Sports Bog: The Gibbs Coaching Search

[SkinsHokieFan]

Gibbs 1.0. 

 

Nice research by Steinberg

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/wp/2014/01/07/the-gibbs-coaching-search/?wprss=rss_redskins-page-shell&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&clsrd

 

Angry, Washington Post-hating readers say a lot of things. They’ve said a lot of things during this Redskins coaching search. Among them:

* There’ve been too many candidates’ names thrown out.

* There’ve been too many anonymous sources.

* There’ve been too many people defending the coach.

* There’s been too much unfair blame of the owner.

I just went back and read a bunch of clips from when Jack Pardee was fired and Joe Gibbs hired in the first few days of 1981. And I found that almost everything was the same. THERE WERE NO GOOD OLD DAYS. THUS IT WAS, THUS IT IS, AND THUS IT ALWAYS SHALL BE.

I will divide this into sections. Really, I should just publish every single story, because it’s an amazing read, in no small part because you can read every word we published on the subject in one sitting. There were about 20 stories from the moment Pardee was fired to the moment Gibbs was hired. In the same span this year, we published 38 Redskins Insider blog posts, two Jason Reid columns, a Boz column, a UnWise Mike column, a Sally Jenkins column, an editorial board piece, two A1 pieces, a whole bunch of incremental news stories, and enough Bog items to shorten my life expectancy considerably.

 

 

 

At least Pardee had the guts to go on record about how he really felt

 

“Yeah, I’m bitter,” Pardee said in an instant after insisting he wasn’t. “I think he (owner Jack Kent Cooke) made a big mistake. But it’s his ball. He can play with it the way he wants to. It was a difference of opinion. Now I can run my farm the way I want to….

“There’s one thing I certainly agree with Mr. Cooke on, a saying he used that I’d never heard before, that a fish stinks from the head. Not the tail or the body but the head. I think Mr. (Edward Bennett) Williams had a very successful run at running the Redskins.Mr. Cooke’s has just started. We’ll see. It’s gonna take one, two, three, four years and we’ll see how that goes.”

Later, Pardee said: “We’ll wait a couple of years and see how the fish smells.”

 

 

I love love this quote from a fan. Must have been at the ES bar on Pennsylvania Avenue

 

“Last year the team wasn’t supposed to do very well at all but they showed a lot of promise and I think that was because of Pardee. This year I think he was undermined by (owner Jack Kent) Cooke. It happens all the time when you’re being undermined by your boss. Nobody is going to do anything for you. And that’s what happened to Pardee. Edward Bennett Williams never would have done that.”

 

[TD_washingtonredskins]

Wow:

 

 

“Yeah, I’m bitter,” Pardee said in an instant after insisting he wasn’t. “I think he (owner Jack Kent Cooke) made a big mistake. But it’s his ball. He can play with it the way he wants to. It was a difference of opinion. Now I can run my farm the way I want to….

“There’s one thing I certainly agree with Mr. Cooke on, a saying he used that I’d never heard before, that a fish stinks from the head. Not the tail or the body but the head. I think Mr. (Edward Bennett) Williams had a very successful run at running the Redskins.Mr. Cooke’s has just started. We’ll see. It’s gonna take one, two, three, four years and we’ll see how that goes.”

Later, Pardee said: “We’ll wait a couple of years and see how the fish smells.”

 

 

We hear that thrown around all the time to describe Snyder. Interesting.

 

Thanks for posting this man!

[zoony]

I think Steinberg reads ES more than any other media member

 

But yes, this is very interesting

[MattFancy]

The more things change, the more they stay the same

[inevitable]

By referring to what UnWise Mike and Sally Jenkins write as articles,he denigrates the modicum of credibility remaining in print media

[kleese]

Wow, that is really interesting stuff. We forget how much luck plays into all of this... Was Cooke really a genius or did he luck out with Gibbs and then was smart enough to let him do his thing? Let's not forget that post Gibbs he elevated Petitbone and then fell in love with Norv.

[Riggo-toni]

For people to young to remember, Pardee was sunk that year because Riggins sat out, and the Redskins' holder of the previous several years got hurt (or maybe was cut, I don't remember), and apparently as a consequence Mosley had one of his worst years ever (2 years later he won league MVP).

JKC wanted to hire Dan Reeves, and was going to fire Gibbs and Beathard in season after the team started 0-5 and bring back George Allen, but his son John talked him out of it. Cooke instead made his now famous speech about being behind Gibbs 100%. All in all it was a controversial move, and Pardee's wife remarked the next coach would have an excuse for losing by claiming the team was just rebuilding. Pardee became a moderately successful coach in Houston.

[DC9]

Yeah I read this and I'm glad it got it's own thread.

 

First, fantastic research done by Dan Steinberg.  But I'll tell you,  I had done this research before too and it's so cool to see actual quotes from fans back then.  I didn't find those, I just found that JKC was not always in the good graces of the fans.  I wasn't old enough to remember this, but some of these quotes are fantastic.

 

And the best one is "Eddie Williams would never do this" in terms of meddling.  We hear that same thing about JKC.

For people to young to remember, Pardee was sunk that year because Riggins sat out, and the Redskins' holder of the previous several years got hurt (or maybe was cut, I don't remember), and apparently as a consequence Mosley had one of his worst years ever (2 years later he won league MVP).
JKC wanted to hire Dan Reeves, and was going to fire Gibbs and Beathard in season after the team started 0-5 and bring back George Allen, but his son John talked him out of it. Cooke instead made his now famous speech about being behind Gibbs 100%. All in all it was a controversial move, and Pardee's wife remarked the next coach would have an excuse for losing by claiming the team was just rebuilding. Pardee became a moderately successful coach in Houston.

 

His Houston team almost beat our 91 team and should've.  Had "God (not been) rooting for the Redskins that day"

[Darth Tater]

Documentation for what I remembered.  It was even worse though.  I can just imagine if the internet and the 24 hour news cycle had existed in 1981.

[DC9]

Wow, that is really interesting stuff. We forget how much luck plays into all of this... Was Cooke really a genius or did he luck out with Gibbs and then was smart enough to let him do his thing? Let's not forget that post Gibbs he elevated Petitbone and then fell in love with Norv.

 

He also was coming off a pretty decent decade of Redskins football under Allen.  Wasn't exactly the same situation that Dan came in to.  Even though 90% of the fanbase either forgets that period between 1993 and 1998 or they think Snyder bought the team right after the Super Bowl win in 1991-92 and fired everyone, built FedEx, and then starting making personnel decisions.

Documentation for what I remembered.  It was even worse though.  I can just imagine if the internet and the 24 hour news cycle had existed in 1981.

 

Yeah, I loved the "as people rolled into the bars after work and the news circulated" line in there.  I just laughed out loud when I read that.  Now a days, oye.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

Maybe Kleese needs to start a "Coaching Search Memories and Anecdotes" thread.

[roanoker]

Lol - WP Sportswriters are one big fraternity who throws gasoline on the team, lights the match, then wonders why there are WP haters. Good try Steinberg.  The vitriol by Jenkins, et al. speaks for itself.

[skins214428hail]

What a great post thanks. It is nice to be educated. I was born in 77 and i can remember football games as far back as 86. JKC retaining Gibbs was truly a pivotal decision for the franchise. Glad he made the right decision. 

[NoCalMike]

Also, Gibbs came from the Don Coryell tree, wasn't he initially trying to run that offense with the 'Skins but didn't have the personnel, so late into season 1 he changed it up to the single back offense, smash mouth football/vertical passing game?  The team showed signs of turning it around and then from there it was a decade of success?

[DC9]

Also, Gibbs came from the Don Coryell tree, wasn't he initially trying to run that offense with the 'Skins but didn't have the personnel, so late into season 1 he changed it up to the single back offense, smash mouth football/vertical passing game?  The team showed signs of turning it around and then from there it was a decade of success?

 

Based off of what I read we were scoring just fine, but the defense couldn't keep up with the pace so the gave up a lot.

 

Riggins went to talk to Gibbs and said give me the ball and with more ball control the defense played better.

[zoony]

The really interesting thing, at least to me, is looking at this from another perspective

We always talk about how lucky we were to find Gibbs. Think about how lucky he was to find us. I think several coaches could have come in and been successful with the nucleus of talent that Beathard had brought in. Maybe to varying degrees, but those Redskins teams were just dominant

I recently went back and watched Super Bowl 17... Man was our Dline NASTY. Dexter Manley was a man among boys. None of that was scheme, it was just superior talent

Gibbs does deserve a ton of credit though for going out and getting Riggins... I also think he saved Theismanns career.

But also, what if Gibbs had ended up in St Louis or Minnesota or even San Diego? How many SBs does he win there?

[DC9]

The really interesting thing, at least to me, is looking at this from another perspective

We always talk about how lucky we were to find Gibbs. Think about how lucky he was to find us. I think several coaches could have come in and been successful with the nucleus of talent that Beathard had brought in. Maybe to varying degrees, but those Redskins teams were just dominant

I recently went back and watched Super Bowl 17... Man was our Dline NASTY. Dexter Manley was a man among boys. None of that was scheme, it was just superior talent

Gibbs does deserve a ton of credit though for going out and getting Riggins... I also think he saved Theismanns career.

But also, what if Gibbs had ended up in St Louis or Minnesota or even San Diego? How many SBs does he win there?

 

That's a really good point.

 

To be honest I didn't even think of that perspective.  I saw Dan Reeves on that list and thought oh man... we could've been the 80's and early 90's Broncos... all of those great regular seasons and no championships (outside of conferences).  And worst... epic ass whoopins in the big game.

[SB17]

Also, Gibbs came from the Don Coryell tree, wasn't he initially trying to run that offense with the 'Skins but didn't have the personnel, so late into season 1 he changed it up to the single back offense, smash mouth football/vertical passing game?  The team showed signs of turning it around and then from there it was a decade of success?

When you think about it, this was a considerable shift for a head coach/OC:  from Air Coryell to single back/smash-mouth offense - in the same season!!!

