DENVER -- Bill Romanowski has the perfect head-coaching candidate in mind for the Broncos -- a dark horse, somebody out of the blue who's on nobody's radar: himself.
The former Pro Bowl linebacker, who spends his post-playing days running a nutrition company and dabbling in broadcasting and acting, told The Associated Press on Thursday night that he's serious about wanting a chance at coaching his old team.
He said he sent Broncos owner Pat Bowlen a lengthy PowerPoint presentation touting his credentials and outlining the fresh ideas he would bring to the job that Mike Shanahan held for 14 seasons before his stunning dismissal last week.
"I can't stop thinking about this," said Romanowski, who played for San Francisco, Philadelphia, Denver and Oakland during a standout 16-year NFL career that was marred by a bad temper and his admitted use of THG, the designer steroid at the center of the BALCO scandal.
"This may be a complete fantasy, and that's all right," Romanowski added. "... At the end of the day, nothing may happen from it."
Romanowski has no official NFL coaching experience, just knowledge from the players' perspective.
"For Pat to do something like this, it would take him being a visionary, thinking outside the box," said Romanowski, whose coaching experience includes helping with his son's football team. "Him hiring me, it's a longshot. I understand that. I know that."
Thursday, the Broncos met with Miami Dolphins secondary coach Todd Bowles, the seventh candidate to interview for the job. All are current NFL assistant coaches. Team spokesman Patrick Smyth said there were no other candidates scheduled to interview for the Broncos' vacancy, one of the most coveted in all of football.
The Broncos had no comment on Romanowski's interest in the job.
Romanowski is hopeful that Bowlen gives him even a courtesy call because he's certain he can win over the owner.
"I truly believe that I'd be the best person in the country for the job. That's me being confident in my abilities," Romanowski said.
In the 30-page-plus presentation that he sent to Bowlen, Romanowski outlined how he'd run things if he were in charge of the Broncos. He would hire a new defensive staff and revamp the player personnel department, analyzing the college scouting system in a new way, he said.
"I'd take the top 60 colleges in the country that produce pro prospects and I would treat those 60 like they were their own league and start looking at freshmen when they come in," Romanowski said. "When 80 percent of your talent comes from 20 percent of the colleges, I think you ought to have a pretty strong focus on those colleges."
Romanowski also said he would hire a full-time nutritionist and recruit some of the world's elite strength and conditioning coaches.
"I'd have literally a full-time person mixing up protein shakes every day," said Romanowski, who's president and CEO of a nutritional company called Nutrition53. "The business is football, which is having fast, strong, explosive players."
He'd also have on staff someone to keep an eye on the emotional well-being of the players, he said.
"In the NFL now, nobody touches (that)," Romanowski said. "They only try to fix it when it breaks, when someone ... has trouble with alcohol or drugs. How about a performance coach?"
Bowlen fired Shanahan after the Broncos blew a three-game AFC West lead with three weeks left in the season and finished 8-8, missing the playoffs for the third straight year, something that hadn't happened in Denver since 1980 to 1982.
Romanowski believes he can help get the team back on track.
"I laid out a whole game plan on how I'd do these things," he said. "I love what I do now. It's not like I have to have the head-coaching job for the Denver Broncos. I happen to be pretty confident in my abilities, and I know what I could do there."
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press
