5 coaches responsible for Matt Eberflus rise to Chicago Bears head coach
1. Tony Dungy
Arguably the best thing that Marinelli did was connect Eberflus with Tony Dungy. Dungy hired Marinelli to the Buccaneers, and while Jon Gruden won the Bucs a Super Bowl, most of those coaches were Dungy hires, including Kiffen and Marinelli.
When Eberflus was hired by the Colts he noted that Kiffin and Marinelli introduced him to Dungy a long time ago and that he has viewed Dungy as a mentor for years. This, combined with Chris Ballard being with the Bears when Marinelli was there makes a lot of sense as to why Eberflus stayed in Indianapolis even after Josh McDaniels bailed on him. He clearly had been hired with more backing than a recommendation from McDaniels.
With that in mind, it is no surprise that Tony Dungy at least had some say in the Chicago Bears coaching search, as he is very close with Bill Polian. Eberflus got his job on merit, but Dungy obviously approves. Still, Dungy is one of just a group of strong coaches surrounding Eberflus.
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We will see just how strong of a coaching candidate that Matt Eberflus is. However, when you start to dig into his resume and you read the names that are on his list of references, you can really start to understand what it is about Eberlus that has the Chicago Beas so excited.