A New Start! (the Reboot) The Front Office, Ownership, & Coaching Staff Thread

[JSSkinz]

So the original thread strayed off topic too much and it had to be retired.

 

Once again, this thread is for anything related to Ron, Dan, Kyle, the rest of the front office, the medical staff, the coaching staff, and anyone else in the Redskins organization you feel deserves praise or criticism based on the way they are performing their job duties.

 

How are they handling themselves on and off the field? Are we changing public and league wide perception from a football standpoint? If we come across an explosive topic that has political undertones then create a thread for it in the Tailgate.

 

This thread was meant to be similar to the Bruce & Dan threads of the past and hopefully we'll see more positive content in this thread but that's up to the team to do its job.

 

I went through and reposted many of the Tweets some of you posted in the old thread, stuff that was relative to the topic.

 

Edit: I had to change the thread title to reflect the clown show we are.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 4, 2023 by JSSkinz

[bakedtater1]

Time will tell...starts off with a huge helping of relief from Allen being fired that's for sure..soooooo badly wanna get my self pumped for this season..with a new regime...defensive coordinator that knows what he's doing to go with a brand new chase young but it's tough with what's going on...I just..just....CANT WAIT!!

[Skinsinparadise]

 

Some name change in the mix of that article but that's not my point and it doesn't take a side on the issue.  It gives some insight if true to how decisions might be being made there.

 

 

When Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder fired longtime team president Bruce Allen on Dec. 30, he removed a powerful and polarizing figure who was often blamed, both inside and outside of the organization, for the on-field failures of the team and the erosion of its passionate fan base. But Allen’s dismissal also took away the franchise’s most stabilizing presence.

 

 

....For most of the past 10 years, Snyder leaned heavily on Allen to provide advice and run the day-to-day operations. Though many employees found Allen’s leadership style to be dismissive and suffocating, he “kept things running,” one former employee said.

During Allen’s decade in the front office, he was effective in ensuring it was his voice in Snyder’s ear, along with that of Snyder’s personal financial adviser, Karl Schreiber. Allen did so by undercutting the influence of Scot McCloughan, the team’s general manager from 2015 to 2017; Brian Lafemina, president of business operations and chief operating officer for eight months before being let go in December 2018; and others.

 

Snyder’s circle is now dominated by Schreiber, who is the chief financial officer of Snyder Enterprises — and not a Redskins employee. Schreiber, who manages Snyder’s personal businesses interests and his River House estate in Potomac, is also director of the Original Americans Foundation that Snyder formed in 2014 to support the needs of tribal communities and counter groups calling for the team to change its name.

 

In confronting major challenges and complex issues since he bought the Redskins in 1999, Snyder has retained blue-chip strategists such as former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, former White House communications officer Julia M. Payne, lawyer and lobbyist Lanny Davis, communications consultant and pollster Frank Luntz and professionals from global communications firm Burson-Marsteller.

 

...Most recently, Snyder has sought and received counsel on the name issue from Jay Leveton, a friend as well as a partner in the Stagwell Group, a Washington-based marketing firm, multiple people familiar with the situation said.

When Snyder fired Allen and hired Rivera the next day, he said his new coach would be the primary voice of the franchise. But Rivera’s responsibilities are supposed to remain on the football side, leaving all of the key business decisions for the organization — which Forbes last year valued at $3.4 billion — to be made by a handful of vice presidents or outside consultants who take charge only when the issue relates to their expertise, people familiar with the organization’s structure said.

 

But those same people say the loose coalition of executives has been overwhelmed by bigger decisions — such as the organization’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which closed all NFL team facilities, as well as its response to social protests

following the death of George Floyd and a sudden flood of demands that the team change its name.

 

...Some Redskins officials say Snyder has become the franchise’s primary decision-maker in Allen’s absence, and a few insist the organization is heading in the right direction despite the name issue, pointing out that Snyder — unlike many team owners — has not laid off any employees during the pandemic.

 

“I’ve never seen a better group of people than we have now,” said Terry Bateman, a longtime adviser to Snyder who is not officially a team employee but has been taking a leadership role on the business side since Allen’s departure. “I’ve never seen the organization in better shape.”

 

...He said he is still getting used to his role as the organization’s primary voice — something he wasn’t in his nearly nine years as the Carolina Panthers’ coach.

 

“The interesting thing for me is that I’m going to make some mistakes,” he said. “This is my first time. I’m going to learn and correct them.”

