One day after Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan refused to directly answer questions about whether he was a candidate to become the next head coach at Army, the Albany (N.Y.) Times-Herald reported Thursday afternoon that Sullivan would interview for the job Friday.
Sullivan, 46, is a former Army player and assistant coach.
When asked Wednesday about the Army speculation, Sullivan said, "I think right now, especially where we're at offensively and some of the challenges we have and what faces us this Sunday at St. Louis, I'd like it if we could just focus the questions on the Rams."
Tampa Bay is last in the league in total offense (283.7 yards per game) despite owning a plus-11 turnover margin that is tied for third-best in the league. The Bucs are 28th in scoring offense (18.4 points per game) with a rookie quarterback, Mike Glennon, at the controls.
While Sullivan seems to be on shaky footing with the Bucs, it is a steep fall to go from an NFL coordinator's job to Army's coach. Army has had only one winning season since 1996 and has had four seasons with double-digit losses in that span. (Coincidentally, the Army coach in '96 was Bob Sutton, who currently is the Kansas City Chiefs' defensive coordinator.)
Sullivan served as Army's linebackers coach from 1995-96 and as the Black Knights' secondary coach from 1999-2000. He was a New York Giants assistant from 2004-11, serving as their quarterbacks coach in his last two seasons with the Giants, before he was tabbed by Greg Schiano to run the Bucs' offense before last season.
Georgia Southern coach Jeff Monken and Ohio State offensive line coach Ed Warinner are other names that have surfaced as potential Army coaches. Monken runs a triple-option offense, which Army also employs, and is a former Navy assistant. Warriner spent 13 seasons as an Army assistant; Warriner also has been an assistant at Air Force. Warriner's time at Army overlapped with Sullivan's two tenures at the school. Former Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe reportedly has expressed interest in the opening.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
