The Kansas City Chiefs have fired head coach Todd Haley and defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel will take over as the interim head coach. This move has been speculated before but I think many are surprised by the timing of it all, with three games left to play.
What the timing of it means is that the Chiefs have time to line up Haley's replacement. There are already plenty of names being thrown about so we should caution that we're obviously still in the speculative/rumor mill phase of this.
I like the way Len Pasquarelli put it: "Forget the so-called "short list." A "long list" doesn't even exist yet."
But here's a list of names that have been popping up already:
Josh McDaniels. He's up top on this list because his name has been mentioned in connection with the Chiefs for quite some time. In fact, he was even rumored to be a candidate for the Chiefs offensive coordinator position as the 2010 season was ending. That's nearly a year we've been hearing rumors about the possibility of McDaniels-to-KC. We're not sure if it has any chance of happening -- some think there's a better chance he comes on board as offensive coordinator and not head coach -- but the rumors start with him for now.
Romeo Crennel. Will he be considered for the head coaching job? He's going to be the interim coach but you have to wonder if he has an opportunity to be the head guy. He may actually play an important role in all of this because if I'm the Chiefs I may want to keep Crennel on the staff next year. Can he revert back to his defensive coordinator duties if the Chiefs hire a new head coach?
Jeff Fisher. ESPN's Adam Schefter floated him as a possibility earlier today. You gotta throw his ring in the hat because it's believed he wants to get back into coaching and he had a lot of success at Tennessee. This seems like a name you're going to throw out there for any head coaching job this year.
Kirk Ferentz. There's nothing more out there than connecting-the-dots with him and his relationship with GM Scott Pioli. We really don't know whether A.) Ferentz is interested in the Chiefs or B.) the Chiefs are interested in him. But his name is going to be thrown out there.
Bill Cowher. Got a text from a buddy who heard from a friend of his who knows a guy that works in a real estate company that Cowher has been looking at houses in the Kansas City area. (Editor's note: Judging by the feedback, not everyone realized I was joking with this.)