City Paper: Sorry, but I applaud Dan Snyder

[REDALERT]

The article is absolutely correct. One of the main only reasons the coaches, players and fans wanted GW back because they were all familiar with him. And like I said before, Danny is a business man and runs the Organization as such. So no way was he going to retain GW on the basis of (feelings). Sorry, but that is part of this cruel business world and anyone in it hates change.

So, I also commend Danny and Cerrato for gutting it out and making the harsh decision to let GW and Al Saunders walk. Afterall, I'm quite sure Danny fely bad enough since his role model Joe Gibbs wanted Danny to hire Gregg. This in itself was something difficult for Dan especially after the entire organization came together after the Taylor death.

Give Danny a break. Eventhough the norm would have been to retain GW during a time of crisis(Taylor). Dan stood up like a man and a owner and did what he thought was right for the future of the franchise, not for the current moment and emotional feelings. And I'm quite sure he knew he was going to get labled as the bad guy afterwards, and that was from everyone. But he was willing to take the heat and made the correct choice for the good of the franchise and the players within it to hopefully prosper.

Now when does the new season start

[Califan007 The Constipated]

already addressed

Poorly, though...

costs to other people and their reputations;

Who's reps were damaged here? According to many like you, the "rest of the NFL" thinks Snyder's a joke and made a huge mistake by letting Williams go, so his rep is fine. Saunders' rep seems to be fine as well, although his success while here was medicre at best.

What were the "cost to other people" you mentioned?

costs to DS himself and his reputation;

They win, his rep is restored. They lose, then NOTHING he's done so far would matter in anyone's eyes.

costs to the players in terms of uncertainty and sense of vision;

That is impossible to avoid. Every team that has a coaching change instills a certain amount of uncertainty in the players...and guess what, the players know this. They don't need to be pampered and shielded from the realities of the business of football.

potential costs in terms of coaches/players who will not come here because of the perception of FUBAR written over much of this;

You know, you would THINK that Marty agreeing to be our coach after loudly blasting Snyder while still an analyst would dispel this myth...A head coaching position in the NFL is an EXTREMELY rare job, and openings are never numerous...maybe 6-7 a year, if your lucky. Trust me, nobody's going to turn down a job coaching the Skins simply because of Snyder. They'll meet with him if he's looking (and they would be absolutey morons not to at least do that)...and if they come away feeling they can work with Snyder, they'll gladly take the job if offered. Don't be naive and doubt that for a second.

costs in terms of unity of the fanbase (as TheDane painted in a separte thread);

Oh please lol :laugh:...I KNOW every mf on this board who SWEARS they'll never support the Skins again as long as Snyder is owner will be chearing their lungs out if the team's winning. The cliche of "winning cures everything" is 1,000% true. Again, fans have been emotional wrecks for so many wrong reasons that it's the fanbase that will start to become the laughingstock of the league, not the owner.

costs in terms of integrity of the "process"

The WHAT? lol :doh:...

no....I am saying what should be obvious...that the strategy of total silence only exacerbates the matter. yes...he doesn't have to say anything. but a smart person would anticipate things and control the situation....a confident person could step forward and bring others along with him...and never spill the beans......confident leaders who know what they are doing can do that....look at Parcells for an object lesson.

who cares. Seriously. So the media went extremely heavy with speculation and rumor instead of just a normal amount of heavy speculation and rumor lol...and btw, the media does NOT have to use speculation and rumor just because they don't have enough concrete information. I'm not about to absolve the press in all this simply because Snyder didn't spoon-feed them fact sheets to report. Perhaps the media could, I don't know, live up to THEIR responsibilities and tell their audiences "Since we don't have any real factual information, we're not going to pretend like we do"...

