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WP/CBS/ESPN: Joe Gibbs coming back; Gregg Williams D-Coord: Woah Woah Woah (MERGE)

SRVFan72

By SRVFan72
in 2004 Archives Forum

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SRVFan72

SRVFan72

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I cant believe I am the first to post this!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60572-2004Jan6.html

By Mark Maske and Leonard Shapiro

Washington Post Staff Writers

Wednesday, January 7, 2004; Page D01

Joe Gibbs, the Hall of Fame coach who led the Washington Redskins to three Super Bowl titles in the 1980s and early '90s, is in serious discussions with the team about returning to be its head coach, sources with connections to Gibbs through his auto-racing interests and other ventures said last night.

Gibbs, 63, has told associates in NASCAR that he is contemplating a return to football as the Redskins' coach, sources said.

Gibbs could not be reached for comment last night, and the chances of him accepting the head coaching job were unknown. It also could not be determined whether he would be willing to consider working for the team in another capacity.

The Redskins have been looking for a coach since Steve Spurrier resigned eight days ago. Owner Daniel Snyder and vice president of football operations Vinny Cerrato are known to have conducted face-to-face interviews with three candidates -- former New York Giants coach Jim Fassel, former Minnesota Vikings coach Dennis Green and Seattle Seahawks defensive coordinator Ray Rhodes.

Rhodes interviewed with Snyder and Cerrato in the D.C. area yesterday. But a source close to Fassel said last night that he did not believe Fassel would be hired by the Redskins because the club was planning a major surprise. He added that he believed Gibbs's return would be the surprise.

Gibbs coached the Redskins between 1981 and '92 and led them to Super Bowl victories following the 1982, '87 and '91 seasons. Gibbs's Redskins also reached the Super Bowl following the 1983 season but lost.

He resigned from the Redskins following the 1992 season and has not coached since. He is a minority owner with the Atlanta Falcons and would have to sell his small interest to return to the sideline with the Redskins. He has turned over the vast majority of ownership of his NASCAR racing teams to his sons.

The Redskins have reached the playoffs only once since the glory days they enjoyed under Gibbs, late owner Jack Kent Cooke and former general manager Bobby Beathard. They were 12-20 in two seasons under Spurrier. Snyder signed Spurrier, who had amassed 122 victories and a college national championship in 12 seasons at the University of Florida, to a five-year, $25 million contract in January 2002. But Spurrier seemed overmatched by the NFL game and left with three seasons remaining on his contract.

The Redskins wanted a proven NFL coach and put Fassel, Green and Rhodes at or near the top of their list. But people around the NFL suspected that Snyder had at least one other unidentified candidate.

Gibbs has often said he was quite content operating a NASCAR team and some of his former football associates said last night that they would be surprised to see him return. But he has said in interviews in recent years that his health is good again after deteriorating under the strain of coaching in his final years in the NFL. He also has said that he wanted his grandchildren to know that he did something in sports before NASCAR.

If Gibbs returns, he would hope to follow the path of Dick Vermeil and Bill Parcells. Vermeil returned to the NFL in 1997 following a 14-year layoff from coaching. He led the St. Louis Rams to a Super Bowl triumph following the '99 season and has the Kansas City Chiefs in the playoffs this season. Parcells, Gibbs's former adversary as the Giants' coach, led the Dallas Cowboys to the playoffs this season after being out of coaching for three seasons.

Snyder has had a cordial relationship with Gibbs since purchasing the Redskins in 1999. The Bethesda marketing executive grew up a zealous fan of the team and tried to hire Beathard as his general manager in January 2002 before the deal unraveled at the last minute. Snyder is about to hire his fifth head coach following Norv Turner, interim coach Terry Robiskie, Marty Schottenheimer and Spurrier.

After leaving football, Gibbs began working in stock-car racing, and he swiftly became one of the most respected owners in NASCAR, breaking through the good-old-boy network and proving himself as a shrewd businessmen who hired the best people and allowed them to do their jobs. He founded Joe Gibbs Racing in 1991, and began competing at the sport's highest level with driver Dale Jarrett in 1992. Jarrett won the sport's premiere event, the Daytona 500, in 1993, in what Gibbs said was equivalent to an expansion team winning the Super Bowl in its second year. It was a swift rise for a football coach in a sport that, a decade ago, was still protected by old-time racers.

The strength of Gibbs and his organization, though, showed after Jarrett moved on in 1996. Gibbs, who had wooed Interstate Batteries as a multimillion-dollar sponsor, hired driver Bobby Labonte, then an unknown running in NASCAR's top minor league series. Labonte and Gibbs grew their operation together. In 1999, Gibbs expanded his operation, adding a second race team and hiring the young, flamboyant Tony Stewart as the driver. In a sport that depends largely on sponsorship, he also landed what would become one of the sport's most prominent sponsors, Home Depot.

In doing so, Gibbs established an innovative approach to owning teammates in NASCAR, and observers frequently likened it to coaching. Labonte and Stewart competed against each other on the track, but their cars were built in the same shop, the personnel on their teams worked closely together, and all employees of Joe Gibbs Racing shared in bonuses when either driver won a race.

The approach brought immediate success. Labonte won the sport's season-long championship -- the Winston Cup -- in 2000, a year after Stewart was named the series' top rookie. In 2002, Stewart won the championship, making Gibbs perhaps the most successful owner in the sport.

Staff writer Barry Svrluga contributed to this report

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SonnyJ

SonnyJ

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Posted

My jaw is on the ground.

If Snyder pulls this off, no one better ever say a bad word about him.

Would Joe get the whole band back together? I'm picturing a Blues Brothers type of vision.

Of course, all of those guys are fossils, by now. Didn't Kornheiser use to call them the Politburo, back in the day?

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Zen-like Todd

Zen-like Todd

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Originally posted by Skeletor The Invincible

Hmm

I still doubt this would ever happen - I don't think that Gibbs would like to return to the NFL while he could still have success elsewhere.

There are no quotes in this article and only rumors. If this had been a Times article, we'd all be laughing it off as BS.

Interesting and wonderful thought, though.

Shh... let us dream for awhile. Don't go waking us up.

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