Donnie Henderson looks to be next Lions Defensive Coordinator

[DeToxRox]

Being reported the last few days. A great hire, imho, especially for a team looking to get tougher. The guys gets in fights with players, I love it.

[mmarra82]

Showed great promise with the Jets D in 2004, however, 2005 showed little improvement from the team. Not sure if that is reflective of him or Herm putting the clamps on him. Was suppose to institute a defense with multiple fronts, and that was evident at the start of 2004, however, the Jets appeared to play a 4-3 from midway through 04 until the end this season.

Loved the way he got in players faces during games, wished the Jets could have kept him aboard, but with Mangini a defensive minded coach I understand that he wants someone more in line with what he wants.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Being reported the last few days. A great hire, imho, especially for a team looking to get tougher. The guys gets in fights with players, I love it.
I agree. I was pretty happy with the hire. Between Henderson and Marinelli things should be a little different for the Lions this year. It will be very interesting to see how the team reacts. For what it's worth, those who can't take it, good riddance. The country club approach wasn't getting it done. At all.

The big hire is still looming... offensive coordinator. The Lions offense has been so bad for so long, this will be a key hire. If someone could actually get the most of all these alleged "weapons", then the Lions could really rebound nicely. A tall order indeed.

[miami_fan]

Martz in talks after withdrawing from Raiders' searchBy Chris Mortensen and John Clayton
ESPN.com


Two days after interviewing with the Raiders, Mike Martz pulled his name from consideration for Oakland's head coaching job and is now contemplating whether or not to join the Detroit Lions' staff.

Martz is talking to the Lions about becoming their offensive coordinator and will attempt to make a decision no later than Monday.

Earlier this month the Lions hired Rod Marinelli to be their new head coach. Marinelli filled the other coordinator job on Tuesday when former Jets defensive coordinator Donnie Henderson was hired in the same capacity.

Deciding who to hire as offensive coordinator will be a critical decision for the Lions, given the ongoing instability at the quarterback position.

Marinelli wanted to discuss the job with former Bills coach Mike Mularkey, but Mularkey accepted an offer from the Dolphins last Sunday to run their offense.

Steelers offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt remains the leading candidate to be the Raiders' new head coach. Although he's interested, there is no guarantee Whisenhunt will take the job; the Raiders cannot interview Whisenhunt until after the Super Bowl.

Martz led the Rams to four playoff berths and a Super Bowl championship in six seasons. He was fired the day after the season ended because of continuing disagreements with the front office.

Martz and the Rams reached a settlement believed to be about half the $3.25 million he was owed for the final year of a three-year contract.

Martz, who interviewed in New Orleans for the head coaching job that went to Sean Payton earlier this month, missed the last 11 games of the season with endocarditis, a bacterial infection of a heart valve. However, he said his health is not a concern and he's in no hurry to get another job.

John Clayton is a senior writer for ESPN.com. Chris Mortensen covers the NFL for ESPN and contributes to ESPN Insider.

[Schmidty]

I don't know what to think about the Martz rumor. I can't stand the man or his "personality", but he's a proven offensive genius, at least as an O.C.

[MacroGuru]

Im all for Martz at O.C. he is awesome there, and it's right where he belongs, and with the talent and weapons the Lions have, it should be a solid fit.

[ISiddiqui]

Martz is a brilliant OC, but a horrible HC. A HC that can reign him in will be successful.

[timmynausea]

I'd love to see Martz in Detroit.

[Deattribution]

I don't know, Martz would be a good fit if he could stay content for a full season - I just picture him imploding in the middle of the season when he figures out Harrington sucks ass and his receives can't catch a cold but Marinelli (and Millen) make all the personel decisions.

He's definitely a good offensive mind, but he seems like the type of guy that's gonna need quite a bit of say to stay happy.

[Danny]

It would an incredible move for Detroit to get Martz in as their OC.

[Schmidty]

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060201/SPORTS0101/602010343/1126

[Honolulu_Blue]

Further updates:

http://www.mlive.com/weblogs/highlightreel/

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</td> <td width="418"> Wednesday, February 01, 2006</td><td>
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Marinelli: Martz not hired... Yet
Rod Marinelli spoke to a large room of media at 1:30-2 p.m. and said he has spoken with Mike Martz extensively, but he is not the Lions offensive coordintor.

The interview process is still going on, and Marinelli says he wants to be thorough in the interview process and make sure he's right for the team.

Marinelli also raved about the Rams yards per carry average, and said Martz' teams were power teams because of the way they used the motion tight end.

More to come...</td></tr></tbody> </table>

[Bee]

My guess is the Redskins will hire both Martz and Henderson as assistant coaches. :D

[Schmidty]

My guess is the Redskins will hire both Martz and Henderson as assistant coaches. :D

And pay them 8 mill a year too. ;)

[Honolulu_Blue]

According to this link, Martz has accepted the offer and all that needs to be done is work out the contract details.

I like the hire. It should be very interesting to see what, if anything, Martz can do with this offense. Who is going to be the QB? Can he get anything out of these lazy, prima donna former first round WRs (aka The Three Divas)? Can he get the most out of Kevin Jones?

As always with the Lions, interesting times ahead...

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/rams/story/9278C4AEFDF23098862571080020A75E?OpenDocument

Martz accepts Lions' offer
By Jim Thomas ([email protected])
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
01/31/2006
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Former Rams coach Mike Martz.
(James A. Finley/AP)
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12:30 p.m. Wednesday update:


DETROIT -- Former Rams coach Mike Martz has been offered -- and has accepted -- the job as Detroit Lions offensive coordinator.

