Dave Birkett

Detroit Free Press

Teryl Austin has interviewed for eight head coaching jobs over the last two years, with a full quarter of the NFL's 32 teams. But the Detroit Lions' defensive coordinator said today that he isn't discouraged by a process that has rewarded a number of less-accomplished assistants.

“I wouldn’t call it frustrating, 'cause it’s really an honor to be interviewed," Austin said after the Lions' sixth practice of organized team activities. "But I know I’m ready for a job. Somebody’s going to figure it out; that’s how I look at it."

Austin was one of the NFL's hottest head coaching candidates two years ago, when the Lions finished 11-5 and fielded the league's No. 2 defense. He interviewed for four jobs that off-season -- with the Atlanta Falcons, Buffalo Bills, San Francisco 49ers and Chicago Bears -- and pulled out of an interview opportunity with the Denver Broncos

Last year, when the Lions fell to 18th in total defense after losing Ndamukong Suh in free agency and DeAndre Levy to injury, Austin landed four more interviews, with the New York Giants, Cleveland Browns, Tennessee Titans and Miami Dolphins.

He said today that two of those four interviews were "legitimate."

"Like a legitimate job interview," Austin said. "Like I had a legitimate shot at the job."

Asked whether that meant he felt like he was used as a Rooney Rule candidate for the other two jobs -- the rule requires NFL teams to interview minority candidates for head coach and GM openings -- Austin said, "Take it however you want."

Despite the Lions' defensive fall-off last year, Austin still is considered one of the best coordinators in the NFL. He kept the defense afloat with diverse game plans that covered up some of the unit's many shortcomings and oversaw significant improvements in young players such as Darius Slay and Devin Taylor.

"Ask my guys what they think I am," Austin said when asked what a team would get with him as its head coach. "I think I do a good job getting our guys motivated. I think I get them ready to play. I think, schemewise, they’re taught, they’re ready, they’re sound."

Lions players have campaigned for Austin to get a head coaching job in the past, and head coach Jim Caldwell expressed his astonishment that Austin wasn't snapped up by another team this off-season.

"It's great to have him back," Caldwell said at the NFL's annual meetings in March. "Unfortunately, he didn’t get a job, and I know it’s tough for him, a head job. I know it’s tough on him, and that’s something he really would like to have happen. That’s his heart’s desire, and I think it’s going to happen at some point in time. But in the meantime, we have a guy back with us who has done as fine a job, I think, adjusting to circumstances in terms of using our personnel. And those guys give him a chance to really do what we do best."

Austin said concerns about his potential coaching staff -- something teams mentioned privately after his 2015 round of interviews -- were overblown and that he had "quality staffs (lined up) both years."

"I can put together a good staff," he said. "I have no doubt."

Of the eight interviews Austin has had, he came closest to landing the Falcons job that went to Dan Quinn last year.

Austin, who was runner-up, said Quinn "deservedly got that job," and he said the cyclical nature of the NFL's hiring practices might have been a reason he was passed over last year. All seven of the job openings following last season were filled by assistants with offensive backgrounds.

"I guess that was the trend," Austin said. "Maybe this year, it’ll be some defensive guys have an opportunity. But I just look at it like this: I don't care whether you’re offense or defense, you’ve got to be able to lead a team. You’re not leading one side of the ball, you’re leading everybody. So I think I can do that."

Austin wouldn't make any prediction on when he'll finally break through and land a head coaching job, but he said, "I don't have anything to prove" on the field this fall.

Rather, like career assistant Bruce Arians, who got his first chance to be an NFL head coach at the age of 60 and has guided the Arizona Cardinals, one of the league's best teams, the last three years, the 51-year-old Austin said, "If and when (a job) comes, I’m going to take advantage of it."

"I'm just going to be me," Austin said. "I can’t go in and be Bruce, I can’t go in and be Jim, I can’t go in and be anybody else. I just go in and I present myself and I think myself’s good enough. And if the person that does the hiring doesn’t think that, then that’s OK, then we just don’t mesh. But there’ll be somebody at some point that thinks that we’ll mesh, and we’ll be a good match. And I’ll get my chance."

Seidel: Steady Teryl Austin 'would be huge loss' for Lions

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett

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