given the Seahawks some extra offseason work by saying he'd rather have a new, long-term extension than return for the final year of his contract in 2008.
As if they didn't have enough to do.
Don't be fooled by Seattle's five consecutive playoff appearances and four division titles in a row. Ruling the ultra-weak NFC West again masked problems on offense that need immediate attention -- specifically a running game that kept the Seahawks from having more than one postseason game at home for the second consecutive January.
In 2005, the Seahawks rode the top seed to the Super Bowl. As the third and fourth seeds the last two years, they were knocked out in the division round.
Bills hike Schonert to O-coordinator
CHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Turk Schonert was promoted to offensive coordinator of the Buffalo Bills after serving as the team's quarterbacks coach the past two seasons.
He replaces Steve Fairchild, who recently became Colorado State's coach after two seasons with the Bills. Schonert inherits an offense ranked 30th in the league the past two seasons under Fairchild.
The 51-year-old Schonert was an NFL quarterback for 10 seasons before becoming a coach. This will be his 13th season as an assistant and first as a coordinator.
The Bills also promoted Alex Van Pelt to quarterbacks coach, Eric Studesville to running game coordinator/running backs coach and Sean Kugler to offensive line coach. Kugler, the assistant offensive line coach last season, replaces Jim McNally, who retired last week.
