Haslett's continued employment has proven that Dan Snyder is no longer in charge

[Boss_Hogg]

December 30^th, 2013 – Bruce Allen took to the podium at Redskins park with an important announcement. After four years and 24 wins,  Mike Shanahan has been relieved of his head coaching duties. Bruce went onto thank Mike for his service and informed the media and fans that a search for Shanahan’s successor will commence immediately. One very important person missing from this press conference was the Redskins’ owner and possibly biggest Skins fan of all, Dan Snyder.

 

Where was he? Why is Dan missing from this press conference? Could he be on Redskins One with dozens of money bags flying to Waco? Or is he at Party City planning elaborate slumber parties at his palatial mansion for big-name coaches? Well according to the media blowhards, all of that was true.    

 

The following week Redskins fans were treated with blogs, tweets, and radio interviews from reputable “journalists” such as Jason La Confora. La Confora believes himself to be an expert on all things Redskins and has boasted about having top secret information regarding the interworking’s of all things Burgundy and Gold. La Confora couldn’t wait to sell his analyzing services to 106.7 the fan and CBS Sports.   

 

Jason La Confora, is a diehard Ravens fan with the typical Baltimorean DC/Redskins-complex. He was given a 15 minute platform on 106.7 the fan the day after Mike was canned. “Nothing has changed at Redskins park,” the short one said. “Same ole Redskins. You can dig up George Allen, or Vince Lombardi and neither one of those guys will win in Washington… Dan’s calling the shots now. Why do you think he wants Art Briles so bad? My sources tell me that Dan is going to pursue Art Briles.” To which one of the sports junkies replied with “Well hold on Jason, Bruce said the other day that he has final say over…“ the short one interrupted; “You really believe that? Dan’s running everything now. Bruce is just a puppet and the Skins will never win anything with him in charge.”

 

The mainstream sports media followed the pudgy one’s lead:

 

Redskins job is challenging in managing RGIII and Dan Snyder: http://www.google.com/search?q=dan+snyder&oe=utf-8&rls=com.frontmotion%3Aen-US%3Aunofficial&client=firefox-a&oq=dan+snyder&gs_l=heirloom-serp.3...1303354.1304911.0.1305030.10.7.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0....0...1ac.1.34.heirloom-serp..10.0.0.UGEuUxrps3c

ESPN Users blame Skins woes on Dan Snyder: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/wp/2013/12/31/espn-com-users-blame-dan-snyder/

Making a deal with the devil:  http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/66280628/

 

Okay good to know Jason, Olbermann, ESPN, NFL Network, etc…Dan is in charge, it’s like 2008 all over again…he’s picking the coaching staff, the players, the cuisines, everything…got it dude.  But alas, one controversial figure still remains on this team, James Donald Haslett.  

 

With my trusty binoculars, I can see Dan Snyder from where I sit at Fed Ex field. I like to check his box after a sour play to gauge his reaction. This year I saw a lot of face palms and head shaking.  On some occasions I saw him throw his arms in the air and storm to the back.  Sometimes I get lucky and make out what he’s saying through lip reading.  The man isn’t shy about using uses colorful metaphors after the defense ****s the bed against the likes of Elijah Manning, Christian Ponder, or the one-legged Tony Romo sits to pee. 

 

I’m in the firm belief that Dan Snyder is a diehard Redskins fan. I truly believe he bleeds burgundy and gold and lives and dies with the team. In fact, I think that Dan would have an ES account if he was just an everyday schmuck like me. Dan may be a billionaire, but he displays all the same behaviors and traits as a typical diehard Redskins fan. Why else do you think he used to make rash decisions back in the day? How many threads or posts on game day do we have on here where someone’s campaigning to fire a coach or cut a player?

 

Before you all believe the media BS ask yourself this:

 

If Dan was still in charge, would Haz still be here?

 

 

[DJD2]

I think it's a leap to say it proves Snyder is no longer in charge.

 

Maybe Allen wanted to **** can Haslett and Snyder over-ruled him.

 

Maybe Haslett is Snyder's new squash buddy.

