Eagles to hire Bowles; Castillo remains DC
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Eagles
Eagles to hire Bowles; Castillo remains DC
Jeff McLane, Inquirer Staff Writer
The Eagles are set to hire former Miami interim head coach Todd Bowles to be their defensive backs coach and Juan Castillo will remain defensive coordinator, an NFL source told The Inquirer on Monday.
The team will meet with Bowles, who remained under contract with the Dolphins until only recently, today and it is expected that he will accept the job. He will be in charge of the entire secondary so safeties coach Mike Zordich will be under Bowles.
The announcement will come later today and Eagles coach Andy Reid will meet with the media on Tuesday.
The Eagles had a vacancy after Johnnie Lynn was fired earlier this month.
The decision to keep Castillo as defensive coordinator ends weeks of uncertainty over his future. Reid obviously decided that the final four games of the season in which the defense showed improvement was enough to keep Castillo in charge of the unit.
There have been reports, since confirmed to The Inquirer, that the Eagles had shown interest in bringing former assistant Steve Spagnuolo back to run the defense. But Spagnuolo chose to take the defensive coordinator job with New Orleans.
Castillo, in Mobile, Ala. last week to scout the Senior Bowl, declined to comment on his status.
"You got to go through Andy,” Castillo said, deferring Reid. "I'm just working."
The 48-year-old Bowles has vast experience as a defensive backs coach in the NFL. He had been Miami's secondary coach since 2005. He was also assistant head coach from 2008-11. Before Miami he worked in Dallas, Cleveland and in New York with the Jets. He has never been a defensive coordinator in the NFL, but held that role at Grambling State in the late 1990s.
Bowles had a hand in developing Miami safety Yeremiah Bell, who represented the AFC in the 2010 Pro Bowl. In his three years in Dallas, three Cowboys defensive backs were chosen to a combined five Pro Bowls, including three by safety Roy Williams. In 2007, three-fourths of Dallas’ backfield cornerback -- cornerback Terence Newman, safety Ken Hamlin and Williams -- was selected to the NFC All-Star squad.
Bowles is a Temple graduate. He played eight seasons in the NFL with the Redskins and 49ers from 1986-93.
Bowles' days in Miami were up when the Dolphins hired Joe Philbin to be their next coach and it was decided that he would not be retained. Bowles had interviewed for that opening along with the Oakland Raiders head coaching job.
The Raiders, who had also interviewed Eagles offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg, hired Denver defensive coordinator Dennis Allen instead.
Castillio is back. Did anyone really expect otherwise. You can always, always, always count on Reid to shoot himself in the foot. He always finds a way to make a crucial bad decision. If anyone really believes that this man is going to win a championship, then you need your head examined. Lurie needs a padded cell.— Carlos2- We'll be fine ladies.— Richard Saunders
- Who cares about Fat Andy talking. He will give the media nothing !!
He will tell us how Juan did a great job and the defense got better the second half of the season. His ego (yes, Jeff your coaches ego) would never allow him to get rid of Juan. That would mean he made a mistake !!— AJL99 - i love that picture of Juan - pretty much says it all! lol
3-13! Go Draft 2013— With all this talent who needs a real defensive coordinator 2011 - I guess Juan turned down all the job offers he got from other teams,
and decided to stay here with the Eagles. Whats Jeffreys response, since he said at his year end speech, that Juan wasn't the first choice last year, and circumstances caused them to hire Juan. I guess the circumstances this year was that Andy took an extended vacation, while every other team made their moves.— watsonmr - The rest of the NFC is smiling (laughing) today. 6-10 next season. I need a roast pork. Time's yours.— ANDY-IS-FAT
- Who really cares anymore, Reid making about 4.5 to 5mil per year, laughing to the bank having a ball messing with people during interviews, not talking since season ended not they he has anything too say so why as fans do we get so flustered over high paid cry-babies. AS long as this ownership feels they are Gold Standard nothing will changed until the turnstiles stop clicking period Time Yours— william20
- Phila Phans & regassert6 - agree with you both.
And yeah, there's a disappointing, and disgusting, level of ignorance that's flaunted on these boards. No only not informative or enlightening, but not even fun to read. Sigh.— FishFryFrank - Calm yourselves ladies...if you want Reid gone you don't want improvement so Lurie has no excuse to keep him...if you want the Eagles to win then this is a good move...said JC would be back long ago and it was the media that was fanning the flames for his replacement [Spags nonsense], the same media with the anti-Reid agenda. Stop with the hysteria.— tpizza
- Anyone not immediately impugning this decision needs to get on board with the most passionate, the most knowledgable fan base in the NFL. You have to realize that its okay for the fans to think Castillo is incompetent and didn't go a good job after all these fans knew what every call was on defense on every down, what every player was supposed to be doing on every call, and watched the replay of every snap -- so they could use their good judgment to come to the decision Castillo is incompetent. And of course LB is of utmost importance look at the two SB teams and their full roster of top rated LBs... did you see the Ravens vaunted LBs chasing Gronkowski, Hernandez, and Welker around the field? I sure didn't... Its important to remember, of course, that every other team had been able to stop the Patriots this year except the Eagles...— Murrayman
- Would you like another glass of Eagles Denial Punch? I guess your happy enough never winning a Superbowl while the Giants have been there TWICE and won it once and maybe a second time next weekend since Reid was hired. Keep send bucket loads of your money to this mediocre team! — gdibig
- So all the blame is on Johnny Lynn?— TVGuy22
- Let's start the defense off with the fundamentals....this is a football, this is a ball carrier, tackle ball carrier.— NC Eagle Fan
- Ugh! Lucky if we are 8-8. Need to wait until 2013 and AR goes away.— alwaysphil1
- The defense was non-existent in the Red Zone the last two seasons. The defense surrendered fourth quarter leads in what, five games this past season? They may be ranked 8th in Defense in the NFL, but they are good at rushing the passer and not much else. They still have no safeties or line backers.
It's time for a major overhaul. Andy must go and take Howie Roseman and the rest of the pathetic front office stafft. The Eagles will never win the Super Bowl, the only think left that matters, with Andy Reid as Coach/Personnel Man and Howie Roseman as his GM. Never. I'm embarrassed to be and Eagle Fan.— jimloughery
