Miami to interview Childress for a job

Brad Childress might be back in the NFL quicker than he thought.

The former Vikings coach will be in Miami on Saturday to interview for the offensive coordinator job with the Dolphins.

Childress, who was the offensive coordinator of the Eagles before joining the Vikings in 2006, said he isn't certain he will coach next season or sit it out while he collects on a $3 million-per-year contract for the next two seasons from the Vikings after he was fired in November.

However, any money he earns from another job would be deducted from the money he is owed by the Vikings.

"I really don't know what I want to do," Childress said. "I may just sit out this year and maybe two years. But I've coached for 33 straight years and if the right position comes up, I'm going to give it strong consideration. I'm a football coach."

Miami offensive coordinator Dan Henning retired and, after interviewing Stanford football coach Jim Harbaugh for the head coaching job, the Dolphins gave a two-year extension to Tony Sparano.

"I don't have any preconceived notions," Childress said of the Dolphins' opening. "If there's a good opportunity there with good people, and that's the key, I'll coach again this year. If not then I'll pass and do something next year."

"I don't mind that at all," he said. "To be a good leader you have to have good followers, so if there's somebody out there that I feel like I can follow, I'll do that."

Referring to the many interviews I have done with Childress over 4 1/2 seasons with the Vikings, he said: "I feel like we're right back in my office again, just like old times. It's different -- 33 years you're used to working this time of year, and it's different."

About being fired, he said: "It is a crazy world. Forgot everything I knew one year ago. But you know that's kind of the nature of the business is what have you done for me lately or, really, what have you done for me right now or in the future."

Childress sang the praises of his successor, Leslie Frazier.

"I love Leslie. You know obviously I feel strongly about him," Childress said. "I wouldn't have brought him in here as a defensive coordinator if I didn't. Obviously that's been a good spot for [Steelers head coach] Mike Tomlin and for Leslie both, guys that were up and coming, and I wish him all the best."

"I saw every one of them," he said. "I guess it was probably about a microcosm of the season. Won some and lost some and played well in some and not so well in others. Yeah, it's a fickle business. You'd like to think with getting better every year, maybe this was a back-step and you can go forward from there, but yeah, it is a crazy business."

Childress said he watched a lot of football after he left the Vikings.

"I wish I could tell you that I pushed away from it, but you know I enjoy it," he said. "I watch every game that I can, it's what I do. I mean ... I'm not all of a sudden gone fishing or started playing golf or something like that. Football is what I do, so I enjoy watching it.

"I enjoy watching the finish to the season and the first round of the playoffs, the wild cards. I watch it all."

How does he feel about the playoffs?

"I just think they [the Bears] were steady. I think they've gotten a little bit better. The last time that Seattle played them Seattle beat them in Chicago. I watched that game, it might have been the weekend of our bye. You don't expect that, but they're a good, solid football team."

Well, Mr. Childress proved he was pretty good last year when if it wasn't for a 12th-man-on-the-field penalty and an interception in the NFC Championship Game, the Vikings could have been Super Bowl champions.

Don't worry, he will wind up with a good football job. Eagles coach Andy Reid has made it clear that Childress can return to his staff any time he wants. The man proved he can coach. And he certainly learned a lot of things on and off the field in his first opportunity of coaching a NFL team.

Jottings Gophers football coach Jerry Kill was named the Fellowship of Christian Athletes college football coach of the year Wednesday at the American Football Coaches Association convention in Dallas. ... Ra'Shede Hageman, the defensive end from Minneapolis Washburn, and cornerback Michael Carter are in school at Minnesota trying to get their grades up so they can be eligible after leaving the team in midseason last year to concentrate on academics. ... Bryant Allen, a two-sport Gophers athlete who played in nine basketball games in 2009-10 and caught 16 passes for the football team last fall, is transferring to Illinois State, where he plans to play both sports.

Former Gophers defensive coordinator Ted Roof orchestrated a great game plan in No. 1 Auburn's 22-19 victory over No. 2 Oregon on Monday night in the BCS Championship Game. Oregon's lowest point total of the season came in a 15-13 victory over Cal in November, but in its other 11 victories Oregon had averaged 47.6 points per game as one of the most dominant offenses in college football. Roof had a solid year in his only season as the Gophers' defensive coordinator in 2008, leading the Gophers to a 7-6 record and a trip to the Insight Bowl in 2008 after the team went 1-11 in 2007. Roof's defense that season led the Big Ten in takeaways (31), and the points-against average dropped from 36.7 in 2007 to 24.8 in 2008.