[Riggo-toni]

The really interesting thing, at least to me, is looking at this from another perspective

We always talk about how lucky we were to find Gibbs. Think about how lucky he was to find us. I think several coaches could have come in and been successful with the nucleus of talent that Beathard had brought in. Maybe to varying degrees, but those Redskins teams were just dominant

I recently went back and watched Super Bowl 17... Man was our Dline NASTY. Dexter Manley was a man among boys. None of that was scheme, it was just superior talent

THIS! This is the integral part of our history of which quite frankly our current owner is apparently completely oblivious. The success of our glory years was not a one-man show as Snyder and the rest of fandom imagine - it was a perfect trifecta of Beathard finding the best players, Gibbs finding the best staff and coming up with the best adjustments, and Cooke spending more than any other franchise in the league (when the salary cap was agreed upon, the Skins were as I recall 40% over the agreed figure. JKC was the ONLY owner to vote against implementing a cap). Beathard drafted future SB QBs Rypien and Humphries with late picks, and single season franchise record holder Jay Schroeder in the 2nd round. Gibbs blew a 1st,3rd, and 4th on Jason Campbell.

Snyder's apparent lack of interest/utter incompetence at FIRST landing a quality GM exposes his pitiful ignorance of the genuine ingredients of our franchise's greatest era.

[zoony]

Riggo, I believe you and I could have beers

[hail2skins]

Regarding Riggins, funny thing is that Gibbs admitted in the "Football Life" about Riggo that after meeting him in Kansas, Gibbs flew home and had the idea of trading the Diesel. But JR came back and called Gibbs and told him that he wanted a no-trade clause in his contract.  Gibbs says "Someone upstairs was looking out for me."

 

Just looked up Dan Reeves and it seems the Broncos waited until March of '81 to fire Red Miller (who had led them to the SB after the '77 season)......interesting as it seemed it was a function of new ownership, as Miller had three double-digit win seasons before slipping to 8-8 in '80.  Reeves of course had a solid career in Denver, but what if he comes here and Gibbs goes to Denver and has all those years with Elway?

[TheLongshot]

The old maxim runs true here too: Winning cures all ills.

[hail2skins]

Snyder's apparent lack of interest/utter incompetence at FIRST landing a quality GM exposes his pitiful ignorance of the genuine ingredients of our franchise's greatest era.

Riggo-toni, you seem to have more of the history, but reading between the lines of Steinberg's piece, even though it was Cooke's ultimate decision to fire him, it seems like this was a power struggle between Beathard and Pardee that Beathard eventually won.  What if Cooke had kept Pardee and Beathard had left?  We would have wound up with neither Beathard nor Gibbs in the 80s.  I guess Snyder faced the similar power struggle in '99 between Charlie and Norv, and he kept Norv (and later admitted to Casserly that he "got rid of the wrong guy").

 

I had also heard the story of Cooke's "Snyder" moment at 0-5 in '81 when John Kent Cooke talked him down from the ledge.  John was probably too loyal to Norv (should've fired him sometime in early 1998 and definitely by the end of that season, although I'm not sure how much the ownership limbo tied his hands), but man I wish he would've been owner these past 15 years.

[Darth Tater]

Riggo-toni, you seem to have more of the history, but reading between the lines of Steinberg's piece, even though it was Cooke's ultimate decision to fire him, it seems like this was a power struggle between Beathard and Pardee that Beathard eventually won.  What if Cooke had kept Pardee and Beathard had left?  We would have wound up with neither Beathard nor Gibbs in the 80s.  I guess Snyder faced the similar power struggle in '99 between Charlie and Norv, and he kept Norv (and later admitted to Casserly that he "got rid of the wrong guy").

 

I had also heard the story of Cooke's "Snyder" moment at 0-5 in '81 when John Kent Cooke talked him down from the ledge.  John was probably too loyal to Norv (should've fired him sometime in early 1998 and definitely by the end of that season, although I'm not sure how much the ownership limbo tied his hands), but man I wish he would've been owner these past 15 years.

Riggo-toni seems to have come to a different conclusion than I did.  Technically, there is no difference between the actions of Snyder and those of JKC.  JKC's moves just worked out.

 

I don't think John did not fire Norv out of loyalty to Norv but John's loyalty to his father's legacy.  His own Gibbs was what JKC was the real legacy JKC wanted.  1994 Norv's cv reads like a pumped up version Gibbs 1981 cv,

[hail2skins]

Riggo-toni seems to have come to a different conclusion than I did.  Technically, there is no difference between the actions of Snyder and those of JKC.  JKC's moves just worked out.

 

 

I just got the sense that it was more Beathard that was the driving force behind the dismissal of Pardee, even though the final decision was Cooke's. True, Snyder has had people advising him to some degree all throughout his ownership, but I think he has been the force behind the decisions to fire the coaches he has.......contrary to UnWise Mike's piece last week, I don't think Bruce Allen pulled off a palace coup.

 

Here is another Steinberg entry from the day Pardee passed away early last year:

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/wp/2013/04/02/jack-pardee-and-the-redskins/

 

And a short interview with Beathard on bringing Gibbs to meet with Cooke:

 

http://www.csnwashington.com/show/148981/episode/651761