 

Your OP is more of an indictment of LaCanfora than proving anything about Snyder's involvement.

[Riggo-toni]

Yes it means Dan is letting Bruce Allen run things.

And it also means Allen is gonna **** up this team just like he did in Tampa Bay.

[FrFan]

Instead of making a clean sweep we're keeping a holdover like Haslett who always managed to have a subpar defense, talking about continuity in dysfunctionality, the stamp of Snyder's ownership.

[Califan007 The Constipated]

I think it's a leap to say it proves Snyder is no longer in charge.

 

Maybe Allen wanted to **** can Haslett and Snyder over-ruled him.

 

Maybe Haslett is Snyder's new squash buddy.

 

Your OP is more of an indictment of LaCanfora than proving anything about Snyder's involvement.

 

1) There isn't a fiber in my being that believes the first bolded sentence to be true. Do the words "Mike Nolan" and "Vanilla ice cream" ring ay bells? And Nolan had better performing defenses than Haslett.

 

2) If the second bolded sentence were true, we'd have numerous stories about it already. Far more likely is that Haz is Allen's "squash buddy", especially since the running narative around here seems to be that Allen is almost exclusively hiring "friends".

[mike42]

Snyder was actually in the front row during the press conference...but that isn't the point. I believe there is enough evidence that Snyder has been hands off since Shanahan hire 5 years ago. And Haslett is a perfect point, he would have been fired long ago. Haslett hasn't had a tub of vanilla on his desk...but it wouldn't be a bad idea.

 

I hope we start winning soon or Snyder might reconsider this new approach as we were some how doing a tad better when Snyder was hands on.

[zoony]

I tend to agree with this, and said so a few weeks back buried in one of the Haslett threads.

Keeping Haslett is definitely not a move to sell tickets

[TSO]

The funny thing is, if there was ever one time Snyder would be right to get involved and force the issue it would've been with firing Haslett, lol.

 

I'm still utterly confused by it. The most consistently weak link on our team and somehow we fired pretty much everyone except that group? 

 

But, yeah, I think it does show, somewhat, that Snyder isn't involved at all here. But I'm not sure that's a good thing in this case. I don't think anyone wants Snyder to not be involved at all, most just don't want him forcing personnel down a coach's throat or losing it and firing everyone when things hit a rough patch. I do want him, however, to know when he's got the right management in place and when he doesn't. I do want him to make sure the management he has in place are able to do things the right way and to the best of their respective abilities (scouts scout, coaches coach, GM manages, etc...) without his involvement. I do want him to step in at the right time, after showing ample patience, and change things if any or all parts of that management isn't getting it done.

 

That's where the issue is with Haslett. There's no possible way to justify him still being on the team, in my mind. There's some other reason outside of production and that's never a good thing. I don't buy the ridiculous notion that Shanahan was running the D and forcing him to just sit and watch and he was just this sympathetic figure who was the victim in Shanahan's oppressive tyranny.

 

Now hopefully we just get fortunate and suddenly Haslett becomes this awesome D coordinator while a Redskin (a la bearrock's post a few weeks ago), but I'm still angry Wade Phillips was available and we didn't even interview him.      

 

Sorry for that Haslett tangent, lol. But yeah.     

[RWJ]

Still say that Haslett stayed because of Jay Gruden.

[zoony]

I'm curious how Bruce Allen is compensated

For instance, are there incentives in his contract for cost containment? If so, imagine if that got out, the rioting there would be in Redskins Nation, learning that this move to keep Haslett is simply a move by Allen to hit his bonus number.

I honestly have no idea if that is something that even enters into a GMs contract. In the business world it would be common and prudent, however. Just something to think about

[DC9]

I'm curious how Bruce Allen is compensated

For instance, are there incentives in his contract for cost containment? If so, imagine if that got out, the rioting there would be in Redskins Nation, learning that this move to keep Haslett is simply a move by Allen to hit his bonus number.

I honestly have no idea if that is something that even enters into a GMs contract. In the business world it would be common and prudent, however. Just something to think about

 

We've retained about 40% of the previous staff and all of the front office.  We're even working on adding Doug Williams and a few others.

