City Paper: Sorry, but I applaud Dan Snyder

[Jimbo]

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.

I'm not talking about Danny speaking to particulars in his coaching search. I'm talking about him addressing his backtracking on continuity. I'm talking about personally contacting his assistant coaches, who obviously had questions based on what they heard in the media, instead of having Joe Gibbs do it.

I feel Danny does owe it to the fans and the organization to not come across looking like a buffoon.

[TheLongshot]

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).

Except that I have found nothing that says that the Redskins even talked to Ryan. I mean, when all of that rumormongering was going on, Ryan was at the Senior Bowl.

Really, the only person talking about Rex Ryan was JLC, which is where everyone else got it from. I've yet to see anything confirmed that the Redskins asked permission to talk to Rex Ryan. If someone can point me to it, then great.

Jason

[REDALERT]

I'm not talking about Danny speaking to particulars in his coaching search. I'm talking about him addressing his backtracking on continuity. I'm talking about personally contacting his assistant coaches, who obviously had questions based on what they heard in the media, instead of having Joe Gibbs do it.

I feel Danny does owe it to the fans and the organization to not come across looking like a buffoon.

That's because IMO Danny already knew what the agenda was from the get go. He never had intensions on hiring Al Saunders or Greg Williams and yes he should have notified them. But what I really suspect is Danny let the guys bury themselves knowing the roof would eventually come off.

No, I didn't agree with that tactic because it should have been common courtesy so the guys could start looking elsewhere. But Danny's a shrewd business man and if all else would have failed he had the current staff to fall back on. But looking like a buffoon I disagree on . Why? This was a hiring process. So the current coaches shouldn't have taken any thing for granted, like thinking it was a sure bet they would get the nod. But again, IMO. This was the work of Joe Gibbs having a big influence on the current coaches and also Danny and putting in his good word for GW to get the job. And when Joe did this, it kind of put Danny in a bind because Danny idols the legend.

So, what I'm saying is the current coaching staff and everyone else thought it was a done deal and just a matter of time before it was labeled and sealed. But when it didn't happen soon enough, coaches became concerned and worried about the unknown and feelings started cropping up along with a few words thrown out there. But who guranteed them anything? And if they thought the jobs were going to be automatically given to them, they were mistaken.

[MikeBass]

I'm not talking about Danny speaking to particulars in his coaching search. I'm talking about him addressing his backtracking on continuity. I'm talking about personally contacting his assistant coaches, who obviously had questions based on what they heard in the media, instead of having Joe Gibbs do it.

I feel Danny does owe it to the fans and the organization to not come across looking like a buffoon.

I do not think that he backtracked on continuity. Unless he goes crazy during the free agent signing period , the roster should be as consistent as it has been in years. It was Gibbs who resigned making coaching changes necessary.

[Buck812]

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.

You forgot...

Hire all the head coach's assistants for him before hiring the HC - check

Im sorry but Snyder has fallen off the stupid chair onto the idiot floor.... Just absolutely no excuse for this.

[Oldfan]

I feel Danny does owe it to the fans and the organization to not come across looking like a buffoon.

Ruling out speculation and rumors, relying on hard evidence, of which there is little, what makes you think he comes across as a buffoon? In my opinion, it's the media and the fans who come across as dimwits, jumping to absurd conclusions on every rumor.

Snyder has kept the process a well-guarded secret and there are good reasons for that. He has no control over the rumors and speculation and no obligation to concern himself with it while engaged in the search process.

[turbodiesel#44]

Ruling out speculation and rumors, relying on hard evidence, of which there is little, what makes you think he comes across as a buffoon? In my opinion, it's the media and the fans who come across as dimwits, jumping to absurd conclusions on every rumor.

Snyder has kept the process a well-guarded secret and there are good reasons for that. He has no control over the rumors and speculation and no obligation to concern himself with it while engaged in the search process.

Not to mention one of the probable finalists is in the SB and cannot be contacted. Another one is broadcasting the SB and is currently under contract with the Lions. Snyder has done nothing IMO to demonstrate he has not learned from past mistakes, and if you want buffoon, look on some of the kill Danny threads here.