And it might help a little if us fans would stop reacting to every smidgen of "informed speculation" as if it's undeniable fact and demanding more. Then maybe the media would stop feeling the need to provide us with gossip columns instead of informative articles. And maybe owners, coaches and players might be a little more forthcoming with the media when they start to feel that unsubstantiated speculation will not be their stock and trade. It works both ways.

maybe...then again...maybe not. dpends on the departure point. what preceded this cast was an abysmal cluster you-know-what beynd belief. and what has been the one common ingredient all along?

"Departure point"? If you mean Gibbs, I take it as being the moment he said he was retiring. Williams and Saunders have done absolutely nothing to guarantee their spots on the staff once Gibbs left. Williams DID do enough to at least warrant an interview for the job...which he received. Nobody knows what took place in the interviews, so nobody knows if Williams was outstanding or if we would have said "no" to him ourselves if we had heard him. Nor do we know how unprepared he was for an interview considering Gibbs' sudden retirement.

As for the cluster(blank), so far it seems Snyder is avoiding that this time around...I'm sorry, but over-emotional fans having spasms over media-driven speculation and rumor is not Snyder's fault nor his responsibility.

[Stophovr6]

cmon now...don't fall back on "let's place nicey" when you tossed your own barbs!

Are you claiming that the conditions Cooke and Snyder operate under are/were the same?

I think that time is irrelevant. I have labored to get across the idea that beyond process and wins/losses (i.e., these are secondary).....the core issue for me is DS as a man...his character as evidenced by the near 10 years we have had to observe him in action. I have spent most of my adult life in organizations accountable for much larger groups of people than the Washington Redskins. I have been around powerful people and been a leader myself. You get a "feel" for the essence of a leader, of a man......of character...over time. And I'm just not seeing it here.

Joe Gibbs "has it"....DS does not.

You are free to agree or disagree.

I don't think DS does have 'it'. But I'd like to believe he can get it.

[Califan007 The Constipated]

I agree. But I think he is pretty well on with the assistant hires. Why would you hire a HC and then let his 'buddies' come in. By hiring the assistants now the logic could be, 'hey we have gotten who we think are the best people, you make it work'. Plus, nothing wrong with taking your time to make the right hire on the HC.

Maybe he still fears what happened under Marty, when half of the staff seemed to have the same last name lol :laugh:...

[fansince62]

Actually, I made my own point...which was the opposite of yours. I said that Snyder and Vinny are probably far more deliberate, logical and responsible with their actions than fans want to admit. Whether or not those actions bear anything positive, I didn't say. You, on the other hand, seem convinced that they are NOT being deliberate, logical or responsible, and it's soley from your own personal speculation...you don't even need to see results.

how many times does this have to be repeated? you can't claim others should wait for the results because their thinking is pure speculation....and then forward your own speculative argument. and that's exactly what you are doing to make your "case".

Again, I made my own point...yours was never validated.

you didn't...but we can agree to disagree.

Can you quote the exact things Snyder said, and in context? I say that because, one, I didn't see the press conference, and two, there have been a few posters here who HAVE attempted to put quotes of "continuity" and such into perspective...and when doing so, it came across much differently than you (and others like you) have been portraying it.

I did so in another thread a few days ago. I don't have the time/energy to dig it up right now. It's been repeated ad nauseum on COMCAST the last several days.

So if you could show exactly what Snyder said, and the context in which he said it, that would help. Because, no offense, but I have ZERO confidence in how fans translate comments said in press conferences and in interviews when it's translated thru their personal viewpoints, and often agendas.

well...we agree on one thing....TRUST MATTERS! I feel the same way about Snyder. :applause:

If you don't want to, that's fine, too...but at least you'll know why I'm not taking your translation as carved-in-stone truth.

no problem...your tone and demeanor is above board. I can't complain! you're a good fan who sees things differently from me. I can't knock that - though I'd like to!!!

I base it on results, not on what the apparent "frenzy" of the moment during a process may look like. It will not hang on what he said at a press conference...it will hang on how the team performs, what their record is, whether or not we're winning within our division...things like that.

and here we differ...getting back to my costs thought. but we aren't going to reach consensus on this...so let's just press.

