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Teryl Austin appears headed back to serve as the Detroit Lions defensive coordinator after failing to land a head coaching job.

(Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

Unless something unexpected happens in the coming weeks, Teryl Austin will be back as the Detroit Lions defensive coordinator in 2016.

Austin, a popular head coaching candidate each of the past two offseason, drew interest from five teams this month. But those franchises all went a different direction.

The final opening was filled on Sunday, when the Tennessee Titans opted to remove the interim tag from Mike Mularky and hire the former Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars coach full time.

In addition to Tennessee, Austin also drew interest from Cleveland, Miami, the New York Giants and Philadelphia. The Eagles have yet to formally announce the hiring of Kansas City offensive coordinator Doug Pederson, but are free to do so now that that Chiefs have been eliminated from the postseason.

Austin, 50, has spent two seasons with the Lions. He orchestrated one of the league's most dominant units in 2014, but saw the group struggle out the gate this season, following the losses of defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh in free agency and linebacker DeAndre Levy to injury.

But Detroit's defense experienced a significant turnaround during the second half, seeing opponents average 75 fewer yards and 11 fewer points the final eight games of the season.

That was enough to put a shine back on Austin before the coaching carousel began to spin at the conclusion of the regular season.

In total, Austin has a dozen years of NFL experience, but just the two as a coordinator. He also served as the defensive coordinator for the University of Florida in 2010.

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