WT: Truth is , Charley is just doing fine

[Hauss]

http://www.washtimes.com/sports/20021218-47429430.htm

Truth is, Charley is doing just fine

By David Elfin

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Charley Casserly will be in familiar territory when he settles into his seat in the owner's box in the House That Jack Built to watch the Washington Redskins and Houston Texans play on Sunday.

Only this time that seat will be in the visiting owner's box.

"I really don't know how I'll feel," said Casserly, the general manager of the expansion Texans since January 2000. "Since I left Washington, I've only been to the stadium once to scout a game. It will be different being on the other side of the field. But I'll treat it like every other game.

"I'll go down to the field before the game. I'd like to get a chance to say hi to some of the players, but that can sometimes be awkward to do before a game. I'll watch them warm up, and I'll go upstairs. I never sit calmly through a game, so this one won't be any different. I cheer and get emotional like anybody else."

But the 53-year-old Casserly, so driven to succeed in football that he quit his teaching job in Massachusetts to accept an unpaid internship with the Redskins in 1977, wouldn't speculate on how he would react if the Texans win.

A victory would give the Texans the same record as the once-mighty Redskins — and the satisfaction of beating Dan Snyder, the young owner who fired him in July 1999. The dismissal came only three months after Casserly produced the best of his 11 drafts as the general manager of the Redskins, a draft in which the club selected cornerback Champ Bailey and offensive tackle Jon Jansen and acquired a future first-round pick.

In fact, Casserly is cordial with Snyder, if not with player personnel director Vinny Cerrato — his de facto replacement — or vice president of football operations Joe Mendes, his one-time right-hand man from whom he is now bitterly estranged.

"I always took it from a professional point of view that when the owner changes, he has the right to do what he wants," said Casserly, who will visit with Snyder's predecessor, John Kent Cooke, on Saturday. "I told Dan that when he got the team. He and I have no issues. He treated me fairly on the way out the door. We see each other at league meetings. If I need to have communication with the Redskins, I call him.

"It seems like another part of my life because of the change in ownership and the change in personnel. It seems longer than three years ago. I'm proud that I left the team in good shape. It was a playoff team with a good nucleus and three first-round draft choices and room under the salary cap."

After spending the 1999 season watching the Redskins he put together come within a field goal of the NFC Championship game, Casserly was hired to be the architect of the expansion Texans. And he never looked back.

"I had a great time during my 23 years in Washington," Casserly said. "The Cookes were great to me. So were the fans. But when I got on a plane to come to Houston, that was the end of my Redskins connection."

Whereas Casserly inherited an established contender in Washington, he has built the Texans from the ground up under the watchful eye of owner Bob McNair.

Casserly was influential in designing their stadium, offices and practice facility. He hired coach Dom Capers and the support staff, which includes 15 former Redskins employees, trainer Kevin Bastin, equipment manager Jay Brunetti, strength coach Dan Riley and nine scouts among them.

"We always said the important thing was to come out of our first year with a good nucleus of players, good discipline and a good attitude, and we're going to have that," said Casserly, whose young 4-9 team has lost four games by seven points or less and has played to standing room only crowds in 69,500-seat Reliant Stadium. "If you don't go the playoffs, it doesn't matter how many games you win. It's whether you're going forward, which we are.

"We've got a solid foundation. We've got a good recruiting image around the league, which is essential. We have an excellent organization, and we'll continue to get better. We've won the second-most games by an expansion team. We play hard, and when we don't shoot ourselves in the foot, we have a chance to win. The fans are very enthusiastic. Everywhere you go around Houston you see Texans stuff, signs that say, 'Go Texans.'"

Unlike his former franchise, Casserly's new one is going in the right direction.

[bulldog]

one has to temper all of the euphoria over the expansion franchise with the knowledge that here Casserly largely failed to deliver the kind of talent the Redskins needed to be a contender after Gibbs left in 1993.

the failure of some draft choices can be laid at the feet of others such as Norv Turner in the case of Heath Shuler.

But I don't remember seeing too many Russ Grimm or Dexter Manley quality picks being made in the middle rounds.

One player we took, Andre Johnson in round 1 in 1996, never even played a regular season down for us.

When we go back and look at where this team was talent wise in 1998 you can't say we were on the doorstep of greatness.

Remember the Stubby and Wilkinson contracts were done at this time BEFORE Snyder took over as the owner in 1999.

[redman]

Casserly was not bad and remains the best GM we've had in over a decade. He had his faults, but I always viewed him as an asset.

I found this segment of the article interesting:

In fact, Casserly is cordial with Snyder, if not with player personnel director Vinny Cerrato — his de facto replacement — or vice president of football operations Joe Mendes, his one-time right-hand man from whom he is now bitterly estranged.

"I always took it from a professional point of view that when the owner changes, he has the right to do what he wants," said Casserly, who will visit with Snyder's predecessor, John Kent Cooke, on Saturday. "I told Dan that when he got the team. He and I have no issues. He treated me fairly on the way out the door. We see each other at league meetings. If I need to have communication with the Redskins, I call him.

More confirmation about whose mits are on the player personnel controls, no?

[MRMADD]

Hell, I hope the Texans win on Sunday just so we can draft higher. I WANT the Skins to have a bitter taste in their mouths after this season -- I think a lot of guys, after the debacle of last season, felt pretty good at the end. We don't need that this year. We need them to enter the offseason knowing they sucked.

My greatest fear is that we win the last two and everyone gets so excited about beating the Cows that we start reading articles that say, "Well, we finally figured it out at the end of the season." No, you didn't! All of the Skins need to work very hard in the offseason to prepare for next year.

I want them hungry next year. If it takes a loss to an expansion team to achieve that, so be it.