 

Though two people with knowledge of the situation said Rivera has been worn down by dealing with non-football issues, the coach denied that. “Not at all,” he said, adding that “there are a lot of good people working for us” and that he has learned to rely on them to handle things that aren’t related to the team.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/07/04/redskins-consider-name-change-daniel-snyders-inner-circle-is-smaller-than-ever/

Edited July 5, 2020 by Skinsinparadise

[Conn]

Moving this here where it belongs from another thread:

 

16 minutes ago, UK SKINS FAN 74 said:

I’m not a big fan of Rivera being so heavily involved to be honest. Have an opinion, fine, but no more than that. Seems a little bit odd to me. Maybe that’s just me being hypercritical.

 

I think we need to fully come to terms with the fact that he is playing both the Gibbs and Vinny/Allen role, so to speak. He has full say over whatever he wants purview over, while also being THE guy in Snyder's ear. We've never had one person in the building with this much power, for better or worse. It's certainly good that an incompetent nincompoop isn't in Snyder's ear undercutting the HC at every turn and convincing him everything is fine, sure. But that's a lot of power for one person, as stevemcqueen has talked about before. Even if he does promote Kyle Smith to the official GM position and/or hire a VP in any other area of the FO to lessen his load, the truth will still be that Rivera wields ultimate power here while also being the guy who becomes Snyder's comfort blanky. For him it's really a genius move if the team starts to compile winning records. He's king of the castle and this time there's no Wormtongue to screw it up. He seems level-headed enough to take input and to listen to his coaches and scouts, so the HC having this type of power and access to Snyder might actually turn out to be our best way forward and a kind of dangerous but worthwhile loophole into relevance. (If you accept that Snyder will always own the team and always need someone on the staff to be his best friend, which I do)

 

And honestly, if Rivera is as competent as he seems (not special or necessarily great, just steady and competent which is what this new culture needs) then as usual the biggest threat to his success is Snyder himself, and any toadies he may have--luckily he got rid of them all and Rivera is keeping his allies close and his enemies even closer. 

 

Rivera right now has Belichick/Chip Kelly levels of control over every aspect of this operation right now. Let's hope he skews more towards the former end of the scale, obviously.

 

Would many of us wish that the person with this much power was a GM in a more traditional structure, rather than also the HC? Yeah, but Rivera is the guy who was willing to do it under Snyder, that Snyder was convinced to trust enough to allow it, so...

Edited July 5, 2020 by ConnSKINS26

[Est.1974]

Yep it’s clear Dan has gone all in on Ron. It sure is a new era, or more like riv-era, for us.

 

I’m not opposed to a Rivera having that complete inside track to Dan. Or those lengths of control. Don’t know, something about being part of picking the team name, as I said, me being hypercritical I guess. 
 

Although, there is an element of excitement towards the future. It’s not a time to be risk averse Dan, make a statement to the league and lead the way. Get us back on the map.

[Mr. Sinister]

You would think that after 7 months Danno would have straightened out the executive side of team ops.

 

Does this man seriously think Ron Rivera is gonna do all of this on top of coaching football? 

 

We are in Hell

22 minutes ago, UK SKINS FAN 74 said:

Yep it’s clear Dan has gone all in on Ron. It sure is a new era, or more like riv-era, for us.

 

I’m not opposed to a Rivera having that complete inside track to Dan. Or those lengths of control. Don’t know, something about being part of picking the team name, as I said, me being hypercritical I guess. 
 

Although, there is an element of excitement towards the future. It’s not a time to be risk averse Dan, make a statement to the league and lead the way. Get us back on the map.

 

The coach picking the name is weird as hell to me. But with Snyder, it's not surprising,  because he simply cannot and will not take the helm of this organization.  He always needs a buffer, or a shield.

Edited July 5, 2020 by Mr. Sinister

[Est.1974]

24 minutes ago, Mr. Sinister said:

 

The coach picking the name is weird as hell to me.

Can’t say I disagree with this standpoint. It’s a bit odd to me.

[TSO]

I’m so burnt out from this discussion, honestly. It’s exhausting explaining repeatedly why most successful franchises employ certain models and how that has contrasted, and continues to (albeit to a lesser degree than ever before, thankfully), to what Dan has done here. It’s exhausting because, let’s be honest, we’re speaking to an audience (including ourselves) that only has a genuine appetite for hope regarding the team, with only momentary lapses in that appetite, and that’s ok. We’re fans. But it means that any real or perceived obstruction of that hope, especially early on when new hires are made, is met with resistance that is more emotional than anything else, which doesn’t lend to an enjoyable atmosphere of discussion. 
 

