Indianapolis — From year-to-year, there are no guarantees in the NFL. That goes for players, coaches, executives — the whole lot.
So one might understand if, say, head-coaching candidates and Detroit Lions coordinators Aaron Glenn and Ben Johnson were disappointed they’ll return to the Motor City in the same roles as last year.
But as it turns out, the process was rewarding enough.
“I think this year was more about being myself more than anything,” Glenn said at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis.
“I went in it with the mindset of, I’m not trying to win the interview. I’m just trying to be myself. And either you like it or you don’t. And if you like it, let’s go. And if you don’t, all good.’
“Obviously, it was OK, because I got second interviews with these guys. … The fact that you can sit there and just talk about things other than Xs and Os — leadership, offensive/defensive philosophy, training room, training camp schedule, and things like that — I thought it was outstanding.”
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Both men spoke to the media Thursday for the first time since going through their head-coaching interviews and talked about their lack of regret for how things went last month. Glenn interviewed with the Indianapolis Colts and Arizona Cardinals. Johnson interviewed with the Colts, Houston Texans and Carolina Panthers but withdrew his name from consideration before any hires were made.
Though it’s entirely possible that neither coordinator gets a head-coaching interview next season — or ever — both of them are returning to the Lions with no regrets.
“There is no doubt that these opportunities aren’t guaranteed,” Johnson said. “They don’t come along very often, there are only 32 of the jobs, and I was honored that I had three requests come out … I can just speak on a personal level: Some people, they really want to climb as fast as they can. I know particularly young coaches want to do that. That’s not been the case for me, per se.
“I want to be around football. I want to win football games. I want to be around good people. And when I finally had a chance to step back and take a deep breath and look at it, that was the most important thing.
“I love Dan Campbell. I’ve known him for a long time. I believe in the direction of this organization, and so that truly was the biggest drawing point for me to come back, was what we have here, what we’re building here, is something I want to be a part of.”
For Glenn, this round of interviews marked his fourth and fifth opportunities with an NFL team. He’s been through this before and was thought to be getting closer to landing a job.
“I’ve had, I think five head coach interviews,” Glenn said. “If it happens, it happens. If it don’t, it don’t. Well, we’ll see. We’ll see. The thing is, man I’m blessed to be in the position to be able to coach, in general. And I don’t take that for granted, at all. … I’m enjoying what I’m doing.”
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And even if he didn’t get the head job in Indianapolis, interviewing with eclectic Colts owner Jim Irsay was a thrill in itself, he said.
“The one thing that was very, very interesting, to me, was being able to sit and talk to Mr. Irsay for about 3 1/2 hours,” Glenn said. “Now, that was a real treat. That was a real treat. The thing is, as we started to talk, it wasn’t really about an interview. It was just like two guys just talking. And everything was on the table. Everything.
“And it was very, very interesting. And you know what? I appreciate that, because now I have a guy that’s worth billions of dollars who is just opening up to me for some odd reason. I don’t know why. But I think he got comfortable. I know I got comfortable. And I just looked at him like he’s just a guy, a real guy.
“So, I appreciate that part of him.”
Johnson said he had “about 48 hours to get thoughts together before that first interview” following Detroit’s season finale win over the Green Bay Packers. Though he was prepped the best he could be by Campbell and Lions general manager Brad Holmes, leaping into the unknown was an eye-opening experience.
“Unique is probably the first thing I learned. Each place is a little bit different,” Johnson said. “They had their own situations they were concerned about, but also the format of the interview was completely different for them as well.”
He added, “I think you have a better feel for what type of questions are going to come down the pipe. … If you have a spring, you have a summer, you have years to develop what you truly believe in and get it down on paper, the people you’d want to bring with you. That’s always changing as you’re networking and meeting more people, I think those are the things that can, rather than starting from scratch, like I did, it would give you a leg up if there is another go-around.
“Nothing is guaranteed, and that’s OK. That’s something me and my wife talked about. If that’s the case, we’ll be at peace with it. I haven’t lost any sleep or have any regrets doing what we did. We are very happy.”
nbianchi@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @nolanbianchi