Despite the 13-game Bobby Petrino era, Falcons president and general manger Rich McKay would not rule out hiring another coach from the college ranks.
"First of all, you eliminate no one," McKay said Wednesday. "Secondly, you pay attention to history. I think the college coaches have been the exception as opposed to the rule. I think some of them have been exceptional. I don't want to sit there and say, 'Boy, we don't want to go down that path.' "
The Falcons must follow NFL hiring practices, which includes a mandate to interview minority candidates. There are also rules about interviewing coaches on teams in the playoffs.
"I think the NFL has done a nice job in their process rules, in slowing the process down," McKay said. "Last year, we felt as a group that we had a candidate that was moving to the head of the line and we hired Bobby. This year, we'll go through the same process, but we will hope that it ends up with somebody who will be with us for a long time."
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