Saints Name Aaron Kromer Head Coach During Joe Vitt's Suspension

The New Orleans Saints' fluid situation at head coach has taken its latest turn. The team has announced that Aaron Kromer will assume the position while Joe Vitt, who was holding down the job while Sean Payton serves a year-long suspension, serves his own six-game suspension. 

The Saints tweeted the news:

"

Offensive Line/Running Game Coach Aaron Kromer to replace Assistant Head Coach/Linebackers Joe Vitt during his absence

— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) August 22, 2012"

WWLTV reports that Vitt's suspension won't actually begin until Week 1, but as Pro Football Talk reports, Kromer will be handling the head-coaching duties for the Saints' remaining two preseason games. The coaching suspensions have all come as a result of the Saints' bounty program.

NFL Network's Rich Eisen captures the absurd nature of this progression of coaching duties with this tweet:  

"

If I'm Aaron Kromer I make up "Interim to The Interim Head Coach" business cards stat & pass them out to anyone with a pulse. But that's me.

— Rich Eisen (@richeisen) August 22, 2012"

The decision to have Kromer take over for the final two preseason games makes sense. This will allow Kromer to get some on-the-job experience before being thrown into the fire that is the regular season.

Kromer is in his fifth season with the Saints, and as SI.com points out, he, along with offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael and defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, were all being considered for the role of "interim to the interim." 

The Saints are a talented and experienced team, but this unprecedented forced shuffle in coaching duties is going to take its toll. 

New Orleans is trying hard to maintain continuity, but it is inevitable that details will get lost among the transition of coaches, and in the end, the Saints are left trying to replace one of the NFL's leading head coaches with assistants. 

It will be truly remarkable if the Saints can persevere through all of this to make the playoffs.