[Califan007 The Constipated]

agree...with one exception...that Snyder is man enough to own up that both HE and Vinny need to move on should they lose!

:laugh: :laugh:

[fansince62]

I don't think DS does have 'it'. But I'd like to believe he can get it.

fair enough! not only do I hope your glass is half full...but that it is a big glass!

[fansince62]

next Monday and this will all be done...then we can get back to arguiing about JC!!!!

[Stophovr6]

fair enough! not only do I hope your glass is half full...but that it is a big glass!

[REDALERT]

Also, what alot of people fail to realize is the current staff already in place are the main guys that has an eye for talent (young talent). And I truly believe that Danny and Cerrato observed that, I know I did.

I'm just not the one who thinks that Danny and Cerrato didn't have the game plan to know exactly what they wanted and what type of course they wanted to take. Even I was caught by surprise by some of the people they we're interviewing and other they still want to interview. And eventhough some people despise Cerrato (I'm not a big fan) and Danny. I'm quite certain they picked other sharper minds to help them get feedback on what was best for the players they have already onboard like Campbell and what would help them succeed.

It's just alot of stuff behind closed doors that none of us really realize. But yet we're quick to jump to conclusions based solely on what we read.

It's 2 things I think Danny did learn.

1. Keeping draft picks and drafting younger talent will only help this franchise.

2. Getting input and listening to other's on what players strengths are and what could make them better by assembling the correct coaches for that.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

Just watch...if we DO end up hiring Steve Mariucci as the next HC, half the people claiming that Snyder has turned the head coach search into a fiasco and claiming Snyder has made the Skins the "laughingstock of the NFL", will be praising the move and saying the coaching staff of Mooch, Zorn and Blache could end up being a good one.

Snyder is fantastic at pulling rabbits out of his hat. I would not be the least bit surprised if Mariucci showed up here.

But it would not be the result of an exhaustive search...it would have been the result of desperation, which is really what the Gibbs hire was 4 years ago.

And it would not be continuity, because we would suddenly be a West Coast Offense team down to our marrow.

My problem with this article is that it confuses desperation for thoroughness.

[skinny21]

Snyder is fantastic at pulling rabbits out of his hat. I would not be the least bit surprised if Mariucci showed up here.

But it would not be the result of an exhaustive search...it would have been the result of desperation' date=' which is really what the Gibbs hire was 4 years ago.

And it would not be continuity, because we would suddenly be a West Coast Offense team down to our marrow.

[i']This sounds oxymoronic, but considering the changes I think the team has a high degree of continuity. Quite a few of the same coaches are in place, the defensive philosophy might be very similar and with Cerrato in place (even if this has me extremely concerned) the roster may stay the same/similar.

My impression is by not selecting Williams as the HC, DS was forced to part with both Williams and Gray - so he chose the next best replacement for the two of them - Blache. On offense, I think Snyder liked our personnel, but did not agree with the philosophy - hence canning Saunders, but again keeping Breaux/Buges etc.[/i]

My problem with this article is that it confuses desperation for thoroughness. I'm torn on this, part of me says "yeah, any head coaching search is desperate because the owner/fans want to win so badly", but part of me really questions what makes this particularly search so desperate to many fans? I've had my share of questions and doubts, but the search itself has seemed methodical to me.

[Jimbo]

My problem with this article is that it confuses desperation for thoroughness.

I'm having a very hard time determining if Snyder is desperate, simply being thorough, stubborn or a combination of each. I believe he wants to build a winner very badly. I just don't think he's learned yet how to go about it.

My biggest problem with him during the decision making process is NOT his choices. I'm not crazy about all of them but I respect the fact that they are HIS choices to make since he's the owner. My problem is his failure to communicate or the appearance thereof. It's almost as if he's in hiding. He's starting to become the Howard Hughes of the NFL.