 

I think you bring up an interesting point.  The plot does thicken a bit because Haz was Gruden's HC in the UFL. 

 

I thought for sure we'd bring in a strong defensive coordinator candidate for 2015 and Haz would be Assistant HC - Defense, with basic oversight but no real power.  I'm really not sure what to think now.  But Gruden is a member of the same club of a lot of the coaches who were here under the previous regime.

[Laron Burgundy]

Not sure if this thread is spinning this into a positive thing.  If Snyder was in control and Haslett was gone, that would actually be a good thing.

[chipwhich]

Hey even LL and the insiders on this board were  rolling out the red carpet for Jason LaCanfora.  Glad to see him proven wrong, sad he was given the microphone to slander our team further.

 

As far as who is in charge, only one thing will answer that, this coaching staff.

[Dirt]

Dan took a step in the right direction when firing Vinny.  It was close to how a normal football team is run, but he gave all the power to Shannahan.  Same problem, different person.

 

Now, I think it's finally clear to him.  Have a GM, hire a coach, coach gets a staff.  Don't have too much on one guys' plate.  Player decisions go through everyone, with Bruce having the "final say", although, ideally, the decision is universally agreed upon by the time it "gets to Bruce".  In other words, if there's questions about a player, for any reason, they're probably not making the team, and Bruce isn't going to use his "power" to make it happen, and even if it does, that's still typical of a normally-run football organization.

 

JLC is Nancy Grace bad.  I truly think things are FINALLY as they should be.  Dan started getting it right about 4 years ago, and now the leaf is truly turned over.  

 

As for the Haslett thing, I dunno.  It's a good point, but I actually don't think we even need it to see what's happening.  It's just TOO EASY for blowhard journalists to pull the "Snyder control card".  

[Mania]

Snyder was actually in the front row during the press conference...but that isn't the point. I believe there is enough evidence that Snyder has been hands off since Shanahan hire 5 years ago. And Haslett is a perfect point, he would have been fired long ago. Haslett hasn't had a tub of vanilla on his desk...but it wouldn't be a bad idea.

 

I hope we start winning soon or Snyder might reconsider this new approach as we were some how doing a tad better when Snyder was hands on.

He was in the front row of the Gruden press conference, not the Shanny firing press conference.

[Califan007 The Constipated]

Not sure if this thread is spinning this into a positive thing.  If Snyder was in control and Haslett was gone, that would actually be a good thing.

 

It's always a good thing when Snyder allows his "football men" in the front office and on the field do their jobs, even if they sometimes make the wrong decisions. The longer Snyder stays in conventional "NFL Owner" mode, the better. My guess would be that Allen actually had to convince Snyder to let him keep Haslett on--which is exactly how the GM-Owner relationship is supposed to work. Bethard had to convince JKC that Gibbs was the right guy for the job (as well as convince him to not fire Gibbs after his disastrous start lol).

[Wyndorf25]

Still say that Haslett stayed because of Jay Gruden.

I believe Allen (maybe Snyder too) wanted Jay Gruden. Therefore, Haslett was the bait to lure him here. If Gruden rebuffed the Redskins, Haslett would have been gone, baby gone.

[Califan007 The Constipated]

I believe Allen (maybe Snyder too) wanted Jay Gruden. Therefore, Haslett was the bait to lure him here. If Gruden rebuffed the Redskins, Haslett would have been gone, baby gone.

 

It does seem that Allen/Snyder were making the environment Gruden would walk into as comfortable as possible...I imagine having coaches available that you have previously worked with would help in that regard, while still giving Gruden the option to replace those coaches.

[paloosa]

This thread can be debated about who is really making the decisions but the bottom line is that Snyder still makes the final call regardless of who is in the FO, coaching the team, or playing on the team. Dan Snyder may not be over ruling the decisions as much anymore because he is giving his staff the opportunity to get it right. But for some reason Haslet has the Obi Won Kanobi power of the force powers because he has everyone on the team and in the league fooled when it comes to his coaching ability. How do you ignore the stats and the record when no one else in the league even considered him as their DC. One thing I do want to address is the Jason La Canfora insider reports. He is and never has been credible as a reporter especially when it comes to everything that is Redskins related. So please stop giving this idiot any credibility by mentioning he made some stupid report on the Redskins that has no facts or basis to it.

