Dan Quinn

Seattle Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn talks to reporters after practice Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015 in Renton, Wash. The Seahawks will play the Carolina Panthers on Saturday in an NFL football divisional playoff game. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

(Ted S. Warren)

Orchard Park, N.Y. — The Buffalo Bills will have their fifth head coach in the last seven seasons when they take the field in 2015. It's about time they get this hire right.

After Doug Marrone abruptly opted out of his contract, new owners Terry and Kim Pegula were thrown headfirst into a coaching search, and they have made it the most extensive search in the league.

In total, 14 candidates have been connected to the Bills for their vacant head coaching job, but who is the best man to take over in Buffalo? Evaluating head coach candidates is always tricky. It's tough to tell exactly how a coach will perform as a head coach until he gets a shot at it. Even when a coach fails in his first attempt as a head coach that doesn't mean he's not going to be successful at his next stop. Too many factors play a part.

As legendary 49ers coach Bill Walsh put it in his book "The Score Takes Care of Itself: My Philosophy of Leadership:"

"One of the common traits of outstanding performers — coaches, athletes, managers, sales representatives, executives, and others who face a daily up/down, win/lose accounting system — is that a rejection, that is, defeat, is quickly forgotten, replaced eagerly by pursuit of a new order, client, or opponent."

Walsh also wrote about turning around a culture, one of the main jobs a head coach has to perform.

"The culture precedes positive results," Walsh said. "It doesn't get tacked on as an afterthought on your way to the victory stand. Champions behave like champions before they're champions; they have a winning standard of performance before they are winners."

With a league-leading 15-year playoff drought, it's safe to say the Bills need a culture change.

Here's a ranking of the 14 coaches the Bills have been in touch with about their head coaching vacancy.

Top tier

1. Dan Quinn, defensive coordinator, Seattle Seahawks

Dan Quinn may not have any head coaching experience, but he has been in charge of a Seahawks defense that was at the top of the league in points and yards allowed. He made Peyton Manning look like an amateur in Seattle's Super Bowl victory a year ago and gets rave reviews from Seahawks players and coaches. He looks like a rising star in the coaching world.

2. Hue Jackson, offensive coordinator, Cincinnati Bengals

Hue Jackson has already had a chance at being a head coach and he went 8-8 in one season with the Oakland Raiders before getting fired. Considering what's gone on in Oakland over the last decade, an 8-8 season with the Raiders isn't too shabby. Jackson has a track record of developing talent on the offensive line, most recently in Cincinnati.

3. Adam Gase, offensive coordinator, Denver Broncos

One of the first people the Bills talked to about their head coaching opening was Broncos offensive coordinator Adam Gase, who is a sought-after head coaching candidate. Many credit Manning with the Broncos' offensive success, but Gase has shown an ability to scheme and adjust for Manning's declining ability. He has a bright future in the NFL and might be ready to make the jump to being a head coach.

Second tier

4. Darrell Bevell, offensive coordinator, Seattle Seahawks

Any coach who comes from Carroll's coaching tree in Seattle is an attractive candidate. But what makes Seahawks offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell a quality coach is his ability to develop talent and adjust to the talent on the roster. He worked closely with Brett Favre in both Green Bay and Minnesota and has played a key role in developing Russell Wilson in Seattle. Given the Bills' longstanding issue at quarterback, finding someone with a track record of developing quarterbacks isn't a bad place to start in the head coaching search.

5. Rex Ryan, former head coach, New York Jets

Rex Ryan might be the best coach on the market, but he's not really the best fit for Buffalo. For starters, there have been reports that he's apprehensive about taking the job because of the quarterback situation, and the Bills need a coach that's all-in. Second, Ryan would likely want to run his 3-4 defense. While Ryan's defenses have been his calling card over the years, Buffalo's defense thrived in Jim Schwartz's 4-3 scheme. Maybe at another time Ryan to the Bills would have made more sense, but it doesn't look like the right fit for either side.