Yes, he said he wanted continuity and that was pretty much the last public statement that came straight from the source. I will also agree that he was blindsided by Gibbs' decision to retire and he may have been speaking from emotion rather than logic and reasoning at the time. He is certainly entitled to change his mind but the least he can do is man up and say so. To remain quiet makes him look wishy-washy or, at worst, clueless. And hiding behind Gibbs and letting Joe contact the coaches during this process seems almost cowardly.

This was a wonderful chance for Dan to shine as a leader and communicate to his coaches and the media that he was going to be very patient and methodical during his coaching search and that he felt it was in the best interest of the team to do things a little differently than they had been done in the past. Instead, the fans and the media are the ones who have been blind-sided and that has naturally led to speculation and ridicule on our part as well as the media's.

Everyone is pretty tired of Snyder using a "team spokesman" as his mouthpiece. It's time for Dan to come out of hiding and learn to speak to the media, even if he has to use the old "I can't comment on that at this time" every now and then. Heck, use Redskins.com if you don't trust the mainstream media but let us see and hear you doing the talking.

Speaking to the media and fans doesn't have to be pretty Dan, if just has to be done. Not only for your good but for the good of the organization.

[skinny21]

one would like to think so...but we have no way of knowing. for all we know the multiple interviews could be over sticking points that are irrational or secondary.

I have no doubts whatsoever that we will end up with someone eventually...and that Zorn is a good man to have around and that Blache learned from Williams.

There are signals...such as Carroll and others pushing their chairs back from the table that suggest not everything is "smooth as she goes skipper"

My checklist for the search goes something like this:

Interview the fan and/or player favorite - check

Give the fan and/or player favorite multiple chances - check

Interview retread coaches with potential - check

Interview young first-time coaches on both sides of the ball - check

Interview all these candidates multiple times - check

Interview the longshots - check? (Carroll falls in this category, and I'm quite sure Snyder tried everything he could to get Gibbs to come back - the ? concerns coaches like Cowher etc.)

Take your time, have patience, don't listen to the media/fans - check

Does this mean everything was handled perfectly? No, not at all.

Does it mean I think this search is desperate or unthorough? No, not at all.

[Stormy]

But it would not be the result of an exhaustive search...it would have been the result of desperation' date=' which is really what the Gibbs hire was 4 years ago.

And it would not be continuity, because we would suddenly be a West Coast Offense team down to our marrow.

My problem with this article is that it confuses desperation for thoroughness.[/quote']

Agreed 100%. There is obviously an effort afoot to frame the search as well considered, and exhaustive, but that would seem to be more as a response to the backlash towards the 'imminent Fassel hire' news. You don't go out and hire your OC and DC, and *then* decide to conduct an exhaustive search of coordinators who couldn't have possibly signed off on Zorn and Blache.

Likewise, the Snyder proponents who advocate Blache's promotion as a sign of the promised 'continuity', are conveniently ignoring the fact that multiple sources indicate that Snyder unsuccessfully tried to lure Ryan into the DC position first. Blache was apparently a complete fallback option once they were rebuffed by the Ravens, and once the furror surfaced about the mistreatment of Williams (and the apparent disregard for what Gibbs had built).

So, once the dust settles, regardless of who the hire is, or how beneficial or malignant it may prove to be: This search was neither undertaken with an eye towards being exhaustive nor in the name of continuity.

[fansince62]

btw.....this is among one of the better threads today...even if there isn't general agreement....kudos and respect from me gents!

[fansince62]

Likewise, the Snyder proponents who advocate Blache's promotion as a sign of the promised 'continuity', are conveniently ignoring the fact that multiple sources indicate that Snyder unsuccssfully tried to lure Ryan into the DC position first. Blache was apparently a complete fallback option once they were rebuffed by the Ravens, and once the furror surfaced about the mistreatment of Williams (and the apparent disregard for what Gibbs had built).

my thought also....Blache was not the first choice...he was the fallback.

