2010 NFL Off-Season Rumors and Reports (Week 8)

[Dirtbag59]

Originally Posted by Paintrain

Yes, he's been a DC for the Saints and Steelers prior to being a HC and then the Rams for 2 seasons before taking over as interim HC.

This is easily the most talented defense he's overseen in a while. Also I think it's important to realize that many great defensive coordinators go on to be head coaches with struggling defenses.

Marvin Lewis is probably the most prominent example with his success coaching the greatest defense of all time and then making the Redskins one of the better units in the league. Wade Phillips is another example of a coach who has been a DC for dominant defenses but has seen his defenses struggle when he became a head coach. Obviously Dallas's D is back on track but for a while they were struggling. Even Jim Swartz last year oversaw one of the leagues worse defensive units.

The thing is when you're a head coach you don't have time to micromanage what got you the job in the first place, weather it be coordinating an offense or defense. Thats why you need to find good assistants that can hold their own and a lot of these guys like Lewis and Phillips have struggled to find those guys. Rex Ryan on the other hand seems to have a more then competent defensive staff.

So I wouldn't say the Saints D under Haslet is necessarily a reflection of his ability as a D-Coordinator.