6. Teryl Austin, defensive coordinator, Detroit Lions

Detroit defensive coordinator Teryl Austin has been a popular name in head coach searches this offseason. He took a Lions defense full of potential and turned that into the best on-field results Detroit has seen on that side of the ball in some time. He doesn't have any head coaching experience, but Austin, like Bills' general manager Doug Whaley, played football at Pittsburgh. He's also a Pennsylvania native, like Pegula. Austin could be a dark horse candidate, and he wouldn't be a bad hire.

7. Mike Shanahan, former head coach, Washington and Denver

Pegula has wanted to bring in someone to oversee and assess football operations but he needs to hire a head coach first. Maybe he could knock both out with one hire. Mike Shanahan was both the head coach and vice president of football operations in Washington, where he was fired in 2013. Still, Shanahan has three Super Bowl rings to his name and has a proven track record in the NFL, something a lot of the other candidates lack. Whether what Shanahan did in Washington was a sign of things to come or a blip on the radar is something the Bills have to figure out.

8. Josh McDaniels, offensive coordinator, New England Patriots

Like Ryan, Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels is a strong head coaching candidate who may not be the right fit for Buffalo. While McDaniels is considered to be somewhat of an offensive guru, he never has had much success developing his own quarterbacks. He works well with Tom Brady but didn't do much with younger quarterbacks in Denver or St. Louis. McDaniels already failed once as a head coach, so will he want to take a chance on a job where there isn't an established quarterback in place? Not to mention, if McDaniels coached the Bills, he would have to face Bill Belichick twice a year.

9. Pep Hamilton, offensive coordinator, Indianapolis Colts

Pep Hamilton has been a solid offensive coordinator for the Colts over the last two years and seems to be well thought of as an offensive mind across the league. He doesn't have prior head coaching experience, and that may be why there isn't a tremendous amount of buzz about him as a coaching candidate just yet. The Raiders and Bills are the two teams that have reached out to Hamilton, and he may still be a year or two away from landing a head coaching job.

Third tier

10. Frank Reich, offensive coordinator, San Diego Chargers

The Frank Reich connection is obvious. He was a popular quarterback for the Bills back in the 1990s and led the greatest comeback in NFL history playing in place of Jim Kelly. Buffalo fans love him, and the news that he had interviewed for the job caused quite the stir. But is he the best man for the job? Reich has just one season as an offensive coordinator in San Diego, and the Chargers' offense was inconsistent in 2014. Is he ready to make the jump to head coach? If he had never played quarterback for the Bills, would he be getting as much support?

11. Jim Schwartz, defensive coordinator, Buffalo Bills

When the Bills' head coaching job became available, fans began lobbying for an internal hire. Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz did a tremendous job in his first season in Buffalo and has previous head coaching experience. The problem? He was 29-51 in five seasons as Detroit's head coach. No other teams have interviewed Schwartz, so the Bills may be able to keep him on as defensive coordinator.

Bottom tier

12. Pat Shurmur, offensive coordinator, Philadelphia Eagles

Pat Shurmur is another candidate who has previous head coaching experience, but his 9-23 record with the Cleveland Browns isn't exactly a bright spot on his resume. Two things working in Shurmur's favor are his experience working with quarterbacks and the fact that he and Bills director of player personnel Jim Monos both spent time under Andy Reid. Every connection helps.

13. Greg Roman, offensive coordinator, San Francisco 49ers

Greg Roman's stock as a head coaching candidate has cooled significantly compared to where it was the last few offseasons. The 49ers' offense took a step back this season, and Roman may need to prove himself in another offensive coordinator job to get back on the radar as a head coaching candidate. That said, Roman has some attractive qualities. He knows how to use a mobile quarterback to get the most out of a running game, and the Bills would seem to have some of the pieces Roman looks for when running his offense.

14. Kyle Shanahan, offensive coordinator, Cleveland Browns

Kyle Shanahan is another coach who has seen his stock cool after a rough season in Cleveland. Shanahan was the youngest offensive coordinator in the league once upon a time, but making him the youngest head coach in the NFL isn't the best idea for a Bills team that needs to get this hire right.