"What If?"......What if John Kent Cooke successfully bought the Redskins?

[@DCGoldPants]

First of all, I want to give create to SHF for having a thread like this back in 2009. After reading ASF's thread about Shanny not being a QB genius.....and first I thought of this.

Good ole Marvel "What If?" comics.

Then I thought of this

Sorry for the small image.

If John Kent Cooke was able to take control of the Skins in 1999, how do YOU see the past 10-11 years playing out?

My question is....were the teams of the late 90's his doing, because of his Dad's health, death, and then team in limbo, or both?

If you were looking back at the past decade, what do you think you'd see?

[Old Bay]

The only thing I think would've happened would've been more stability in coaching/GM regimes. Whether good or bad who knows.

[Redskins Life]

I don't think that there would be much of a difference. People tend to forget how bad we were from 1993 on. That was all the Cookes' doing, and most of that time the team was headed by John. It is hard to say, of course, what would have happened, but the track record that led into Snyder's ownership doesn't paint a pretty picture.

[hunterx]

We may not have had the big time acquisitions, but we could have still had bust drafts and bad coaching. Norv Turner wasn't exactly successful here during his tenure, and we all remember Shuler. I think Richie Pettitbone's (sp?) biggest accomplishment was his restaurant on Chain Bridge Road in Oakton.

[GhostofSparta]

JKC doesn't hire Vinny. That immediately pays dividends. If somehow the lack of instability allows us to hold on to a guy like Trent Green, then we'd have been a lot better off.

[Rocky21]

I think it's reasonable to assume that the game day experience wouldn't be the wallet and soul sucking experience that it is today.

"And I think [Jack Kent Cooke] would be horror-struck of what has happened to this wonderful franchise we were privileged enough to run." – John Kent Cooke

“[snyder] commercialized the Redskins like my father would have never commercialized the Redskins.” – John Kent Cooke

"Dan Snyder destroyed the reputation of this franchise" - John Kent Cooke

“It's a shame they continue to operate so recklessly." – John Kent Cooke

[hunterx]

JKC doesn't hire Vinny. That immediately pays dividends. If somehow the lack of instability allows us to hold on to a guy like Trent Green, then we'd have been a lot better off.

True about Vinny! I remember liking Trent the few games he went in for us. I can't remember the circumstances of why, but I didn't mind his performance.

[Riggo-toni]

JKC doesn't hire Vinny. That immediately pays dividends. If somehow the lack of instability allows us to hold on to a guy like Trent Green, then we'd have been a lot better off.

Even Vinny was better than Casserly, who'd still be running the show now alongside Norvo the Clown.

If you want an idea of what this team would be like, look at the Bengals under Paul Brown Jr.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

I think we'd still have that family ownership feel like we did before. We'd be considered a proud franchise externally.

As someone else mentioned, we'd have much less turnover but there's really no way of knowing if that would have been any better. Odds are, just with continuity and how bad the division was during a couple stretches, we'd have had a little more success. But it's no guarantee.

Had we still somehow hired Marty, he'd probably still be our coach. But I have no clue if Marty would have been on JKC's radar at any point. One thing is for sure...Casserly would have won out in the Norv vs. Charlie saga of 1999.

[Boss_Hogg]

Less turnover, less drama, more stability, less negative media attention.

Most importantly, no snyderrato.

[my_friend_goo]

I kind of eluded to this in the "are we always going to suck" thread - who knows. If Casserly was given the boot down the line, it just depends on who John chose to come in and be GM. Strike gold and the Redskins could have returned to contention. Fail and nothing much could have changed. But while the win-loss record will never be known, I think many are right in their belief about the Skins reputation as an organisation.

[ouvan59]

JKC doesn't hire Vinny. That immediately pays dividends. If somehow the lack of instability allows us to hold on to a guy like Trent Green, then we'd have been a lot better off.

Yeah, but he wouldn't have fired Charlie Casserly either and as bad as Vinny was in the draft, Charlie was worse. People act like the Skins became bad when Snyder bought the team. I shudder when I think of the Skins becoming Dallas North during the 90s or Al Noga, Dana Stubblefield, Carl Banks, Stanley Richard, Heath Shuler. etc.

[Tweedr01]

Less turnover, less drama, more stability, less negative media attention.

