The Bucs needed the Texans’ permission to interview Wade, and the Texans could approve the time and place of the interview. A coach whose team played in the wild card round may only be interviewed after the wild card games and before the divisional games, so it could only be this week. Only one interview is allowed as long as the Texans are still in the playoffs, unless they make it to the Super Bowl in which case the Bucs can (again, with the Texans’ permission) talk to him a second time in the open week no later than the Sunday before the Super Bowl (the day of the Pro Bowl). They can’t have any other contact with him or his agent, and they can’t sign him to a contract, get him to promise to sign a contract, or announce that he’s the next coach.
I’m pretty sure that before that last rule was put in place there were several assistants who coached on Super Bowl winners after they’d been named as head coaches elsewhere. I want to say that Norv Turner and Dave Wannstedt coached in the Super Bowl for the Cowboys after agreeing to take the jobs in Chicago and Washington and Bill Belichick was named as the Browns’ head coach before winning a ring as the Giants’ DC.
I don’t have a problem with Wade wanting another shot as a head coach and I don’t think it’ll be a distraction. He’ll have an uphill battle in getting the job, not only because of his age and health concerns but also because of the way it ended for him in Dallas and all of the stories that came out about how loose a ship he ran there.
|