Broncos owner Greg Penner: He’ll tell me about the new coach, not George Paton

Broncos owner Greg Penner is openly casting about for the team’s next head coach.

Although Penner expressed confidence In general manager George Paton and said Paton will play a big role, Penner said overseeing the next head coach will be up to Denver’s owner moving forward.

“The new coach will let me know, which is a more typical NFL structure. Obviously, the relationship between the general manager and the head coach is critical, and George will be very involved in this process of finding a new head coach, and we’ll make sure there’s a good fit there,” Penner said.

That raises the question of whether Penner will hire a head coach who isn’t on the same page as Paton about the future of the franchise, and whether Paton could end up being the odd man out.

Penner was confident, however, that the Broncos will find a head coach they all agree on and said former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is one of the Broncos’ minority owners, will be involved in the coaching search.

At the end of a very disappointing season, the Broncos have a lot of work ahead of them, and Penner needs to do it well.