from espn.com:
"The Buffalo Bills have hired former Dallas Cowboys and Georgia Tech coach Chan Gailey as their new coach, a team source told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.
The team announced it would hold a news conference at its facility in Orchard Park, N.Y. at 2 p.m. ET.
The Bills are said to be impressed with how Gailey has brought teams to the playoffs with quarterbacks such as Mike Tomczak, Kordell Stewart and Jay Fiedler. In fact, Bill Cowher -- whom the Bills had been courting to replace the fired Dick Jauron -- highly recommended Gailey to the Bills.
Cowher planned to make Gailey his assistant head coach/offensive coordinator if he came back. Gailey has coached in four Super Bowls and has had his teams go to the playoffs in 11 of his 15 NFL seasons.
The 58-year-old Gailey fits the profile set by newly hired general manager Buddy Nix, who preferred hiring someone with head-coaching experience. Gailey has run college and pro teams, including a two-year stint as coach of the World League of American Football Birmingham Fire in 1991-92. He also coached Troy State (1983-84) and Samford (1993).
Gailey was coach of the Cowboys in 1998-99, following Barry Switzer, reaching the playoffs in both seasons but failing to win a playoff game. He was dismissed after the 1999 season, and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has acknowledged his mistake in firing Gailey.
He went 44-33 at Georgia Tech from 2002 through 2007 and led the Yellow Jackets to a bowl game in all six seasons at the helm. But he went 0-6 against rival Georgia and he was fired after finishing 7-5 in his final season.
Underwhelmed in Buffalo
How will Bills fans who were hoping for a big-name coach to end a decade-long playoff drought react to the impending hiring of Chan Gailey? Not favorably, says Tim Graham. Blog
He would be the fifth coach of the Bills in the last 10 years -- a span in which the Bills have not made the playoffs.
Gailey has also worked as an offensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos, Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs, who hired him in 2008 and fired him after three preseason games in 2009.
When one candidate after another backed out, the Bills kept turning back to Gailey at Cowher's recommendation.
The Bills had sought out or interviewed Cowher, Mike Shanahan, Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier and New York Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, who rejected the team's request for an interview. The team also interviewed its former defensive coordinator, Perry Fewell, who took over as interim coach after Jauron was fired midway through the season.
Fewell took a job as the New York Giants' defensive coordinator.
With Buffalo, Gailey's top priority will be sparking an offense that has finished 25th or worst in yards gained in each of the past seven seasons.
Finding a franchise quarterback would help, too. A combination of injuries and futility led to the Bills to go through three starters this past year. The team has not had a starting quarterback stay for more than three years since Hall of Famer Jim Kelly retired following the 1996 season.
Gailey would also need to warm up to Bills fans, who spent the past two weeks clamoring for the team to hire Cowher. Fans raised $1,125 to rent a billboard in Buffalo last week urging team owner Ralph Wilson to hire Cowher.
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