[Henry]

I never understood the media's love-affiar with Casserly. He was a fair GM, nothing more. He made some good moves and some terrible ones. Under his direction we failed to adequately address the DL for almost a decade. First we had no DTs, then no DEs then neither. Other than Ellard, A Turner move, our WR situation was a total mess for years. As were our Safety spots. Our OL was just as patchwork under Casserly as it is now. Andre Johnson was a total bust who we traded up with the Cowboys to draft, making it a double-whammy.

And if you think Norv had a tough time working with Snyder, just remember he had an even tougher time with CC. By the end they were no longer talking to eachother. Let's not forget the reason Snyder eventually accepted CC's resignation was because Cass and Turner could no longer work together, Snyder had to let one of them go and it was too late to find a new coach.

Na, this story is just another attempt to put a negative spin on today's Redskins. Casserly bears no hard feelings. Perhaps the Times should take the hint.

[Ignatius J.]

Charlie casserly never did anything witht his first round picks. He was responsible for champ bailey, jansen, and stephen davis. HE also was calling the shots when such names as Heath Shuler, Desmond Howard and Michael Westbrook showed up was he not? Cerrato's drafts appear to be far more consistent in first round selections. AND given the busts of 1 and 4 in '00 Cerrato's picks of arrington and samuels are starting to look like a bit more than no brainers.

Where are all of charley casserly's picks? Who is still in the league right now? What middle round gems did he bring us? For all the free agency dependancy that Cerrato gets blamed for, where are the stud DT's that casserly drafted? He relied on free agency and trades too.

I guess my question is what exactly did casserly do?

-DB

[Thinking Skins]

Nah, Charley was my favorite guy in the redskins front office for a long time. Charlie may not have a good reputation with the first rounders, but he had a pretty nice one with teh second round and below. From what I understand, he used to give the first rounder to Norv and decide on the other rounds. I dont think he is outruight the best GM in the league, but he's pretty darn good at what he does.

[Ignatius J.]

Can you name some of charlie's late round acts of genius?

because right now, rock cartwright is making our FO look awful good.

-DB

[Thinking Skins]

well just going from memory, I remember getting Stephen Davis, Gus Ferotte, Brad Badger, Albert Connell, Skip Hicks, Fred Smoot, that TE (Alexander?), Tre Johnson. The list is much longer than this, but I just cant remember all these guys. Don't act like we didnt have some nice role players to come in here and make roster.

As far as our current guys, they aren't that bad either. THey just need to know what to draft. From teh guys they drafted, i think they did pretty well. Ramsey will be starting next year, betts prolly will, rock is a solid player, we had a speedy WR who got hurt and so we couldnt see him in action be he was prepared to get some nice work this year and next year will prolly be the same, we got that CB who is replacing DG.

Maybe Charlie or our current guys could have picked better guys, but a lot of teams can say that. Point is that we drafted a lot of guys who have a lot of talent and can help this team.

[Riggo-toni]

Skip Hicks was a waste of a 2nd rnd pick. Casserly had a few mid-round gems, most notably Stephen Davis and Brian Mitchell, but he also had the absolute worst record of any GM during his tenure for first round picks. And this included several high picks. We should've fired him instead of or at least along with Petitbon. The only #1 pick by Casserly still playing is Champ Bailey. That's it! Everybody else is out of football. Shuler, Westbroken, Tom Carter, Andre Johnson, etc.

The article mentions CC's last year being his best, but only 2 picks from that draft (Bailey and Jansen) are still in the league. Also, CC never fixed the lines on either side of the ball. In 98, we had the worst OL in the NFL and set a club record for sacks allowed. We spent what were at the time record amounts for DTs and still finished at the bottom of the league in stopping the run. At least our spending spree in 2000 significantly improved our D.

Casserly blew dog. Period!

[Kilmer17]

If CHarlie Casserly was even a FAIR GM, we would have a bunch of players on our team now from his tenure???

Where are they????

After Green retires and DAvis leaves CHamp will have tenure.

It's Charlie's fault that we dont have decent players that we have groomed over the years. Guys that he should have been drafting and signing should be the foundation of our team now. Where are they????

Charlie Casserly is 1/2 of the reason our team is in the spiral it is now. Norv is the other half.

He sucked monkey nuts.

[BG]

Weren't both Bobby Beatheard and Joe Gibbs 100% responsible for our players that took us to superbowls? I am not sure about this one, but I thought that Casserly was only the GM in the 90's. Someone do correct me if I am wrong.

[ummagumma]

Casserly was credited in unearthing some Plan B gems, I believe.

[Storm]

Charlie casserly never did anything witht his first round picks. He was responsible for champ bailey, jansen, and stephen davis. HE also was calling the shots when such names as Heath Shuler, Desmond Howard and Michael Westbrook showed up was he not?

Shuler and West-broke were both Turner choices. Casserly apparently wanted Dilfer and either stokes or Gallaway.

Casserly had very good picks second round and up, Alexander, Raymer, Tre Johnon, Connell, b. Mitchell, Stephen Davis, Asher, Bailey, Jansen, Skip hicks, Derek Smith, Keenan McCardell.

Even if you ignore his picks at least we had a consistant professional front office that had a plan. Not a fantasy football operation like we do now

[Storm]

If CHarlie Casserly was even a FAIR GM, we would have a bunch of players on our team now from his tenure???

Where are they????

Alexander,

Raymer,

Tre Johnon,

Connell,

b. Mitchell,

Stephen Davis,

Asher,

Bailey,

Jansen,

Skip hicks,

Derek Smith,

Keenan McCardell.

every time there is management change or coaching change there is player turnover.

We've had several FO turnovers and three coaching changes on offense and on defense.

[Thinking Skins]

If charlie is so bad, then why did Houston jump at the opportunity to hire him as GM?