[fansince62]

Everyone is pretty tired of Snyder using a "team spokesman" as his mouthpiece. It's time for Dan to come out of hiding and learn to speak to the media, even if he has to use the old "I can't comment on that at this time" every now and then. Heck, use Redskins.com if you don't trust the mainstream media but let us see and hear you doing the talking.

Speaking to the media and fans doesn't have to be pretty Dan, if just has to be done. Not only for your good but for the good of the organization.

*amn that is great insight! (naturally, cuz I happen to agree and have been saying the same thing!) he needs to master the media...and the fanbase. he is the lone constant for 9 years now......he needs to step out and manage expectations.....while creating/sustaining excitement and belief as well.

You can get through times like the present if you make the effort to build bonds of trust. it's not that hard. it ought to be something HE WANTS TO DO. not something akin to pulling teeth.

[Storm]

My issue with snyder isnt that hes interviewing a lot of people. My issue is that he screams continuity but in the one area where continuity is most important, the offense and the developement of Campbell he completely drops the ball. Even if williams wasnt the answer, you bring someone in who continues the same essential offensive system and keeps the coaches. Someone like Bugel comes to mind.

[fansince62]

Is Mariucci the right guy? don't know. but it would be fun!

[Stormy]

My issue with snyder isnt that hes interviewing a lot of people. My issue is that he screams continuity but in the one area where continuity is most important, the offense and the developement of Campbell he completely drops the ball. Even if williams wasnt the answer, you bring someone in who continues the same essential offensive system and keeps the coaches. Someone like Bugel comes to mind.

Exactly. I'm not sure a veteran defense, for example, would falter much in a transition from one DC to the next. However, the young franchise QB, who was just starting to shine after learning from a different OC virtually every year, was the last guy on the team who could afford the instability of a new system. So, what's the first hire we make?? Naturally, a new OC, and one whose forte of QB handling might be somewhat compromised by having to create and call gameplans for the first time in his life.

Maybe it will work, but just like everything else in this search, it seems bass ackwards.

By the way, Storm, I sometimes have difficulty telling us apart.

[turbodiesel#44]

Anybody who "applauds" Dan Snyder is not a Redskins fan.

Thank god we got somebody on this board deciding who is a fan or not. We needed that.

[Stophovr6]

Thank god we got somebody on this board deciding who is a fan or not. We needed that.

:laugh:

As if there aren't enough of them already!

[Oldfan]

The author makes some logical statements. However, I am more disenchanted with the promotion of Cerrato than anything else and that was not addressed in the blog. Snyder thinks he knows something the other 31 NFL owners don't - what that is, I have no idea - and year after year refuses to hire a ""proven" GM to run the organization. Until he decides to do that, or sell the team to someone who will, I am afraid the Skins will never get to another Superbowl.

Which proven GM did you have in mind?

Snyder hired Joe Gibbs and gave him the authority to run the show. That produced a 31-36 result over four years and a roster without enough young talent to compete with the big boys. Who would you recommend that you're reasonably sure could do better?

I've been re-thinking my position as a proponent of the GM. Maybe Snyder is taking a modular approach, working with his loyal Vinny to improve their roster building piece by piece, keeping the defensive scheme which worked pretty well, replacing the offensive scheme which didn't, keeping the special teams unit which did, and so on.

Maybe that makes more sense than pinning all your hopes on one guy with a GM title.

[REDALERT]

My biggest problem with him during the decision making process is NOT his choices. I'm not crazy about all of them but I respect the fact that they are HIS choices to make since he's the owner. My problem is his failure to communicate or the appearance thereof. It's almost as if he's in hiding. He's starting to become the Howard Hughes of the NFL.

Frankly, I don't recall to many owner's coming out and doing this during the hiring process. Most NFL owners don't really tip the hat on who they plan to hire. Yes! most of them go through the same interviewing process like Danny's doing and then makes the intial hire depending on who they like. But Danny really owe us nothing in explaining what he plans to do about hiring a coach and explaining it to the fan or the media.

I really think it's emotions and curiosity that's kiling these cats.