But it’s not quite a done deal. As of mid-day Wednesday, contract terms had yet to be worked out.

Martz interviewed with the Lions in Detroit on Tuesday. When he returned to St. Louis on Tuesday night, new Lions coach Rod Marinelli offered Martz the job.

STLtoday.com with have more details on this story as it develops.

* * *

STLtoday.com's earlier story:


While hundreds of media members were prowling the floor of Ford Field during Super Bowl Media Day festivities Tuesday, former Rams coach Mike Martz was in the same building meeting with Detroit Lions officials.

Martz, who interviewed for the Lions' offensive coordinator position, got more than the nickel tour. He met with team president Matt Millen and the Lions' new head coach, Rod Marinelli. Detroit owner William Clay Ford came down from his office to say hello. Martz even met members of the Lions' public relations staff.

Martz returned to St. Louis on Tuesday evening without a job offer, but that could be subject to change. The Lions apparently told Martz they would get back to him today.

According to league sources, Martz hit it off well with Marinelli, the former Tampa Bay assistant head coach-linebackers coach.

Although Martz originally said he was interested only in working as a head coach in 2006, he later changed his stance to say he would consider working as a coordinator next season if the right situation presented itself. Martz apparently left Detroit on Tuesday with good vibes about the possibility of working with Marinelli and the Lions.

After just one season in St. Louis, secondary coach Kurt Schottenheimer has returned to Green Bay to take the same position on new coach Mike McCarthy's staff.

[timmynausea]

Wow, that is awesome. I wanted him to end up with the Lions. I actually considered him among candidates for head coach just cause he'd be a good fit for Harrington (maybe) and the receivers. Obviously there are questions about his head-coaching ability, but he is an offensive genius. To get him as the offensive coordinator is pretty much the perfect situation for the Lions, in my opinion.

[ISiddiqui]

If he can make Harrington into a good NFL QB, he should be immediately put into the Hall of Fame.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Further information on the Martz deal. Looks like he's bringing over quite a few assistants from St. Louis. This could make for a very interesting team with Martz in charge of the offense and Marinelli/Henderson in charge of the defense.

Well, the Lions have gone and done it again. Each and every off-season the Lions go and do something to get me excited about the team. Each and every year, however, they suck when the season starts.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?id=2315732
Mike Martz is wrapping up a multi-year contract with the Lions to be their offensive coordinator.

The job was offered on Wednesday and Martz told his agent to work out a deal. The former Rams coach hit it off immediately during his Tuesday interview with head coach Rod Marinelli. Martz may be asked to break down quarterback Joey Harrington (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=5889) and try to build him back up as a starting quarterback. That may be hard to do because Harrington probably has lost his team for leadership. If management feels as though Harrington can no longer be the leader, the organization will have to go out and get another quarterback.

Marinelli is giving Martz a lot of authority with the offense. With him, Martz is bringing three coaches from the Rams -- John Ramsdell for quarterbacks, Wilbert Montgomery for running backs and Pat Carter for tight ends. It's a smart move because Marinelli can concentrate on the defense while Martz works on the offense. That should make a good team.

One of the things Marinelli liked about Mike Martz' offense is how he constructs his running attack. Martz is known to run more of a pass-oriented offense, but Marinelli studied and liked many of his running concepts. Marinelli wants power running. He likes the way Martz' "two-back lead" plays. Martz is big into motion and he can motion into power running formations.

[cthomer5000]

As a Jets fan I'm inclined to say that he did a good job here, and 2005 was more a case of working with sub-par talent and having everyone quit on you. He's gotten career years out of John Abraham (who i hate) and gotten that big fat DT we drafted a couple years ago playing kind of decent.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Oh dear...

http://www.mlive.com/weblogs/highlightreel/

Martz backs out on Lions
A day after every media outlet in town said Martz was the Lions' new offensive coordinator, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says that Mike Martz has backed out of negotiations with the Lions.

Feb. 2, St. Louis Post-Dispatch (http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/rams/story/96B48DF8C239AB14862571090024D01B?OpenDocument): The Post-Dispatch and other media outlets reported Wednesday that Martz had accepted the Lions' offer to join the coaching staff, but that contract terms had not been completed.

Martz told Thomas today, "We couldn't come to an agreement on terms. I really do feel bad . . . but we just couldn't get on the same page."

Where are all those people who said Tom was beat on the story? He kept saying it's not a done deal. Stay tuned to MLive.com for breaking Lions news. If it's real.

[ISiddiqui]

ESPN says talks broke off as well. Could have been a major coup!

[timmynausea]

Shit!

[TLK]

Well this sucks.... Wonder where Martz ends up now?

[Subby]

Skins are going to hire him to be their wide receivers coach... ;)

[ice4277]

Argh, fucking stupid Lions.

[Passacaglia]

I'm not all that broken up about it. I see Martz more as a big name then the best person for the job.

[Schmidty]

I've heard rumors that it's a ploy by his agent, and that talks will pick up again if the Lions decide to meet his salary demand (like 1.5 mil). I doubt it though. He's gone.

Oh well, I like that guy they were talking about before from Cincy.

[TLK]

1130 in Detroit is reporting that Martz will sit out 2006. They also said that the difference between the Lions and Martz was $500,000 ($1m v $1.5m).

[Schmidty]

WOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.detroitlions.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=443049

Greatest Show on Turf is coming to Detroit!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :)

[Schmidty]

Actually, I'll give this it's own thread.

[ice4277]

Meh. I was pumped about it originally, but after all the shenanigans he's pulled in the last week...I dunno.