Coaching Confidential: Inside the Fraternity of NFL Coaches Read Online Free PDF Page A

future we will end up going back there.” Beth and the kids were in Dallas during the 2011 season while Sean was coaching the Saints. But the most dramatic change in Payton’s life came after the season. First, Goodell suspended him for the 2012 season. Then, in June, Payton filed for divorce from Beth. She filed a counterpetition. They had been married nearly twenty years. His job and his marriage were no longer there.
    But on this day Payton is sitting in the Saints cafeteria. It is December 2009. His team is 12–0 and will finish 13–3 and beat the Cardinals and the Vikings in the playoffs at the Superdome and then beat the Colts in Super Bowl XLIV in Miami. It would be years before he would be called to meet with the NFL’s security team.
    Payton thought it was a great idea to hire Williams after the 2008 season. Williams, the former Buffalo Bills head coach, was the first assistant hired by Joe Gibbs when he returned to the Redskins in 2004. Williams was considered the heir apparent whenever Gibbs decided to retire again. When Gibbs left after the 2007 season, Williams was interviewed four times by the Redskins. But he was not hired amid reports, which he strongly denied, that he was disrespectful to Gibbs during the interview process. Gibbs had wanted Williams so badly in 2004 that he flew to Buffalo on Redskins owner Daniel Snyder’s private plane to recruit him. Snyder gave Williams a deal averaging $1.15 million per year, which was more than he was making in Buffalo. Tom Coughlin, just hired by the Giants, had also contacted Williams about joining his staff.
    When Gibbs left the Redskins after four seasons, Williams had one year remaining on his contract, but once the Redskins knew they were not hiring him, they released him from any obligation and allowed him to start looking for work. It sent up animmediate red flag when Snyder elected not to hire Williams, especially when he hired the unproven Jim Zorn instead. Williams went to Jacksonville on a one-year deal and was a coaching free agent again after the 2008 season.
    Payton had an opening after firing defensive coordinator Gary Gibbs, who had been with him on Parcells’s staff in Dallas. Williams had a reputation of putting together excellent defenses. His players always spoke highly of him. Payton knew that with Brees at quarterback, all he needed was a defense that would not force Brees to put up video game numbers and the Saints would be Super Bowl contenders.
    Payton had never met Williams before he interviewed him. “I had been on teams that played against his defenses,” Payton said. “Always at Washington, regardless of personnel, they played hard and were very respected. We knew there were some other places he was going to visit. It got to where, all right, we’re ready to make an offer.”
    The Packers, Texans, and Titans were also interested. Williams had been the defensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans before the Bills hired him as their head coach in 2001; he got the job instead of John Fox, who had just been to the Super Bowl with the Giants. Williams lasted just three years in Buffalo and had a 17–31 record. Williams and Titans coach Jeff Fisher were best friends, and it seemed logical in 2008 that he would go back with Fisher. That was what he did right after the 2011 season when Fisher was hired in St. Louis, but the indefinite suspension he was handed by Goodell forced Fisher to make other plans.
    Payton had just signed a new five-year $28 million contract that paid him $5.6 million per year. The Saints were prepared to offer Williams a three-year deal at $1.25 million per season. Payton didn’t think Williams would accept, not with three other teams also interested. The going rate was $1.5 million per year for a veteran coordinator. “I wanted to make sure we weren’t goingto lose this guy to another team because we were light $250,000,” Payton said.
    He called Loomis. It was a Friday night, and he felt Williams was close