{"id":681570,"date":"2026-01-16T10:59:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T10:59:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/681570\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T10:59:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T10:59:18","slug":"team-leaders-share-qualities-the-next-ravens-coach-must-have","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/681570\/","title":{"rendered":"Team leaders share qualities the next Ravens coach must have"},"content":{"rendered":"

Join the huddle. Sign up here<\/a> for Ravens updates in your inbox.<\/p>\n

The search for the \u201cnext John Harbaugh\u201d is on.<\/p>\n

Over the next three weeks, general manager Eric DeCosta said, team leadership will have a coaching version of NFL draft prep (as in many, many interviews) as it chooses the next head coach of the Ravens and fills out the coaching staff.<\/p>\n

While the Ravens aren\u2019t looking for a carbon copy of Harbaugh (otherwise, why fire him?), they are hoping for a coach who can bring similar levels of success and stability \u2014 plus another Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next coach we get, I want him to be a Super Bowl-winning coach, too,\u201d owner Steve Bisciotti said. \u201cGod bless him if he can rise up to the level John did and be staring at a gold [Hall of Fame] jacket.\u201d<\/p>\n

The final candidate might not be at the top of the betting charts. As Bisciotti, who made his fortune through his staffing and recruitment agency, Allegis Group<\/a>, pointed out, his selection of Harbaugh 18 years ago surprised many.<\/p>\n

Although there may be nuggets to be gleaned from the process that found Harbaugh<\/a>, Bisciotti said he\u2019s not looking at things the same way, nor will he have the same part in the process. He wants DeCosta and team President Sashi Brown to play a large role in picking the finalists. Bisciotti is sitting out the first round of interviews but plans to spend time with the final five candidates.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what Bisciotti and DeCosta said about the Ravens\u2019 requirements for their next coach.<\/p>\n

Offensive or defensive<\/p>\n

To put it bluntly, Bisciotti \u201creally couldn\u2019t care [less].\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to set expectations, hold players accountable, foster a relationship where they love this place and love this culture and football\u2019s the most important thing in their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta<\/p>\n

He demonstrated that when he hired Harbaugh, who had spent most of his NFL career in Philadelphia as a special teams coordinator. <\/p>\n

While fans and pundits debate whether the team needs an offensive or defensive guru, Bisciotti is more concerned with who the team needs. If the person who clicks is a defensive coordinator, great. He can hire a fantastic offensive coordinator.<\/p>\n

As Bisciotti said, the Ravens are not just hiring a head coach. They\u2019re hiring two coordinators (essentially confirmation that offensive coordinator Todd Monken and defensive coordinator Zach Orr will not be back, even if the team hasn\u2019t announced any changes).<\/p>\n

The Ravens have interviewed or requested to interview seven candidates with an offensive background, five with a defensive background and three with experience coaching both. DeCosta, who will help choose the finalists, did not state his preferences.<\/p>\n

Play-caller or CEO<\/p>\n

Once again, Bisciotti doesn\u2019t have a preference.<\/p>\n

Harbaugh was more of a CEO, deferring to Monken\u2019s and Orr\u2019s game plans and play-calling.<\/p>\n

Bisciotti said there are about a dozen head coaches calling their own plays now, and he indicated he didn\u2019t mind either way.<\/p>\n

Whether the coach calls the plays or not, he will need to have a great football mind, according to DeCosta.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want somebody who\u2019s an expert in X\u2019s and O\u2019s,\u201d DeCosta said.<\/p>\n

\"Sunday,<\/p>\n

Along with a head coach, the Ravens will need a replacement for defensive coordinator Zach Orr. (Jerry Jackson\/The Banner)<\/p>\n

\"Thursday,<\/p>\n

Offensive coordinator Todd Monken interviewed for the Cleveland Browns\u2019 head coaching vacancy. (Jerry Jackson\/The Banner)<\/p>\n

Fresh face or impressive r\u00e9sum\u00e9<\/p>\n

Here, Bisciotti was very clear. While Harbaugh was largely unproven compared to other candidates when Bisciotti picked him, things have changed. Bisciotti has become fascinated with a specific phenomenon.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnlike 18 years ago, I am very intrigued by coaches that were the hottest offensive and defensive coordinators from five, six or seven years ago in their cycles and got jobs and went to teams that were noncompetitive and didn\u2019t have a quarterback, and they grind for three or four years, and they\u2019re caught up in the cycle,\u201c Bisciotti said.<\/p>\n

