As the NFL coaching carrousel spins into high gear over the next couple of weeks, Head Coach John Harbaugh does not have current plans to make any changes to his staff.
"I don't want to sit here and say we're never going to do anything, or we're going to do something, but I don't plan on doing anything right now," Harbaugh said during his season-ending press conference Tuesday.
Harbaugh stood by his assistant coaches, specifically Run Game Coordinator Juan Castillo, who has come under scrutiny for the team's struggles to run the ball. The Ravens finished the season ranked 30th in the NFL by averaging 83 rushing yards per game. They also finished last in the NFL averaging 3.1 yards per carry average.
"Juan Castillo is a very accountable guy," Harbaugh said. "Juan Castillo will be the first guy to say, 'Put it all on my shoulders.' There's probably a lot of people out there willing to do that. I say, 'Put it all on my shoulders,' and people are more than happy to say, 'Fine you got it. It's all your fault.'
"I know better than [to blame one person] being in those meetings every single day and being part of it every single day. I know better and every one of our players and every one of our coaches knows that there are a lot of things that go into that."
Castillo, a long-time offensive line coach for the Philadelphia Eagles, was hired at the end of the 2012 season to work primarily with the offensive line. He brought some different blocking schemes with him to Baltimore that were expected to help the running game, but the unit struggled throughout the season.
"I've got complete confidence and belief in all of our coaches," Harbaugh said. "I believe in our coaches. That goes for Juan Castillo, and that goes for all of our guys. I think he's a great coach, and I think all of our guys are great coaches. But we have to coach better. We have to find a way to use our personnel better. We have to get better. All of those things have to happen."
While Harbaugh indicated that he does not have plans to replace any of his current assistants, he did leave the door open for some of them to get other jobs around the league. Six teams have already fired their head coaches, meaning new head coaches will have to assemble their staffs over the next few weeks.
"I'm sure that some of our coaches will be part of that, as far as opportunities to move up and move on and pursue career opportunities," Harbaugh said. "We're proud of that. We've had a lot of success here and the fact that we're not pushing deep into the playoffs will probably give some of our coaches opportunities to do that."