So I’m just going to remain quiet about it (as hard as that can be sometimes with some who continue to regurgitate blatant falsehoods and/or believe the quantity of their arguments is indicative of their quality 🗣), hope for the best, and that this set up works as an exception to the general rule. Heck, maybe it changes for the better anyway, but as of now that’s not looking likely.
 

Either way, we’ve got some good people in the building working together with solid pedigrees at their respective positions, and all I can hope for is that none are set up to fail via systemic issues; overburdened because of a lack of support or defined roles; or devalued because of a lack of understanding their importance to success emanating from the top. 

[LD0506]

I understand some of the angst here, if "once bitten, twice shy" what are we after being chewed to the bone?

 

I get it.

 

But at this point I can only see one way forward, and IMO it is the rule of thumb you use when hiring a contractor or vetting new employees. The due diligence in finding THE right person is on you, you have to do your homework and not cut corners with other's opinions, all that work up front is yours. Once you have and you decide, you have to step back and let them do the job you hired them for, no looking over the shoulder or second guessing. When new situations arise, you let them deal with it, that's what you pay them for, not just their presence but their experience and ability.

 

Now no one really saw the 'Rona coming, but Ron was brought in and given the power and responsibility and now his team has to deal with it. I have to think that the topic of the name had to have come up and again, it is Ron that has the responsibility of handling that. Not as an emperor but as the leader and the voice of his team, so when I hear that RR is involved with the name change I hear that his team is involved, that he and several others he chose are offering a unified position on it that he is the voice of.

 

If it ****s the bed it's his mattress that gets stained. And he knows that. He isn't the kinda guy to pass the buck or shirk responsibility, which is exactly what you hired him to do.

 

Let him do it.

 

Personally I cannot think of one other coach hired this cycle I'd rather have leading the franchise. 

[KillBill26]

4 hours ago, Mr. Sinister said:

 

The coach picking the name is weird as hell to me. 

It is very strange, considering the coach is also brand new to the organization as well.  

 

Rivera is the Anna Nicole Smith of our generation, getting instant access to the billionaire with everyone else thinking maybe they should slow it down a bit.

[ThomasTomasz]

8 hours ago, Mr. Sinister said:

You would think that after 7 months Danno would have straightened out the executive side of team ops.

 

Does this man seriously think Ron Rivera is gonna do all of this on top of coaching football? 

 

We are in Hell

 

The coach picking the name is weird as hell to me. But with Snyder, it's not surprising,  because he simply cannot and will not take the helm of this organization.  He always needs a buffer, or a shield.

Apparently so.  Remember, this is still the guy who let Bruce run roughshod over everyone, gave us a black eye in PR, only had a press conference to fire Allen and said Happy Thanksgiving during it and totally embarrassed us in the NFL community with how he handled the firings of McCloughan and Lafemina.  In a sense I feel bad for Rivera that he's coaching the team, running the front office and doing some duties on the business and PR end, but he's been around the NFL.  He knows exactly who he went to work for.  

 

I hate the coach-centered approach because, aside from Belichick, it rarely works out.  There are other situations that some people THINK are coach-centered, when they really are collaborative efforts (like the Seahawks and Chiefs.). But Belichick isn't also involved in the business side of the front office, which it appears Rivera is.  

 

Snyder needs to take the reigns here on the business side and let his football guys focus on that. 

[ThomasTomasz]

Now, to the topic at hand, I am still a bit down on the Rivera hire, but not as much as I was at the start.  I was especially down on the Scott Turner hiring, but the more that I have read about him, the more I like about him.  I was reading about when he took over the Panthers offense, they were trying to fit some of their offensive weapons into roles that they weren't best suited for.  So instead of doubling down on the system, he made adjustments to put the players into a position to succeed.  After we've seen coaches like Spurrier and Gruden become obsessed with their systems and forcing players into roles they aren't the best at, it was great to hear that Turner doesn't have that kind of hubris and is willing to make adjustments.  

 

I was also reading that Turner is a huge believer in football analytics.  I am an Orioles fan and can tell you all from experience that it is not good to be on the late side of the analytical evolution of the game, so I hope Turner can keep us out in front of things.  

 

I was happy with the Del Rio and Matsko hires, as they are two of the best at their jobs.  The other coaches, we will have to wait and see.  I am concerned that many of them came from the Panthers, who have not done well at all in recent seasons despite having some good talent. 