[mike42]

He was in the front row of the Gruden press conference, not the Shanny firing press conference.

My fault, I thought he was there for both.

[Laron Burgundy]

It's always a good thing when Snyder allows his "football men" in the front office and on the field do their jobs, even if they sometimes make the wrong decisions. The longer Snyder stays in conventional "NFL Owner" mode, the better. My guess would be that Allen actually had to convince Snyder to let him keep Haslett on--which is exactly how the GM-Owner relationship is supposed to work. Bethard had to convince JKC that Gibbs was the right guy for the job (as well as convince him to not fire Gibbs after his disastrous start lol).

I'm not so sure beathard had to convince jkc that much. Jkc interviewed Gibbs before he was officially handed the job and he was the one who publicly said Gibbs would turn it around to 8-8.

Regardless, allen isn't really a football guy either, I don't think he's much better suited to run a football team than Snyder is. Can't hold that up as an excuse for why retaining Haslett is a good move. Now if we had a gm with a strong resume then I'd agree with you.

[Califan007 The Constipated]

I'm not so sure beathard had to convince jkc that much. Jkc interviewed Gibbs before he was officially handed the job and he was the one who publicly said Gibbs would turn it around to 8-8.

Regardless, allen isn't really a football guy either, I don't think he's much better suited to run a football team than Snyder is. Can't hold that up as an excuse for why retaining Haslett is a good move. Now if we had a gm with a strong resume then I'd agree with you.

 

Cooke met with Gibbs after being convinced by Beathard that he was the man for the head coaching job...Cooke wasn't going to sign off on Beathard's choice of Gibbs until he met the guy.

 

And there's no way in hell I could say Bruce Allen and Dan Snyder are equally "football guys" with a straight face lol...Allen has at least been a GM for two prior teams, and even won Executive of the Year while in Oakland. Nothing on Snyder's resume comes close.

 

And you notice I never said retaining Haslett was a good move...what I said was Snyder letting his "football guys" do their jobs was a good move, even if his football guys make a mistake (meaning, even if keeping Haslett becomes the mistake everyone is fearing it will be).

[TD_washingtonredskins]

Snyder's mistakes haven't always been that he's too involved. During certain eras he's given away too much control. Snyder's biggest mistake has been his continued neglect of a strong front office. I think Allen running this team is a step in the right direction, but his success will eventually tell us whether he was the "right" guy or not. Hopefully a few years from now we look back on the data in the OP and realize that is when we turned the corner. 

[Califan007 The Constipated]

Snyder's mistakes haven't always been that he's too involved. During certain eras he's given away too much control. Snyder's biggest mistake has been his continued neglect of a strong front office. I think Allen running this team is a step in the right direction, but his success will eventually tell us whether he was the "right" guy or not. Hopefully a few years from now we look back on the data in the OP and realize that is when we turned the corner. 

 

A lot of people on here were saying last season that if Shanahan left, Bruce Allen would be gone, too...I personally think that Allen still being here shows that he had/has more sway and power over the franchise than merely being the "contracts guy".

[SkinsHokieFan]

Snyder's mistakes haven't always been that he's too involved. During certain eras he's given away too much control. Snyder's biggest mistake has been his continued neglect of a strong front office. I think Allen running this team is a step in the right direction, but his success will eventually tell us whether he was the "right" guy or not. Hopefully a few years from now we look back on the data in the OP and realize that is when we turned the corner. 

 

A lack of a strong FO and certainly a lack of a strong scouting department. 

A lot of people on here were saying last season that if Shanahan left, Bruce Allen would be gone, too...I personally think that Allen still being here shows that he had/has more sway and power over the franchise than merely being the "contracts guy".

 

I think he does now. I don't think he had this power under Shanahan