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The Los Angeles Rams are in the market for a new coach after five years of running in place with Jeff Fisher. This hire will be the most important decision the Rams will make for a long time. Jared Goff needs a coach that will develop him. Todd Gurley needs a coach that will reenergize the running game. This defense needs a coach that could keep them off the field for more than three plays at a clip. Finally, this fanbase needs a coach that will bring respect back to the Rams franchise in time for the opening of their new stadium in 2019.

There are a couple things the Rams will be looking for in a coach: things like name recognition, experience, offensive ingenuity, and respect. Here’s 10 potential candidates that the Rams may consider, ranging from inexperienced coordinators to Super Bowl winning icons. The Rams need to look at every end of the spectrum to find their guy.

For each candidate, I’ve given pros, cons, and the likelihood that they’ll consider the Rams as a destination in 2017. I didn’t include anyone that I felt has absolutely no chance of coaching the Rams next year, like Nick Saban. These are people that would at least want to listen to a pitch from the Rams. Here’s my 10 candidates to take over the Los Angeles Rams for the 2017 season.

Josh McDaniels

• Pros: McDaniels has been an offensive maestro with the Patriots. Even without Tom Brady, he’s been able to get his offense to produce with the likes of Matt Cassel, Jimmy Garropolo, and Jacoby Brissett. He’s got years under his belt working for the best coach in the NFL. McDaniels is also young enough to have learned from his mistakes when he coached the Denver Broncos for a brief period of time.
• Cons: Like I mentioned, McDaniels didn’t exactly produce during his time as head coach in Denver. He actually traded their franchise quarterback and drafted Tim Tebow to replace him. Many Rams fans also don’t think of McDaniels in a positive light thanks to his disastrous stint as the team’s offensive coordinator in 2011.
• Likelihood: High. McDaniels is a young and relatively big name hire that has experience leading an exciting offense. Sure he didn’t do well with Denver, but he was only 33 when he took over the team and probably was given a little too much power. The Rams are going to take a hard look at McDaniels to take over their team next year, and I wouldn’t be shocked at all if he was leading the Rams on opening day in 2017.

Jim Harbaugh

• Pros: He’s easily the best professional football coach in the world that’s not coaching professional football. Harbaugh took over a struggling San Francisco 49ers group, immediately turned them into a contender, then they went back to struggling when he left. He’s had success everywhere he’s went and is currently reviving the Michigan Wolverines. He’d be a dream come true for the Rams.
• Cons: It’ll cost a pretty penny to pry Harbaugh from his current gig.
• Likelihood: Medium. Closer to low than high, but I think there’s too much of a chance to call it low. Harbaugh has unfinished business in the NFL, the Rams have a lot of promising talent, and above all money talks. The Rams will likely offer a king’s ransom to Harbaugh. I’d be inclined to say he won’t coach the Rams in 2017, but I’m not entirely ruling it out.

Jon Gruden

• Pros: Gruden is a former Super Bowl champion and had plenty of success coaching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the early 2000’s. He brings experience, determination, and a great attitude to the table. He’s exactly the kind of hire that would bring in a ton of buzz to the Rams and likely turn the ship around immediately.
• Cons: It’s been a while since Gruden has coached football, and he seems very content commentating Monday Night Football. He’d probably cost even more than Harbaugh. Additionally, we don’t know if he’d be a good fit with Goff. Gruden has never successfully developed a young quarterback as a head coach in the NFL.
• Likelihood: Low. Gruden will no doubt be intrigued by the opportunity to truly bring football back to Los Angeles, but why would he give up his current job? It’s stress free, pays well, and is essentially part-time. Gruden’s not coaching in the NFL anytime soon.

Kyle Shanahan

• Pros: As Rams fans saw first hand last week, Shanahan has constructed an offense that can produce even without Julio Jones in Atlanta. He’s helped revive Matt Ryan in Atlanta and is responsible for the only good season of Robert Griffin III’s career. Shanahan was literally raised by an NFL head coach and grew up in this business. He’s young and is as ready as anybody for his first chance to be an NFL head coach.
• Cons: Even though Shanahan has been an offensive coordinator as an offensive coordinator, having no head coaching experience might be a turnoff for the Rams. Some of Shanahan’s units have been inconsistent over the years.
• Likelihood: High. Shanahan is an electrifying and young offensive guru that is exactly what the Rams are looking for. In the likely event that they can’t land a guy like Harbaugh or Gruden, Shanahan will surely be high on their list of names. He’d be a great fit to mentor Jared Goff even if he hasn’t had experience as a head coach in the league.

David Shaw

• Pros: Shaw served as Jim Harbaugh’s offensive coordinator for his four years at Stanford and inherited the team when Harbaugh left for the NFL. Stanford hasn’t missed a beat since Shaw took over, winning three conference titles in six years. Shaw and Harbaugh took Stanford from the bottom to the class of the Pac-12. He’s the best NFL coaching prospect of the college guys that have yet to make the leap to the NFL. He has the potential to do for a team exactly what Harbaugh did for the 49ers.
• Cons: Not only has Shaw never been an NFL head coach, it’s been 10 over years since he worked in the NFL. Shaw’s lack of NFL coaching experience at a high level is glaring for a team that needs to turn it around quick. Shaw’s teams at Stanford have been less successful in his most recent three years than his first three years, which is significant because that would have been the year most of Harbaugh’s recruits were on their way out.
• Likelihood: High. It’s pretty obvious the Rams want to make a splash. Shaw seems like a realistic option to make the leap to the NFL next season. He’s been successful at Stanford and has made his mark in the California football scene. He’s a risky hire, but if the Rams strike out with the bigger names, they may have to take a risk. Don’t be surprised if Shaw to the Rams starts trending more upward in the coming weeks.

