Another candidate for Eagles' offensive coordinator job says nope

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USC offensive coordinator Graham Harrell, who the Eagles had targeted as a candidate for their offensive coordinator vacancy, is staying at USC, according to Bruce Feldman, who covers college football for The Athletic.

The 34-year-old Harrell emerged last week as a candidate, and with his connections to Mike Leach and his Air Raid Offense it made a lot of sense. Leach isn’t technically part of the Andy Reid coaching tree, but he is a student of Reid’s offense, and when he was between the Texas Tech and Washington State jobs he was a guest of Reid, Pederson and Marty Mornhinweg at training camp at Lehigh.

Harrell played for Leach at Texas Tech and coached under him at Washington State. This past year, in his first year as offensive coordinator at USC, the Trojans averaged 32.5 points per game, 35th-best in the FBS, and 454 yards per game, 20th- best.

The Eagles are in the market for an offensive coordinator after firing Mike Groh, who held the position the last two years. It’s been 11 days since the Eagles fired Groh.

Previously, the Eagles had reported interest in Ravens quarterbacks coach James Urban, who coached under Reid with the Eagles, but Ravens coach John Harbaugh told reporters on Saturday that Urban would be staying with the Ravens.

The Eagles reportedly are interested in Chiefs quarterbacks coach Mike Kafka, who Reid drafted in 2011. But there’s a chance Reid could block the Eagles from interviewing Kafka if they do formally request permission to interview him.

Does anybody want this job? Why are candidates turning down the Eagles’ advances? 

Head coach Doug Pederson calls the plays here, and working as an offensive coordinator under an offensive coach who calls the plays isn’t always the most desirable job.

Several other candidates who might have made sense have taken other jobs, like Pat Shurmur in Denver, Joe Brady in Carolina and Bill Lazor and John DiFilippo with the Bears

Jim Caldwell, the former Lions head coach who's now quarterbacks coach with the Dolphins, would make a lot of sense. Mike Shula, who was Shurmur's offensive coordinator the last two years with the Giants, is still available, as is former Redskins coach Jay Gruden. 

Internal candidates such as Duce Staley and Press Taylor are already in the building. 

Of the 10 teams in the market for offensive coordinators this offseason, only the Vikings, Jaguars and Eagles have yet to name one. The Jaguars were reportedly interviewing Gruden on Monday.

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