Most importantly, no snyderrato.

Man your sig made me think of ST, if JKC had gotten the franchise there's a chance he'd still be alive today....maybe not on our team, but I dunno...maybe I'm just looking to far into it.

[Popeman38]

The Redskins SUCKED from 1993-1998. SUCKED. Guess who ran the team during those years? Why do you think it would have magically gotten better if jkc had bought the team? JKC had a chance to set the team up to be run by his kids, and he chose not to. What does that say about his belief in his kids ability to run the team? Al Davis set the Raiders up for his son.....

[USS Redskins]

I think it would have been pretty good... Trent Green staying with the team and being the franchise QB for a decade... with Stephen Davis in the backfield.... keeping Champ Bailey... and maybe getting a real marquee player with the #1 pick they sent to Minnesota for Brad Johnson in 1999.

Their big problem for the later part of the 90's was their god awful defense. They could score point and Green put up big numbers in 98 but the D couldnt stop anyone in 98 or 99 for that matter.

But who knows...

[hunterx]

Man your sig made me think of ST, if JKC had gotten the franchise there's a chance he'd still be alive today....maybe not on our team, but I dunno...maybe I'm just looking to far into it.

That depends on your beliefs. However, he may not have been on our team, and his passing may not have touched us as much as it did with him on our team.

[Darth Tater]

Probably about the same but a good chance it'd be worse on the field. Maybe his the stability would have allowed us to keep Trent and since he's part of the "old boy's network", maybe better image in the press.

[@DCGoldPants]

I don't know the dynamic when Jack got older and then eventually died. I know John ran the day to day. But was it unlimited control, or was it just keeping this afloat until everything was worked out?

I think we know John would have either kept Charley or maybe "promoted" him to hire a new GM. Maybe Bruce Allen a decade earlier with his Skins ties.

[stevej3658]

his Dad is still roll'in over in his grave.

[Redskins4ever]

If John Kent Cooke was able to purchase the Redskins, then there would have definitively been more stability. The only thing I'm sure of is Norv Turner would have been the head coach probably up until the 2006 season. The Redskins would have improved and made many playoff appearances. Whether they would have won a Super Bowl is the million dollar question.

[SkinsNoles21]

Weird to think that if we kept Trent Green ... Kurt Warner may never have gotten his shot in St. Louis.

[Bang]

The Redskins SUCKED from 1993-1998. SUCKED. Guess who ran the team during those years? Why do you think it would have magically gotten better if jkc had bought the team? JKC had a chance to set the team up to be run by his kids, and he chose not to. What does that say about his belief in his kids ability to run the team? Al Davis set the Raiders up for his son.....

Yep..

Sonny Jurgensen called it "Club Med"

No accountability.

~Bang

[KCClybun]

Given how bad that teams were before Dan bought the team?

Not a whole lot. There would be less free agent signings, maybe, but the drafts before them weren't all sunshine and roses. The franchise would have probably made less money. For all the talk about how evil Dan is, the fact that the team has made so much money over all these seasons is pretty much the only reason we're still quasi-relevant as a franchise. Norv would've gotten more time, potentially, and all things considered, we were first in the NFC East the following year.

But I don't think we'd have any more Super Bowl trophies. There just would've been a little less organization chaos.

[Sellersfan]

The team, and the rest of the league would not be as profitable.

Like it or not, Danny squeezed alot of cash out of marketing, and 31 other teams followed his lead.

---------- Post added October-27th-2011 at 09:40 PM ----------

If John Kent Cooke was able to purchase the Redskins, then there would have definitively been more stability. The only thing I'm sure of is Norv Turner would have been the head coach probably up until the 2006 season. The Redskins would have improved and made many playoff appearances. Whether they would have won a Super Bowl is the million dollar question.

How many SB appearances have the chargers had with Norv?

one could argue they have been in a rut since he took over from Marty.

[SkinsFTW]

JKC had a chance to set the team up to be run by his kids, and he chose not to. What does that say about his belief in his kids ability to run the team? Al Davis set the Raiders up for his son.....

Wow, well that's just too bad that he can't see how it has been ran for the past 12+ years. :mad:

It appears that old man Cooke may have outsmarted himself on this one. :pfft: