The Denver Broncos parted ways with head coach John Fox after the team suffered its second home playoff loss in three seasons and fell short of their Super Bowl aspirations. Now the search for a new head coach begins, and there appear to be a few specific names at the top of the list, according to the Denver Post.
1. Gary Kubiak
Kubiak has said repeatedly that he intends to stay with the Baltimore Ravens as offensive coordinator. But as we all know, money and power talk. Broncos general manager John Elway is reportedly dead set on Kubiak as the man for the job. Considering their history together, it's not exactly a big surprise.
Kubiak was Elway's backup quarterback with the Broncos from 1983-1991. He then made the transition to coaching, where we was Denver's quarterback coach or offensive coordinator from 1995-2005. That's a long past with Elway and the Broncos.
Denver relayed its interest in Kubiak to the Ravens earlier this week, though it is still unclear if the former Houston Texans coach has any interest in returning to the top spot.
2. Adam Gase
Gase, the team's offensive coordinator, was the first candidate to be interviewed as he finished up his meeting with Denver's decision-makers yesterday, according to the Broncos' official Twitter account. Gase makes sense for several reasons.
One, the team wouldn't have to ask Peyton Manning (if he returns) to start over with another offensive coordinator. At 38 years old, I'm sure Manning just wants things to run simply and smoothly at this point. Two, several other teams expressed interest in Gase for their head-coaching positions. The San Francisco 49ers, Chicago Bears, Atlanta Falcons and Buffalo Bills all interviewed him. Even though three of those positions have since been filled, it's clear that Gase is in demand.
3. Teryl Austin
Austin will reportedly be interviewed by the Broncos sometime today and it's easy to see why. Just take a look at the job he's done with the Detroit Lions defense.
Detroit's defense finished the 2014 regular season second in yards per game (300.9), third in points per game (17.6) and first in rushing yards per game (69.3). Austin, 49, is a big reason for the improvement on that side of the ball in Detroit.