[Oldfan]

Not to mention one of the probable finalists is in the SB and cannot be contacted. Another one is broadcasting the SB and is currently under contract with the Lions. Snyder has done nothing IMO to demonstrate he has not learned from past mistakes, and if you want buffoon, look on some of the kill Danny threads here.

...and about those past mistakes...

He fired Norv.

He hired Marty.

He hired Spurrier.

He hired Joe Gibbs.

He spent money on high-priced free agents.

Which of those mistakes was not applauded by the majority of Redskins fans when they were made? Now, the majority has him pegged as a buffoon.

Does that add up to fairness?

[Taylor 36]

Personally, there is nothing in that article I can argue with. I pretty much agree with it on almost every point.

I do think he glosses over the assistant hires a bit, but I think he pretty much gets it.

Jason

I agree 100% with this post and the article.

[hailtotheskins69]

Really don't have an opinion either way as long as they win games I'm happy.

True...Winning is what everyone wants and that will solve almost all problems.

[Taylor 36]

I do not think that he backtracked on continuity. Unless he goes crazy during the free agent signing period , the roster should be as consistent as it has been in years. It was Gibbs who resigned making coaching changes necessary.

Excellent point!!!

[fansince62]

...and about those past mistakes...

He fired Norv.

He hired Marty.

He hired Spurrier.

He hired Joe Gibbs.

He spent money on high-priced free agents.

Which of those mistakes was not applauded by the majority of Redskins fans when they were made? Now, the majority has him pegged as a buffoon.

Does that add up to fairness?

right. the fans just decided yesterday he was a buffoon. you must not have been around these parts...oh...I don't know...after the Norval firing...Robiski firing.....Shotty firing.....SS debacle......the 10 dozen other things that were mishandled. there's only one constant to all of these Old...and you know who it is!!!!!

pray tell...you have numbers on how many approved and disapproved? of course not.....I can tell you that this board and its antecedent was a nuthouse follwoing the circus-like Norval firings.

it's been one long drama since DS took the reins. it may not all be his fault...but it has certainly dogged him. never any stability or sustained growth.

fairness? what the H. aside from the fact that there is no standard for what we are discussing...why should anyone give a rat's patout about fairness toward someone whose stock and trade is firing subordinants...sometimes in large numbers? I can see some avenues for structuring arguments in favor of Snyder....fairness/values aint one of em!!!!

snyder isn't accountable for all the problems...we all know that is rock truth in moments of honesty...it's just that he isn't going to solve many of them either.

[33]

I know this is nitpicking, but every recent article states that GW had 4 interviews, after he personally told Mort he had three.

Are they counting the meeting he had to find out his place in the organization that led to his dismissal?

It's just bothersome that everyone on here knows how many times he was interviewed and it was clarified by him, but no other media-types seem interested in getting the facts straight.

[fpickering]

The author did an extremely poor job of explaining away the hiring of the OC and DC before the coach. This is the only thing thus far that has made this coaching search a disaster.

Suggesting that all coaches hire their tobacco chewing buddies despite the fact that they may or may not be effective is a terrible argument.

Bringing in the OC and DC before the head coach drastically increases the potential that coaching philosophies, styles and personalities may conflict.... any of which would be detrimental to the team and organization as a whole.

[MikeBass]

Excellent point!!!

Thanks, I think that we as fans, when Williams wasn't retained, thought that Snyder somehow misled us with the "continuity" statement and thought that "continuous" was meant strictly for the coaching staff. But after Gibbs retired he HAD to start a search for the best HEAD coach available for his club.

Williams' defense was #8 in the league and, IMO, if he would've excepted being DC, he would still have the job. But was he the best available head coach?...I think not...and he probably felt slighted by not getting the job and wanted to move on himself, as he should have. Every assistant should aspire to be a head coach but you do not see anyone else jumping at the chance to land him as their head coach. With that being done, Snyder did add some continuity to his top 10 defense by promoting Blache who's familiar to this defense.

As far as Saunders goes, I think that his job was up in the air even if Gibbs would've stayed and I don't think that we would've had a big problem with that.

All and all, Snyder's mission is to find the best guy to coach the Redskins and I do not think that anyone could really say that Williams is or was the best head coaching candidate available.

[fansince62]

Thanks, I think that we as fans, when Williams wasn't retained, thought that Snyder somehow misled us with the "continuity" statement and thought that "continuous" was meant strictly for the coaching staff. But after Gibbs retired he HAD to start a search for the best HEAD coach available for his club.

Williams' defense was #8 in the league and, IMO, if he would've excepted being DC, he would still have the job. But was he the best available head coach?...I think not...and he probably felt slighted by not getting the job and wanted to move on himself, as he should have. Every assistant should aspire to be a head coach but you do not see anyone else jumping at the chance to land him as their head coach. With that being done, Snyder did add some continuity to his top 10 defense by promoting Blache who's familiar to this defense.

As far as Saunders goes, I think that his job was up in the air even if Gibbs would've stayed and I don't think that we would've had a big problem with that.

All and all, Snyder's mission is to find the best guy to coach the Redskins and I do not think that anyone could really say that Williams is or was the best head coaching candidate available.

I am not necessarily disagreeing with you...but you have not given any reasons yet, at least in the quoted post, for why Willimas is worse than any alternative.

promoting Blache, btw, is not continuity. he will have his own approach. he will perceive, digest and respond differently from Williams.

[PCS]

And the same thing could be said about Williams as Head Coach as opposed to assistant Head Coach. He may respect Joe Gibbs and may have learned a lot from him. But that doesn't mean that his way would be similar enough to provide continuity either. His defense would likely remain the same, but the team as a whole would be led by Williams and his more than likely different philosophy than Joe's.

[fansince62]

And the same thing could be said about Williams as Head Coach as opposed to assistant Head Coach. He may respect Joe Gibbs and may have learned a lot from him. But that doesn't mean that his way would be similar enough to provide continuity either. His defense would likely remain the same, but the team as a whole would be led by Williams and his more than likely different philosophy than Joe's.

no argument there....unless of course Saunders had stayed...and we have no idea how that would have played out. but now we have no continuity on the sidelines! which may be fine...I'm not sure myself. I just know that what we have isn't what was asserted by leadership. DS should never have made those statements........he'd be free and clear of most critical commentary. he set himself up.

[MikeBass]

I am not necessarily disagreeing with you...but you have not given any reasons yet, at least in the quoted post, for why Willimas is worse than any alternative.

promoting Blache, btw, is not continuity. he will have his own approach. he will perceive, digest and respond differently from Williams.

MY reason to explore other prospects would be Williams' prior experience at head coaching, not saying that it would happen in DC, but a 17-31 record IS a 17-31 record and should've make Snyder consider other options, as he did.

IMO, Williams should've known that his head coaching record was less than stellar, to say the least, and continued the process if he wanted the job instead of thinking that the job should have been his from the start and bowing out gracefully because he felt slighted.

[TheLongshot]

no argument there....unless of course Saunders had stayed...and we have no idea how that would have played out. but now we have no continuity on the sidelines! which may be fine...I'm not sure myself. I just know that what we have isn't what was asserted by leadership. DS should never have made those statements........he'd be free and clear of most critical commentary. he set himself up.

Somehow, I think no matter what he said, anything short of promoting Williams would have gotten him hell. I think fans and media alike were all expecting Williams to get the job. He didn't set himself up, the situation set itself up. After all that has happened, I don't think anyone wanted Gibbs to step down right now. At the same time, Snyder needed to make a tough decision about the future of this team, with a tremendous amount of pressure to pick one guy, no matter if he was the right guy or not. I do give him credit for him having the balls to at least stand up to that pressure and not give into it. Whether or not that is a good choice has yet to be seen.

At the same time, tho, while he sees that some things might need to change, he's also made a lot of effort to keep some things the same. Other than the coordinators, he's trying hard to keep most of this staff together. Also, the scouting staff, that has found some good late round gems lately, also comes back intact. There isn't likely to be massive turnover of the roster either, so that continuity also stays.

While there are changes, there are a lot more things that aren't changing. Whether or not they were the right things, we will see.

