Washington Times: Skins' Snyder Says he's matured (MERGED)

[corrupt3d]

Matt Mosley wrote some interesting things about the article:

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/hashmarks/0-6-18/Snyder--This-is-easy-for-me.html

Davd Elfin of the Washington Times scored a rare exclusive with Redskins owner Daniel Snyder at the annual NFL meetings in West Palm Beach, Fla. It's hard to believe that it's been 10 years since Snyder took over the team at age 34. He's taken a lot of (deserved) heat for his free-agent and coaching fiascos over the years, but judging by this offseason, Snyder has apparently learned the art of restraint.

"There are a bunch of things I wish I would have done differently," Snyder told The Times on Tuesday. "I've made plenty of mistakes, but I've learned from my mistakes as a good entrepreneur, a good CEO would do. I've matured. I wasn't patient enough in certain areas early on. I didn't understand the game the way I do now. I didn't understand the agents, the contractual relationship with the salary cap, the importance of the age of players. Now it's easy for me, second nature."

Snyder certainly didn't make his recent coaching search look easy, but he's convinced that Jim Zorn is the right man. And by the way, one of the coaches who didn't get the job told me yesterday that he was amazed at how knowledgeable Snyder was about the game.

"When you sit in there for 12 hours or so, you get a pretty good feel for a person. I'm not sure what my preconceived notions were, but I came away very impressed with him."

Here's what Snyder had to say about his new head coach:

"We were really impressed with Jim Zorn from the moment we met him. We were late because we were the only team looking for a coach that had been in the playoffs. We were under pressure to make sure we had an offensive coordinator. We met Jim. Joe [Gibbs] called me that night. I said, 'That guy would make a terrific head coach.' He was like, 'Really? That's interesting. That's neat. I hear he's a good guy.' We continued the process and circled back. We were talking to coordinators [about replacing Gibbs] and we said, 'We really ought to look at Zorn.' We kept coming back to that. The last interview we did was with [New York Giants defensive coordinator] Steve Spagnuolo, and afterwards we said, 'We've really got to talk to Zorn.' "

Not sure Spagnuolo will enjoy reading that last sentence since he appeared to be the frontrunner immediately after the Super Bowl, but he'll eventually land a head coaching job. Regarding Snyder, I think he has a lot more respect in NFL circles than fans realize. He's matured quite a bit, and I think Redskins fans will start to see more and more evidence of that on the field.

[SKINS FAN #56]

Atlas, he admits it.

Good read.

[33]

I know we have no choice, but I wonder how knowledgeable we want our owner to be about the game? Al Davis may be the most football strategy savvy owner in the league. :whoknows:

[Hamilbone13]

The Snyder seems to go from one extreme to the other. From signing big name free agents to not signing a single need...losing a legend head coach to hiring one without ANY experience (not even coordinator experience). It's a major risk and I hope it pays off...but it's tough to get too excited at this point. Let's hope the draft proves me wrong.

[sens11]

Q: So what are you going to do with $7 million in salary cap space? You won't spend that all on the rookies.

A: We always use our cap space. We'll use it. We'll see what happens in the availability of trades. Our phones are always open. I think we're going to be active. I always want to get better. We're not complacent.

He is itching to make the offseason splash. It hasn't happened yet and it seems like it is only a matter of time.

If I'm reading between the lines accurately, watch out for a trade on draft day!

[Mark The Homer]

I'd say there's at least an even chance he's reading the News Release sticky on here and laughing his ass off right now. How mature is that?

[Horatio]

For the first time, we are not being overactive in anything we are doing. I personally like it. We took an unheralded guy and made him coach (sounds similar to a guy in 1981).

The difference is that Gibbs was considered hot property in 1981, and was definitely on the way up in his career path. Not so with Zorn, who has never attracted any interest from the other 31 teams to be their head coach...heck, he was never even considered to be an OC!!!

What The Danny And Vinny Show did was hire a guy they liked, pure and simple. Everyone knows Zorn isn't calling the shots...he didn't even get to hire his own coaching staff.

If the Skins go in the tank this year, I expect a rull return to the Free Agent Feeding Frenzy in the offseason. Assuming Snyder doesn't go bankrupt running Six Flags in the meantime...

[Horatio]

WTF?! The guy is delusional. The fans like it? Fans are constantly ****ing about the parking, food, prices and the 15 minute lines to piss. Wake up Dan!!! Improvements? Like obstructed seats? Commercials blasting during breaks? Way to go buddy! What an experience! Don't kid yourself or let "the other owners" fool you. FedEx is lacking in more ways than one. The "experience" for most is frustrating to put it mildly. :2cents:

My guess is that Vinny shredded all 56,382 surveys that didn't like the stadium experience, and only gave the good ones to The Danny.

[HogNose]

He should have asked Snyder about the god damn parking. We shouldn't have to park in a damn office park and then get herded onto Metro buses like sheep. We will never have the game experience and tailgating of a Rich Stadium and it's sad. When you look out over the land around the stadium, when you are on the 400 level concourse, you see so much land that could be made into general parking. I don't get it.

:soapbox:

[Califan007 The Constipated]

Snyder hasn't matured. If he really wanted Zorn as the head coach, then why wait until Spaggs decides to stay with the Giants?

He answered that:

"We narrowed it down to nine or 10 and said we were going to interview these guys. I did what I said at Joe's press conference I would do, be very thorough, very professional. One of those coaches was Steve Spagnuolo. We didn't know the Giants were going to make the Super Bowl. If that hadn't happened, the search wouldn't have been so long. The shame would be you don't do it and you wonder. I'm thrilled that we waited. It rests my mind at ease because I got a chance to interview everybody on the list."