[PartyPosse]

Let’s just take a wait and see approach. If it works then it works. I’m excited about the season and all the new changes but it’s moot if we don’t become a winning franchise again.

[Skinsinparadise]

 

 

Edited July 5, 2020 by Skinsinparadise

[spjunkies]

That dude is worth more than Dan, he'd be better off outright buying the team himself, there aren't many who will buy a minority stake of this horrible franchise. 

[86 Snyder]

PFT is also beginning to speculate Snyder may be disengaging and inching toward selling.  Dear God let that one be true

 

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/07/05/could-new-name-be-beginning-not-end-of-changes-in-washington/

[Malapropismic Depository]

10 hours ago, UK SKINS FAN 74 said:

Can’t say I disagree with this standpoint. It’s a bit odd to me.

 

Yea, because based on the make-up of the team, you just KNOW he's gonna want the new name to be Panther-Skins.

 

[Riggo#44]

18 hours ago, Skinsinparadise said:

Though two people with knowledge of the situation said Rivera has been worn down by dealing with non-football issues, the coach denied that. “Not at all,” he said, adding that “there are a lot of good people working for us” and that he has learned to rely on them to handle things that aren’t related to the team.

This is the thing that worries me, Rivera getting overwhelmed with the non-football duties that it affects his on-the-field performance 

[ThomasTomasz]

31 minutes ago, Riggo#44 said:

This is the thing that worries me, Rivera getting overwhelmed with the non-football duties that it affects his on-the-field performance 

I mean, aside from Belichick, which coaches has truly succeeded with GM duties?  Mike Holmgren's Seattle team was much better after they took the GM responsibilities from him.  Many other situations in the NFL that we view as coach-centric, are actually very collaborative approaches like Seattle and Kansas City.  In Seattle, Carroll and Schneider were hired within a month of each other, and have done this together.  In Kansas City, Reid brought many executives with him from the Eagles and set up shop in the same way, to the point where I don't think you could view either of them as coached-centered approaches.  

[Riggo#44]

14 minutes ago, ThomasTomasz said:

Many other situations in the NFL that we view as coach-centric, are actually very collaborative approaches like Seattle and Kansas City.

Kyle Smith and Rivera both talked about the collaborative effort towards the draft and free agency and how well they worked together. That's fine.

Im worried about Snyder BFF duties.

[Andre The Giant]

Would imagine the last few years haven’t been a joyride for the minority owners. There were rumors they wanted Bruce out a while before he was fired. 
 

Edited July 5, 2020 by Andre The Giant

[Andre The Giant]

 

[Skinsinparadise]

Redskins’ minority owners look to sell stakes in team amid ongoing turmoil

 

The three minority owners of the Washington Redskins are attempting to sell their stakes in the National Football League franchise, according to multiple people familiar with the deliberations.

According to one of those people, the owners — Robert Rothman, Dwight Schar and Frederick W. Smith — have hired an investment banking firm to conduct the search for potential buyers, in large part because they are “not happy being a partner” of majority owner Daniel Snyder.

 

Rothman is chairman and CEO of Black Diamond Capital, a private investment company. Schar is chairman of NVR Inc., the nation’s fifth-largest home builder.

Smith is chairman, president and CEO of FedEx, which in 1999 signed a 27-year, $205 million naming-rights deal for what is now known as FedEx Field.

As the Redskins consider a name change, Daniel Snyder’s inner circle is smaller than ever

Among them, they represent roughly 40 percent of ownership in the Redskins. They are also the only members of the team’s ownership group other than Snyder, his mother and his sister.

 

...According to a person familiar with the relationships between Snyder and the team’s minority owners, Smith’s interest in divesting would be particularly difficult for Snyder to accept.

“Dan admires and idolizes Fred Smith,” the person said.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/07/05/redskins-minority-owners-look-sell-stakes-team-amid-ongoing-turmoil/

[JSSkinz]

From the article above posted by @Skinsinparadise

 

 

"Despite indications that the Redskins are poised to make that change — an essential first step if Snyder hopes to build a new stadium on the RFK Stadium site in the District — his fellow team owners would apparently rather opt out than go forward."

 

 

Interesting that minority ownership wants to jump ship before it's righted, if the assumption is true.

 

 

Edited July 6, 2020 by JSSkinz

[Riggo#44]

I would LOVE it if Snyder sold. There are only 2-3 owners mentioned in the same breath as being on his tier of worst owner in sports.