Jason

[Shadowplay]

Personally, there is nothing in that article I can argue with. I pretty much agree with it on almost every point.

I do think he glosses over the assistant hires a bit, but I think he pretty much gets it.

Jason

It's funny that the author could pen such a grating, abbrasive article about the team but really miss the mark on the key issue here: hiring the coordinators first. Sure Gibbs brought in some of his old guard when he came back...but the difference there is that he actually WON WITH THOSE GUYS THE FIRST TIME AROUND. Second, Gibbs had no previous relationship with G. Williams that I'm aware of. The same goes with Saunders though I believe they were of similar disciplines offensively.

Head coaches hire assistants who they think will help them win, the reason being that if they DON'T win they'll be out of a job. Sure you'd like to win with guys you have a good relationship but it's not a requirement. Winning is the only thing that matters.

The only cronyism going on in this spectacle is from the owner and executive VP - and by extension the VP's staff. Can someone please explain to me how Scott Campbell has done anything to merit a promotion? I'm sorry, I didn't know the Redskins drafts had been so stellar these past five years. It would seem to me that it would make sense to get a personnel guy from another team, you know maybe from somebody that actually won something.

But that's just me. :doh:

Thank God baseball season is coming.

[InsaneBoost]

I agree with this, I laugh at all the people commenting to, about how the author doesn't know how to run a NFL Football team, sorry guys, playing Madden doesn't mean you can coach.

[Oldfan]

pray tell...you have numbers on how many approved and disapproved? of course not.....

No, of course I don't have the numbers. This is an internet debate. I'm not presenting a study for peer review.

Are you denying that the majority of Redskins fans approved of firing Norv?

Are you denying that the majority approved of hiring marty?

Are you denying that Skins fans were filled with optimism with the expensive FA hires?

Are you denying that the hirings of Spurrier and Gibbs were overwhelmingly popular?

No, you can't directly deny these facts without seeming to be a fool. The best you can do is to raise the bar for my burden of proof to an unreasonable level.

I can see some avenues for structuring arguments in favor of Snyder....fairness/values aint one of em!!!!

Who said he was a nice guy? Who said anything about "values." The argument on the table is about whether or not the man is acting like a buffoon. Let's stick to that. Do you see the fairness in a majority of Redskins fans portraying Dan Snyder as a buffoon because he made a series of mistakes that resulted in mediocrity on the field when the majority enthusiastically applauded each one of his decisions in the past? I don't think so.

Do we have sufficient, credible evidence to say that Dan is making a fool of himself now? I don't think so. What we have is a media-led circus that's being blamed on Snyder-the-buffoon because that's the story that most people want to read and hear about.

[COWBOY-KILLA-]

Pretty Weak article.

Be thorough Yes! great, but you dont have to sacrifice several coaches dignity in the process. At least open the lines of communication and be forthright. And taking the O to the WCO is a gamble(one I hope pays off). Blanche also worries me a bit. They are going completely none traditional with hiring coordinators before the HC. Snyders comments on continuity? the HC, OC, and DC are all new not to mention other coaches as well, complete change in philosophy on O. Theres more change than expected , who knows maybe it will work out. But they ARE open to criticism on many fronts. So we'll see how this plays out and hopefully we made all the right choices.

[Oldfan]

It's funny that the author could pen such a grating, abbrasive article about the team but really miss the mark on the key issue here: hiring the coordinators first.

Since you don't know why this was done, how can you conclude it was a mistake? With a little effort, I'd bet that you can come up with a couple of scenarios that would provide a good explanation. Here's just one:

In Jason Campbell's senior year at Auburn, he ran a variant of the WCO offense very well. That's why we want the WCO next year. At first, it was thought that Fassel was the only real option available to install the scheme and work with Jason. Then it was learned that Jim Zorn was available. The signing of Zorn allows Dan and Vinny to consider candidates regardless of their scheme experience, offense or defense, on other factors.

Blache, well-respected by all the candidates was a natural pick for continuity after Gregg pulled out.

Can someone please explain to me how Scott Campbell has done anything to merit a promotion?

I don't know much about the man. Do you? My impression is that the team hasn't done too badly in the draft with the picks they kept over the past couple of years.