It makes sense...imagine hiring Zorn and wondering if Spagnuolo would have been a better hire. At least if you interview the man you can know you're making the best choice from actual first-hand info.

Spaggs didn't want to come into an underming situation and he was smart to stay with the G-men.

Then why interview at all? It's not like he didn't know the Skins' situation before he agreed to meet with Snyder and Cerrato.

If Zorn was really going to be the head coach, Snyder should have hired him before making him an offensive coordinator.

You can say the same of Spags, then...that if he really didn't want to come into an undermining situation, he wouldn't have agreed to be interviewed in the first place. You can't have it both ways.

Both men had valid reasons for conducting the interview: Snyder to make sure he didn't make too quick a decision for the next HC, Spags to see what HC possibilities are out there as well as to emphasize his worth to the Giants.

Making Zorn the head coach was the only thing he could do, because no head coach was going to come to the Redskins without having assistants of their own choosing.

Other than having a default negative take on things, how do you know this?

[Califan007 The Constipated]

Matt Mosley wrote some interesting things about the article:

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/hashmarks/0-6-18/Snyder--This-is-easy-for-me.html

Regarding Snyder, I think he has a lot more respect in NFL circles than fans realize.

That's for damn sure...

[worstSeat]

He is itching to make the offseason splash. It hasn't happened yet and it seems like it is only a matter of time.

If I'm reading between the lines accurately, watch out for a trade on draft day!

That sounds good to me. I was surprised to find myself feeling better reading that he still has the "buy me a team" mentality, at least a bit. There's still that support from the owner to spend -- money or draft picks -- if it'll make the team better. Glad he's toned down, but the potential is still there if the player is.

Q: The maturation you're talking about, is that just natural, or was it the result of your father's death or your bout with thyroid cancer or all of those things?

A: I was young. I was 34 when I bought the team. Now I'm approaching my mid-40s. There's something about just growing up.

Well, I missed both his father's death and the cancer. Was I the only one?

And dang, 34? Don't remind me of that again, please sir. *sigh*

We're real pleased with FedEx Field. And the fans like it. We've done a lot of surveys.

Now there's some bullcrap. The survey was what, "Which high-end food item would you rather have, A, B, or C?" and, "Would you prefer to buy a value meal at FedEx?" Worthless.

Push polling is not a survey, Danny.

Q: How's the Hollywood venture?

A: Good. We've got a movie coming out this fall. It's called "Valkyrie." It's a historic thriller with Tom Cruise. I'm one of the executive producers along with Dwight Schar and Mark Shapiro. It's Tom's movie. We hear it's going to be a big one.

Ha. Two words: Cleaver. Yeah, okay, that's only one.

[Horatio]

Originally Posted by danny boy

Q: How's the Hollywood venture?

A: Good. We've got a movie coming out this fall. It's called "Valkyrie." It's a historic thriller with Tom Cruise. I'm one of the executive producers along with Dwight Schar and Mark Shapiro. It's Tom's movie. We hear it's going to be a big one.

That little snippet ought to give Redskins fans nightmares, if that is any indication of how poor Snyder's judgement is. "Valkyrie" is alreay being heavily panned by critics who have seen most of it because of its revisionist history, and Cruise's complete lack of a German accent.

Doesn't Snyder realize that Cruise has become a laughing stock over the last three years?? Sure it's going to be a big one...a big pile of crap.

Cruise and Snyder are two of my least favorite humans in history, so I shouldn't be surprised that they made a devil's pact with each other.

[mi6]

Liked most of what he said, didn't like him saying that they will still be aggressive in trading their draft picks. That exercise IMO has been a disaster for the most part.

That to me shows that Danny is still a boy, and needs a ton of growing up to be a matured man!

Trading draft pick isn't the way to rebuild a team ... Just ask the Orioles. Frankly, I like what they did this year ... start afresh, and with new young players...

[worstSeat]

That little snippet ought to give Redskins fans nightmares, if that is any indication of how poor Snyder's judgement is. "Valkyrie" is alreay being heavily panned by critics who have seen most of it because of its revisionist history, and Cruise's complete lack of a German accent.

Doesn't Snyder realize that Cruise has become a laughing stock over the last three years?? Sure it's going to be a big one...a big pile of crap.

Cruise and Snyder are two of my least favorite humans in history, so I shouldn't be surprised that they made a devil's pact with each other.

What, is nobody familiar with Cleaver?

http://www.moviesonline.ca/movie_posters.php?id=9794

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20035041,00.html

[fansince62]

uh huh. so let's make sure we got the story straight: spend $850+ mil to purchase an asset. but confess after nearly 10 years that you had no real insights into the industry you were dropping all this cash on! sounds like business genious to me! sounds like the process every major baron of industry suffers through when moving into a new industry.

that he is changing his stripes and learning on the hard anvil of experience is encouraging. that he was wandering in the wilderness for all those years is astonishing. he ought to thank his lucky stars for a fan base that is so tolerant of failure.

amazing.

"Gen Patreus, why is the surge working so well?"

"Well, Mr Mediot, we needed 3-4 years to get it right. Corporate leadership in the Army needed to mature...understand its environment. We had no clue what we were doing for a while there."

[aussieskin]

Remember someone once stated "who are these players? they are redskins!, well now we have a coach who fits into that situation as well, the club has matured, I dont expect any panic buying in the future, I am more excited about this season than any for a long time, simply because no one knows what is going on, it is exciting and I get the feeling that the players are also really looking forward to it as well.

[Mark The Homer]

Well, I missed both his father's death and the cancer. Was I the only one?

Probably. In 2003, did you ever ask yourself what those patches were for?