Rex Ryan disputes ESPN report that Cowboys will hire Mike Zimmer as defensive coordinator

Things apparently got a little spicy on ESPN today.

During the Super Bowl edition of Sunday NFL Countdown, Adam Schefter gave a detailed report about the Cowboys' plan to hire Mike Zimmer to be the new defensive coordinator. After that, former Jets and Bills coach Rex Ryan — who also interviewed for the Dallas job — disputed Schefter's reporting.

"First off, I'm not so sure Zimmer has that job right now," Ryan said, via CBS Sports.com. "I'm not sure about that. I can honestly say I don’t believe that’s a fact right now."

Here’s the video of the exchange.

It's unusual for any studio show to fail to have everyone on the same page for something like this. Ideally, the situation gets worked out ahead of time. It's unfair to Schefter to have a supposed teammate crap on Schefter's report, especially since Ryan presumably knew what Schefter was going to say before he said it.

Regardless, Ryan is still holding out hope for the job.

"The reason I was out for seven years was I had never called another head coach," Ryan said. "I called Mike McCarthy. The reason I did is because I want to be on this [Super Bowl] stage if I'm going to get back into coaching, to have a chance at that. I think with this roster the way it is, I think offensively and special teams and defense -- I can be a little bit of an upgrade -- the team could be right here [at the Super Bowl]. That's why I was interested. I would only go [back to coaching] at the right situation. If it's not completely right, I'm not going. This team, it is interesting, because they are so close to getting over that edge, and that's why I think people would be interested in this job."

So, to summarize, Zimmer is the next defensive coordinator of the Cowboys. Unless he isn't.