The Toronto Argonauts apparently have an interest in Carolina Panthers assistant head coach/running backs coach Jim Skipper as a candidate for their vacant head coaching position, Sportsnet has learned.
Two sources have confirmed the Argos interest in Skipper, and one source said Skipper definitely has an interest in the job.
Skipper has been the Panthers’ running backs coach since 2002 and is an assistant to head coach John Fox.
Skipper has more than 30 years of coaching experience, including 22 in the National Football League, Skipper has head coaching experience with the San Francisco Demons of the now-defunct XFL in 2001. His team lost in the XFL’s championship game. Some of his assistants on that staff, Joe Paopao and Kani Kauahi, have extensive experience in the Canadian Football League.
As Sportsnet first reported, the Argos are courting Bart Andrus, an assistant coach with the Tennessee Titans. He is considered the frontrunner, but Skipper’s emergence as a candidate who has interest in the job may add a new wrinkle to the search.
It is also known Toronto has interviewed former Kansas City Chiefs’ head coach John Mackovic, who has been a guest coach at training camp on occasion with the Argos, and one-time Rutgers’ head coach Doug Graber. Both have already been interviewed by the Argos owners. At this point, Skipper has not met with the owners, who are interviewing each of the shortlisted candidates.
