Dave Birkett

Detroit Free Press

Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Teryl Austin has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Will Muschamp as Florida's head coach.

It's a natural fit.

Austin spent one season on Urban Meyer's staff as Florida defensive coordinator in 2010 and is a big reason the Lions have the NFL's No. 1 defense now.

But the 49-year-old played coy when asked whether he had any interest in the job today.

"I'm thinking about this game right here," Austin said. "I haven't even thought about it. I hate it for all the guys that are down there that -- there's a whole bunch of families and people that lost their jobs, and it stinks. And that's that."

Muschamp was fired Sunday, after four seasons and a 27-20 record with the Gators. He'll coach Florida's last two regular-season games but won't stick around if the Gators make a bowl game.

Lions coach Jim Caldwell wouldn't speculate on what the future holds for Austin as a head coach, but he said he'd encourage any of assistants who want to pursue a college job.

"I've been in a similar situation myself early on in my career and I'm supportive of whatever we have to do in order to get a guy in position to do well, if that's his heart's desire," Caldwell said. "But we don't let it interfere with what we're doing. Our job is to win games, and that's what we do. And they understand that. I think these guys we have have great focus in that regard. And if you're good and you're playing well, you're going to get the teams and people that have interest in the people that are on your staff, I think that's the way it should be."

Austin started his coaching career as a graduate assistant on the same Penn State staff on which Caldwell was an assistant in 1991. He spent 10 years as a defensive backs coach in college, including four years at Michigan, before jumping to the NFL in 2003.

Aside from his one year with Florida, Austin has been an NFL assistant ever since.

Several Lions players said Austin's personality would fit as a head coach in either an NFL or college locker room. Austin, though, said he hasn't thought far enough ahead to say which level he'd prefer.

"I kind of look just to this week, 'cause if you start looking down, and start, 'Oh, I'm going to do this,' it means nothing," Austin said. "It means nothing. I just try to do the best I can with at the job I have and, this week, we have the Patriots."

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

Beat writer Dave Birkett will answer your Lions questions in a live chat at 9:45 a.m. Friday at freep.com/sports. Submit early questions here. Then join sports writer Carlos Monarrez for a live blog of the Lions-Patriots game Sunday afternoon. And play NFL Pick 'Em here.