Welcome to Round Two of the Matt Millen Story in Detroit.

After firing Marty Mornhinweg on Monday, Millen has now released his third of three major hires since taking over as team president two years ago.

He fired Bill Tobin, the personnel director who ran his first two drafts. If anything, Tobin's draft was one of the few bright spots in the 5-27 Millen years. Ten of the draft choices started NFL games. Those who were cut ended up on other team's rosters. Tobin's biggest decision was going against Millen in selecting Joey Harrington instead of cornerback Quentin Jammer.

Last week, he fired Kevin Warren, the man he brought in to run the salary cap and be a chief financial advisor.

Mornhinweg was fired on Monday with three years remaining on his five-year, $5 million contract.

Even though Steve Mariucci will be the leading candidate for the job, Millen will open the job search. First, the NFL is mandating that teams interview top minority candidates and the Lions will comply. Former Vikings coach Dennis Green is very interested in the Detroit situation, and he might be contacted.

But in the end, it will probably be Mariucci -- if he's interested. As of Monday afternoon, the Lions hadn't contacted the former 49ers coach.

But Mariucci, who was Millen's first choice two years ago, knows that Mornhinweg was hired because Millen thought he was the next best thing to Mariucci. Millen loves Mariucci's West Coast offense, and loves Mariucci's style of coaching.

Still, the firing on Monday had its weird parts. Millen allowed the hiring of four assistant coaches to get the Lions through the Senior Bowl, which was coached by the team's staff. The hiring of those four coaches seemed to give the indication that Mornhinweg would get a third season.

But it wasn't.

As for Mariucci, he was fired by the 49ers three days after being eliminated from the playoffs by the Buccaneers. A year ago, Mariucci turned down an offer to be coach and general manager of the Bucs.

He stayed on for another season in San Francisco, but he lost some stature in the organization for wanting that job.

Now, he's a logical choice in Detroit. But it's not known how long the Lions will take for their search.

John Clayton is a senior writer for ESPN.com.