The New Orleans Saints have been one of the rare franchises to enjoy stability in almost all aspects of their organization for more than a decade. Now they’ll be looking for a new head coach for the first time in 16 years after Sean Payton announced he was stepping away from the game on Tuesday.
The Saints are one of eight teams — it’s nine if you count the Raiders, who have yet to decide whether they’ll move on from interim coach Rich Bisaccia — that have a vacancy at head coach, competing with the Bears, Broncos, Texans, Jaguars, Vikings, Dolphins and Giants for the available pool of candidates. However, the Saints have the luxury of keeping the front office intact. This will be owner Gayle Benson’s first coaching search, but both president Dennis Lasucha and general manager Mickey Loomis have been with the team since 1998 and 2002, respectively, with Loomis overseeing the search that ultimately brought Payton to the franchise in 2006.
While the Saints are behind several other teams in terms of interviews, nobody has made a hire yet. Benson wasn’t concerned about that aspect, noting that they’ll be conducting a thorough search of both in-house candidates and those outside of the building.
“We’re going to be OK,” Benson said Tuesday.
