Colts interview Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn for head coach

The Colts continued their breakneck interview pace on Saturday morning, interviewing Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn for the team’s sixth head coaching interview in the past four days.

Indianapolis was also expected to interview Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen on Saturday, which would bring the number to seven.

Glenn, 50, has been a candidate for the past two coaching cycles, interviewing with both Denver and New Orleans last season and now Indianapolis, although the Colts are the only reported coaching interview for Glenn this season.

“I was going to be happy as hell for him (if Glenn had been hired, but the thought of losing him, I just had this feeling, like I was going to be walking around without any pants on,” Lions coach Dan Campbell told the Detroit Free-Press last May. “Having A.G., there’s a comfort level, I think that pretty much says it all.”

Glenn, 50, has been a candidate for the past two coaching cycles, interviewing with Denver and New Orleans last season and now Indianapolis, although the Colts are the only reported coaching interview for Glenn this season.

The Lions have struggled defensively in Glenn’s two seasons at the helm.

Detroit finished dead-last in the NFL in total defense this season and 29th in points — a mark helped by the Lions offense leading the league in avoiding turnovers — after finishing 29th in total yards and 31st in scoring a year ago. Halfway through the season, Campbell fired Detroit secondary coach Aubrey Pleasant and answered questions about the possibility of firing Glenn.

But the Lions are admittedly in the early stages of a personnel rebuild on that side of the ball, and Detroit played much better defensively in the second half of the 2022 season as they roared back from a 1-6 start to finish 9-8 and nearly make the playoffs.

Glenn’s candidacy also likely is built on his leadership skills as much as his defensive acumen. A former NFL player who spent 15 years in the NFL with the Jets, Texans, Cowboys, Jaguars and Saints, Glenn is part of the Bill Parcells tree of coaching. He spent five years coaching under Parcells disciple Sean Payton in New Orleans, and he’s spent two more with Campbell in Detroit.

“He’s acquiring experience, and his team is improving,” Parcells told the New York Post in December. “He’s smart, he kind of knows what he’s doing now, and he’s gotten some experience. I hope he gets a chance.”

HBO’s “Hard Knocks” offered a window last August into Glenn’s candidacy.

On that show, Glenn came across as a straight shooter with a penchant for trash talk and challenging the players around him, qualities that can translate well to the head coaching position.

A big piece of the puzzle for Glenn, like all the coaching candidates the Colts have interviewed, is likely the staff he’d put together, most notably on the offensive side of the ball.

With Indianapolis likely drafting a quarterback and desperate for answers after turning in one of the worst offensive performances of the NFL season, the Colts need help on that side of the ball more than they do on defense.

But general manager Chris Ballard vowed that he wouldn’t restrict the search to just one side of the ball, and the interviews the Colts have held so far reflect that vow. Indianapolis has now interviewed two offensive coordinators (Kansas City’s Eric Bieniemy, Detroit’s Ben Johnson), three defensive coordinators (Glenn, Denver’s Ejiro Evero, Los Angeles's Raheem Morris) and one special teams coordinator (in-house candidate Bubba Ventrone), with Steichen expected to even things out on Saturday night.

Interim coach Jeff Saturday is also a candidate, and even if the initial flurry of interviews slows down during Wild Card weekend, the Colts will probably crank things back up again next week as more candidates become available.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts interview Lions DC Aaron Glenn for head coach