Bisciotti wasn\u2019t committing to hiring someone with head coaching experience, but he wouldn\u2019t rule out head coaches who had been fired or had losing records.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou all are going to have to understand that we are going to be able to judge that failure with his circumstances and marry that up and not disqualify them,\u201d Bisciotti said.<\/p>\n

The Ravens have interviewed or requested to interview seven men who have the title \u201chead coach\u201d on their r\u00e9sum\u00e9s \u2014 Jim Schwartz, Brian Flores, Vance Joseph, Kliff Kingsbury, Mike McDaniel, Kevin Stefanski and Robert Saleh.<\/p>\n

Although the Ravens have not interviewed any coaches who have risen through the college ranks, Bisciotti is open to that possibility. He said a few have reached out to the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, if Eric\u2019s interested in a college coach, he\u2019s welcome to interview him,\u201d Bisciotti said.<\/p>\n

Old friend or clean slate<\/p>\n

Harbaugh has an impressive coaching tree. Coaches he gave opportunities to are scattered throughout the NFL, and they are in positions to be considered for this job.<\/p>\n

Schwartz, Anthony Weaver, Jesse Minter and Klint Kubiak have personal or family ties to the Ravens, with Weaver acting as Harbaugh\u2019s assistant head coach in 2023.<\/p>\n

DeCosta said the new coach should \u201ccontinue the culture that we\u2019ve built.\u201d The team is not looking for someone to shake things up from the top down.<\/p>\n

But that doesn\u2019t mean coaches who are familiar with the Ravens should have an advantage. In fact, Bisciotti said he wants them to be \u201chandicapped,\u201d and he trusts DeCosta\u2019s ability to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would hope that Eric\u2019s not swayed by someone who has a lot of knowledge of our organization,\u201d Bisciotti said. \u201cI hope they don\u2019t take the poll position because they might be a better interview, because they have such intimate knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other qualities<\/p>\n

Although Bisciotti gets final say, DeCosta is part of the group that will narrow the list to the five or so candidates who will get face-to-face time with the owner.<\/p>\n

DeCosta said they\u2019re looking for \u201cthe best leader we can find.\u201d What does that mean to him?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta listed the ability to communicate as a skill the team values. (Ulysses Mu\u00f1oz\/The Banner)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want somebody who\u2019s going to hold the players accountable,\u201d DeCosta said. \u201cWe want somebody who\u2019s an expert in X\u2019s and O\u2019s, and we want somebody who the players can relate to, but also somebody that\u2019s going to be firm and continue the culture that we\u2019ve built, which we think is important.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also emphasized the importance of communication when asked about the connection between the staff and quarterback Lamar Jackson, who will have \u201ca lot of say but no power\u201d in the hiring process, according to Bisciotti.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to overcommunicate,\u201d DeCosta said. \u201c… I think, with players especially, they\u2019re looking for feedback. They want to have a voice, but you also have to encourage the feedback and encourage the voice and work and set expectations and hold people accountable every single day. That\u2019s what the most successful organizations do on a consistent basis, whether that\u2019s with your star quarterback or your third-string inside linebacker. You have to set expectations, hold players accountable, foster a relationship where they love this place and love this culture and football\u2019s the most important thing in their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Bisciotti and Jackson disputed claims that there were issues between Harbaugh and the star quarterback, it was clear communication was not great. Jackson\u2019s practice and game status was uncertain throughout the season, leading to the Ravens being fined for inaccurately reporting his availability. <\/p>\n

Jackson also is notoriously hard to reach in the offseason. Harbaugh memorably found out that Jackson asked for a trade in 2023 through social media as he sat down for a press conference.<\/p>\n

Bisciotti said he made it clear that Jackson\u2019s opinion matters and that, if he wants a say, he expects him to come from Florida with him to meet the finalists.<\/p>\n

Although Bisciotti didn\u2019t pigeonhole himself into picking a candidate from a particular group, he and his team leaders will look beyond the r\u00e9sum\u00e9s for the winning quality that will have this team lifting the Lombardi Trophy in the next few years and provide stability so Bisciotti won\u2019t have to go through the \u201chell on Earth\u201d of searching for another coach soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Join the huddle. Sign up here for Ravens updates in your inbox. The search for the \u201cnext John…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":681571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2052],"tags":[184,117,2282,67312,7,6,169],"class_list":{"0":"post-681570","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baltimore-ravens","8":"tag-baltimore","9":"tag-baltimore-ravens","10":"tag-baltimoreravens","11":"tag-featured-imagepair","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-ravens"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=681570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/681571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=681570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=681570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=681570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}