Washington Redskins general manager called today a "painful" Black Monday at Redskins Park, one befitting a painful end to a long season.
But the healing process will begin immediately for the Redskins front office, who look to begin the process of identifying the next head coach on Monday night.
"Our head coaching search will start tonight<' he told the gathered media at Redskins Park. "Because of league rules, we're not going to try and publicize who we're going to try and talk to.
"I know there's going to be rumors out there as we meet people, and we're going to try and keep you updated on a regular basis."
The league rules Allen is likely referring to are those that involve tampering with coaches or players currently under contract with another team.
Allen also said that director of player personnel Scott Campbell and director of pro personnel Morocco Brown will be involved in the interview process after a list of candidates is identified.
"We're going to try and do this as quickly as possible, but more importantly we want to do it correctly," Allen explained. "We want to pick the right coach, the right leader for this franchise that can inspire this football team, that can lead this team and teach them the fundamentals that are so critical in the game, who understands the value of time, because in the NFL right now time is really, really critical to manage.
"You don't have much time in the offseason with the players. You don't have much time during training camp with players.
"So to understand the value of that time is going to be important, and to have someone with some urgency to accomplish the goals that we're looking for for this franchise."
Allen has overseen hiring processes before in his career and said that the Redskins would not limit themselves to a particular background, provided he fits what the franchise needs.
"It really is an open list. It will have NFL coaches, it will have college coaches on it," he said. "Some have head coaching experience, some don't, and I'm really looking forward to meeting some of the people who I haven't met yet.
"I've seen them from afar and I want to hear what their dreams are, what they can do, the fire in their belly to coach the Washington Redskins, to inspire the kids on this football team."
Scheme, particularly is also not expected to be weighed heavily in the final consideration.
"I think I'm going to look for the person who can describe what they want to do the best," he said with a smile. "It's the person who has the understanding and the knowledge of what he wants to teach the players.
"It could be a 4-3, it could be a 3-4. As I said at the beginning, we're going to look for someone who is a leader first and it could be on the offensive side of the ball, defense or special team.
"We're going to keep an open mind and look forward to them telling us how they're going to make the Washington Redskins successful."
Despite some of the rumor mill surrounding the team this season, Allen expects the opportunity to attract top-notch candidates, given its status and history.
"The coaching profession is one that I have tremendous respect for and I think it has some of the highest highs and some of the lowest lows of any profession out there," he said. "Sometimes you find coaches who can't wait to have a tough situation of taking over a last-place team.
"I think if you would ask coaches a lot of times would you want to take over a first-place team or a last-place team, in football, they'd say last place. Unfortunately we're there, but I do think it's going to be a great opportunity for a coach."
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