Does anyone know who Penner has his eye on for head coach? (does he?)

A week of weird and contradictory reports has made this coaching search way too difficult to follow.

Denver’s head coaching search has been – in a word – aggravating.

There were early rumors that major candidates like Jim Harbaugh and Sean Payton were prime targets – and that there was mutual interest in coaching the Broncos.

But then Harbaugh decided to stay at Michigan (we think?) and the Broncos didn’t schedule any second interviews.

So we all watched the Twitter video where Payton got into a car to leave the Arizona Cardinals facility with owner Michael Bidwell after a day-long interview – and we all thought for sure that Payton would sign the dotted line for Arizona.

Next up for the Broncos, the media told us, was DeMeco Ryans, the hotshot 49ers defensive coordinator who is probably taking the Texans head coaching job any minute now.

So then it looked like no candidates were going to be available as the Broncos “reportedly” told a handful of the original eight candidates that they were not in contention, including Ejiro Evero, David Shaw, Raheem Morris and Jim Caldwell. Dan Quinn announced he was staying in Dallas.

Suddenly the Broncos head coaching gig wasn’t looking so attractive.

There were tweets about hunting trips to explain why the Broncos didn’t schedule a second interview with Payton – information, mind you, that did not go over well in Broncos Country and was quickly given a new narrative by Broncos PR.

Then we learned today that Greg Penner apparently had a “secret interview” with Harbaugh as he had jetted off to Michigan last week in another attempt for Harbaugh.

But he and the Broncos were denied once again as all “reports” seem to point to Harbaugh really, actually, probably??? staying at Michigan.

What do we know? Nothing.

So four weeks into the coaching search – and two weeks ahead of the other teams looking for a new coach – the only thing we’ve learned so far is that the Broncos still have no head coach and the media still has no idea what is going on.

Ryan Edwards, Dave Logan and Al Williams tried to get to the bottom of this on The Sports Zoo Monday evening with guest insider Ian Rapoport.

And they succeeded moderately.

“The Broncos never told Sean Payton they were going in a different direction, so theoretically he would still be in the mix,” Rapoport said, adding that most of the other candidates had been told that.

“I was not told that Payton was told anything about the search ending, let me put it that way,” Rapoport said.

But that still doesn’t answer several questions about why the Broncos didn’t pursue a second interview with Sean Payton or make an offer. Either he is a candidate or he isn’t – and if he is, make him an offer already!

“I think you figure either they don’t feel the urgency to go get someone or they have their eyes on someone else,” Rapoport said.

But who else could that be? The Broncos have said nothing, and if they want to interview a completely new candidate, they have to wait until after the Super Bowl is over in two weeks.

Which is a really long time in head-coach-searching years.

Rapoport acknowledged that it has been a long time without any real news on the coaching front, but he defended the process, noting that with fewer positions available for head coaches, Denver hasn’t felt the urgency and wants to do its due diligence.

“If you’re going to shoot big and swing for the top, top, top, you may still not get him, so you have to look elsewhere,” Rapoport reiterated. “Denver does seem to be focused on the big, big, big candidate and maybe that’s going to take a little more time.”

Let’s just hope the one “big, big, big candidate” who may be left actually wants Denver.

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