GREEN BAY -- The Green Bay Packers have selected Shawn Slocum as their new special teams coordinator.
A National Football League source said coach Mike McCarthy decided to promote Slocum after interviewing at least two outside candidates in the last week.
Slocum, 43, spent the last three seasons assisting Mike Stock, who announced his retirement after McCarthy informed him he wouldn't be retained. Several sources indicated that McCarthy gave serious consideration to moving Slocum onto his defensive staff before deciding to keep him on special teams.
Meanwhile, McCarthy spent Monday night and Tuesday with Jim Haslett, the St. Louis Rams' defensive coordinator turned interim head coach, an NFL source said. Haslett is one of five finalists for the Rams' head-coaching position.
McCarthy is considering his options as he awaits a decision by Gregg Williams regarding the Packers' defensive coordinator job. Williams appears to be waiting to see if the same position becomes available in Tennessee, a job that he once held.
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The Packers and New Orleans Saints are the top two suitors for Williams. Houston, which reportedly had interest in him, hired Frank Bush on Tuesday.
Haslett had dinner with McCarthy and staff members Monday and interviewed Tuesday. Haslett was the Saints' head coach from 2000-04 when McCarthy was his offensive coordinator.
Haslett, 53, has been a coordinator in New Orleans (1996), Pittsburgh (1997-99) and St. Louis (2007-08). He has a track record for blitzing and using aggressive schemes.
If Haslett is hired, there's a chance assistant head coach-linebackers coach Winston Moss would be more amenable to staying. Haslett was Moss' boss in New Orleans for six years.
The Packers ranked 26th in a 10-category statistical comparison of special teams under Stock and Slocum in 2008 but McCarthy elected to go with the holdover.
Also interviewed were Mike Priefer, 42, who coached special teams in Kansas City the past three years, and Larry Mac Duff, 60, whose eight seasons as an NFL special-teams coach included 2005 in San Francisco when McCarthy was the 49ers' offensive coordinator.
McCarthy also had considerable interest in 37-year-old Brian Schneider, Oakland's special-teams coach the past two seasons. However, Schneider on Tuesday reportedly was hired by the University of Southern California to coach special teams.
Priefer, who has seven years of NFL coaching experience, is the son of Chuck Priefer, a longtime NFL special-teams coach who retired in 2007. He coached the Packers' special teams in 1984-'85.
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Mac Duff was out of football in 2008 after serving as co-defensive coordinator at the University of Texas in 2007.
Sources said the Packers made no contact with Ted Daisher, whose special-teams units in Cleveland ranked third in 2008; Brad Seely, the highly successful special-teams coach in New England for a decade who was hired Tuesday by Cleveland; Bruce DeHaven, an NFL special-teams coach for 22 years who was re-hired Tuesday by Seattle; and Russ Purnell, an NFL special-teams coach for 23 years before being fired at noon Tuesday by Indianapolis.
Another veteran NFL special-teams coach, Milwaukee native Gary Zauner, never heard from the Packers, either.
McCarthy and Slocum were assistants on Paul Hackett's staff at the University of Pittsburgh in 1990.
Slocum coached special teams and tight ends at Texas A&M under his father, R.C. Slocum, from 1991-'97. He went to USC to coach special teams and inside linebackers under Hackett from 1998-'99, then returned to Texas A&M from 2000-'02 to coach special teams and defensive backs under his dad.
After a two-year hiatus spent in the development business, Slocum returned as assistant head coach and linebackers coach under Ed Orgeron at Mississippi in 2005.
Meanwhile, the Oakland Tribune reported that the Raiders hired Lionel Washington as secondary coach. Washington coached cornerbacks in Green Bay from 1999-2008 before being fired.
Surgery complete: Center Scott Wells underwent surgery to repair a torn right labrum Tuesday, which was discovered in his physical after the season, a source familiar with the operation said.
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Wells, who played with the injury part of the season, was operated on by famed surgeon James Andrews. The labrum tear was discovered during an arthroscopic procedure and repaired.
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