The Buffalo Bills have fired head coach Dick Jauron after a 3-6 start in which the offense has been one of the worst in the NFL.

Defensive coordinator Perry Fewell will likely take over as interim head coach, NFL.com reported.

"I am announcing today that I am relieving Dick Jauron from his duties as our head coach, effective immediately," Bills owner Ralph Wilson Jr. said in a statement. "I have tremendous respect for Dick and thank him for all of his efforts during these past four years. While this was a very difficult decision, I felt that it is one that needed to be made at this time for the best interest of our team. We will now focus on moving forward and preparing for our game this week in Jacksonville."

Jauron was 24-33 since being hired by former general manager Marv Levy in 2006 to be head coach. He has two years remaining on his contract that is going to pay him a total of $6 million in 2009 and 2010.

I'm kinda surprised that Jauron was the first HC fired this year. I thought it was going to be Zorn or Cable myself, but their time is coming.

The problem is that Crazy Al doesn't think that way. He'll fire his coach and worry about finding a replacement later. Then, after nobody is willing to interview for the job, he'll ask, "What have I done now?"

Source: Martz wants to be Bills coach
Comment Email Print Share
By Tim Graham
ESPN.com
Archive
The coaching world hasn't beaten a path to Orchard Park, N.Y.

Multiple reports have stated Jon Gruden, Bill Cowher and Mike Holmgren have rebuffed overtures from the Buffalo Bills about discussing their coaching vacancy. Marty Schottenheimer publicly stated he wasn't interested.

AFC East blog
ESPN.com's Tim Graham writes about all things AFC East in his division blog.

• Blog network: NFL Nation

Mike Shanahan met with the Bills this week in Denver, but he interviewed them more than the other way around. Football insiders are skeptical Shanahan's interest is anything more than cursory. Even interim Bills coach Perry Fewell has been cautious in remaining noncommittal about the job.

But finally, a Super Bowl coach has surfaced with genuine interest in becoming Buffalo's next head coach. Mike Martz wants the gig, a league source told ESPN.com.

The Bills have not reached out to Martz, another league source said, but they'll be opening up their search. They've focused on the A-listers since they fired Dick Jauron last week. The Bills interviewed Shanahan for seven hours Monday night and Tuesday morning.

Martz, the former St. Louis Rams head coach, is an intriguing candidate because of his association with Fewell, Bills starting quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick and hot rookie safety Jairus Byrd. The source said Martz is also high on Buffalo's other quarterback, Trent Edwards.

Fewell was the secondary coach for two years under Martz in St. Louis. Byrd's father, Gill Byrd, was a defensive assistant for three years. Martz was also head coach when the Rams drafted Fitzpatrick out of Harvard in 2005.

Martz was the offensive coordinator who oversaw the Greatest Show on Turf, which starred Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk and Torry Holt and won a Super Bowl. Martz became the Rams' head coach upon Dick Vermeil's retirement and guided them to a 14-2 record and another NFC championship in 2001.

Martz was the Detroit Lions' offensive coordinator for two seasons after a heart ailment prematurely ended his final season with the Rams in 2005 and they eventually fired him. He was the San Francisco 49ers' offensive coordinator last year.

Bills fire entire coaching staff
Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on January 4, 2010 11:33 AM ET
Black Monday has arrived in full force in Buffalo.

Per Jay Glazer of Fox, the team has fired their entire coaching staff.

It's not a surprise the Bills are making sweeping changes. But it is notable that the team has let go some longtime assistants like vaunted special teams/assistant head coach Bobby April.

There have been previous reports that interim head coach Perry Fewell was going to interview for the permanent head coaching position. It's unclear if that is still the case.

It's also unclear if cleaning house in the most dramatic way possible will be enough to entice one particular big fish in the coaching pond that reportedly spoke with the Bills last week.

Report: Cowher meeting with Bills again today
Posted by Mike Florio on January 5, 2010 9:54 AM ET
At a time when there's an emerging sense that former Steelers coach Bill Cowher will remain on the sidelines for at least another year, multiple readers have brought to our attention a report from an obscure web site headquartered in the town of East Aurora, New York.

Per Joe Logan of EastAurora.org (which hopefully has the hamster power to withstand the coming crush of web traffic), Cowher will be in Buffalo on Tuesday for a face-to-face meeting with the Bills.

Giving the report more credibility is that the item, posted on January 4 at 6:35 a.m. ET, stated that the Bills would be firing the entire coaching staff on Monday. If there has been no time-stamp sleight-of-hand, Logan was the first to report that the coaches would be getting shown the door.

Logan also reports that Cowher is expected to make a decision on his coaching future by the end of the week, and that the Bills and the Panthers are the current contenders for Cowher's services.

You can apply whatever credence to this report that you choose. Given that Logan nailed the looming firing of the entire coaching staff, we think it was worth a mention that Logan also says Cowher will be back in Buffalo on Tuesday.

And if Cowher is still talking to the Bills, Monday's report regarding his inclination to take no coaching job in 2010 might have been part of the posturing in which he's engaged as he tries to get the kind of money and control that he desires.

Updates from the Bills' coaching search
January, 11, 2010
JAN 11
5:37
PM ET
Email Print Share
By Tim Graham
There have been a few dispatches about the Buffalo Bills coaching search since I left Cincinnati this afternoon.

Here are the highlights:

Dave Hutchinson of the Newark Star-Ledger reports the Bills have been granted permission to interview New York Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer this week. Hutchinson, citing an unnamed source, writes the interview must be conducted at the Jets' leisure and not interfere with preparations for Sunday's playoff game against the San Diego Chargers.

I wrote a blog earlier about Schottenheimer's thoughts on becoming a head coach.

After Saturday's victory over the Cincinnati Bengals, I asked Jets coach Rex Ryan about Schottenheimer's performance. Ryan responded by suggesting Schottenheimer was destined to be a head coach in a few weeks.

"I really don't want to be honest what I think of Schotty because I want him here," Ryan said. "Realistically, what a job, an amazing job, kept them off balance. We were getting a million [defenders in the box]. He did a good job of mixing in the run and the pass. He called the game like a head coach. Yeah, we could've probably made more passes, more plays down the field. But we wanted to move the clock.

"He's just doing a tremendous job. I realize we're probably only going to have him for as long as we're in this tournament, but we're enjoying it right now."

Fox Sports senior writer Jay Glazer adds the Bills have reached out to the Arizona Cardinals about talking to assistant head coach Russ Grimm.

San Diego Union-Tribune reporter Kevin Acee, citing multiple sources, writes about Chargers defensive coordinator Ron Rivera turning down the Bills' and Seattle Seahawks' requests to interview during the bye week.

As NFC North blogger Kevin Seifert reminds us, Bills interim coach Perry Fewell interviewed Monday for the defensive coordinator opening with the Chicago Bears. Seifert thinks Fewell is the frontrunner for the Bears job. Fewell appears to be a long shot to return to Buffalo.

Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported the Steelers interviewed special teams coordinator Bobby April, who triggered an out clause in his Bills coaching contract last week.