Both Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune and Sean Jensen at the Chicago Sun-Times report that the Bears have officially denied the Titans permission to talk to Mike Tice about their offensive coordinator position. Biggs points out the major difficulty:
“But it becomes a delicate situation when teams prevent assistants from exploring a chance for advancement. No one wants to work in an environment where they feel like opportunities for personal growth are not respected.”
I understand the situation. Unlike players, teams make a commitment to their assistant coaches by giving them guaranteed contracts. They expect to get a return on that commitment. Bob LeGere at the Daily Herald gives other good reasons to deny the Titans permission to interview Tice here.
Having said that, I find this decision to be disappointing. When Green Bay head coach Mike McCarthy held quarterbacks coach Tom Clements back from interviewing for the Bear offensive coordinator position last offseason, I naively thought the Bears were better than that. Apparently not.