Jim Bob Cooter

• Pros: Jim Bob Cooter has revived Matthew Stafford in post-Megatron Detroit this season. He’s probably the second-most important person in the Lions organization this season behind Stafford and has been a major key to their turnaround. Cooter is a young offensive genius and would immediately breathe new life into this offense.
• Cons: The other guys on this list that don’t have experience look like veterans compared to Cooter. He’s just 32 years old and hasn’t even been a football coach for 10 years. He’s got just two years under his belt as an offensive coordinator and may need a couple more seasons to be groomed into an NFL head coach. We’ve seen what happened to Josh McDaniels.
• Likelihood: Low. Just take a look at Josh McDaniel’s tenure with Denver or even Lane Kiffin with the Oakland Raiders. Handing the reins off to young coordinators with a lack of experience is one of the riskiest moves an NFL front office can make. The other side of the coin is that the younger guys could end up being Jon Gruden or Mike Tomlin. Cooter certainly has the potential of those guys, but this doesn’t seem like a risk the Rams would want to take right now.

Tom Coughlin

• Pros: Experience, discipline, and a winning culture. Two-time Super Bowl champion Tom Coughlin brings more experience to the table than a few of the younger coaches combined. He’s proven he’s maximize the talent on his roster; the 2007 Giants were not even close on paper to the 2007 Patriots, but look how that turned out. His resume features just about everything the Rams are looking for in a coach.
• Cons: Coughlin is 70 years old and had a rough last few years with the Giants. Even if he was interested in returning to the sidelines, how long would he really be productive for the Rams? Is he even a good coach anymore?
• Likelihood: Medium. Here’s the rationale for hiring Coughlin: Let’s say the Rams like a guy like Jim Bob Cooter, but feel like he needs a bit more experience before he’s ready to be an NFL head coach. If they could pry him away from the Lions and have him serve as OC under Coughlin for a few years, it’s hard to imagine any Rams fans complaining. In 2008, the Cowboys we’re so impressed with Jason Garrett that they locked him up as the highest paid assistant coach in the league. Garrett was basically the coach-in-waiting behind Wade Phillips before taking over the team. Coughlin isn’t the long term answer here, but if the Rams have a young guy they really like, a few years of Coughlin could benefit this franchise.

Todd Haley

• Pros: Under the guidance of Haley, the Pittsburgh Steelers have become an offensive minded team after decades of being known for their defense. Haley is a miracle worker with quarterbacks. Big Ben is having the best run of his career under Haley. Kurt Warner revived his career under Haley. Even Matt Cassel made a Pro Bowl under Haley. He’s helped aging backs like Edgerrin James and DeAngelo Williams revive their careers, and we know what he can do with elite talent backs such as Le’Veon Bell. Haley is one of the elite offensive minds in the NFL today.
• Cons: His three-year stint as head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs left a lot to be desired. You can look at Haley to ways when it comes to his work with quarterbacks: was he the reason for the success of these guys, or did he just inherit talented quarterbacks with talented groups of guys to play with?
• Likelihood: Medium. The more I think about Haley, the more I like him for the job, but I still think he’ll be buried under McDaniels and Shanahan on the Rams wish list. He’d be a godsend for Gurley and potentially Goff as well, but his name doesn’t ring out as well as some of the other names out there. Haley will be on the head coaching radar across the league next season.

Greg Schiano

• Pros: Greg Schiano is the most successful football coach in the history of Rutgers. Before he arrived, Rutgers had made one bowl game in their school history. Schiano took them to five straight. In his first year as head coach of Tampa Bay in 2012, the Bucs improved by three wins and looked like a team on the rise.
• Cons: In his second year in Tampa Bay, Schiano lost the locker room almost immediately and his brief stint in the NFL turned out to be a complete disaster. The only reason he’s on this list is because he was Rams EVP Kevin Demoff’s second choice back in 2012 behind Jeff Fisher.
• Likelihood: Medium. I’m strongly against this one, but the recent report that Dehoff was enamored by Schiano back in 2012 leads me to believe that he’ll be considered strongly for the job. Schiano is basically the exact opposite of what the Rams are looking for in a head coach.

Bill Cowher

• Pros: Bill Cowher was one of the most successful and respected coaches in the NFL during his 15 years with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He made the playoffs 10 times and won a Super Bowl in his penultimate year as the Steelers head coach. Hiring Cowher would likely lead many free agents and talented assistant coaches to Los Angeles to join the Ram. His name certainly has that kind of pull.
• Cons: It’s been over 10 years since Cowher coached in the league, and he hasn’t made any indication that he wants to return. He’s not an offensive minded coach and if he brings in a bad offensive coordinator, the Rams would likely stay running in place. He’d be just as expensive as Harbaugh and Gruden would be.
• Likelihood: Low, but certainly not impossible. Cowher hasn’t completely closed the door on an NFL return. He’s 59 years old and with his window to return closing, he may see an opportunity to take over a talented Los Angeles defense as his last chance to make a meaningful return to the sideline. The money will certainly talk if the Rams choose to pursue Cowher.

Stay tuned for more Rams Talk articles regarding the coaching search.

Steve Rebeiro is a staff writer and podcast host for Rams Talk. He graduated from Marquette University in 2016. For more of his opinions, follow him on Twitter here.