panthro Posted January 20, 2004 Share Posted January 20, 2004 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30422-2004Jan19.html Gibbs Still Trying to Lock In Top-Flight Assistants By Nunyo Demasio Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, January 20, 2004; Page D04 MOBILE, Ala., Jan. 19 -- After owner Daniel Snyder lured Joe Gibbs to a stunning return as Washington Redskins coach, a contract was resolved quickly despite being the last issue. "A three-minute deal," Gibbs recalled. The forming of Gibbs's coaching staff, however, has been anything but swift. Gibbs and Snyder have worked feverishly, flying across the country on the owner's private plane, recruiting some of the most respected coaches in the NFL. However, the process has moved at a glacial pace largely because of league rules that hinder signing coaches under contract. Another factor has been the grand goal of Gibbs and Snyder: to assemble the most comprehensive and well-regarded staff in the league, replete with assistants highly experienced in the NFL. "I'm a very small part of this," Gibbs said recently, "and I know that there's no way we can accomplish what we want without a great coaching staff." Yesterday, Vinny Cerrato, the team's vice president, and an armada of Redskins scouts were on hand for the first practice leading to Saturday's Senior Bowl, which brings the top college seniors and the front office of every NFL team to Mobile, Ala. Coaches encircled Erving S. Cooper Stadium to evaluate prospects in the late afternoon and to seek jobs. "This is like an NFL coaches convention," Cerrato said. The buzz here is that Washington is trying to compile a dynamic staff but having difficulty partly because some assistants feel overqualified for the jobs. According to sources, former Green Bay Packers assistant Ed Donatell declined an offer from the Redskins to become a co-defensive coordinator with Gregg Williams after interviewing in Washington for most of Saturday. Donatell has accepted an offer to become the Atlanta Falcons' defensive coordinator under new coach Jim Mora Jr. Although the Buffalo Bills had the second-ranked defense in the NFL last season, the club finished last in creating turnovers for the second straight year. Conversely, Green Bay's 116 takeaways over the past three seasons are the highest by any NFL team. Williams -- Buffalo's head coach the previous three seasons -- wanted to sign Bills defensive coordinator Jerry Gray as a defensive backs coach. Although Gray had been reluctant to take a lesser position, Snyder was prepared to make him the NFL's highest-paid coach at the position, according to sources. The issue became moot last week when Buffalo's new coach, Mike Mularkey, chose to retain Gray as defensive coordinator. Gray intends to keep his defensive staff intact, meaning the Redskins will also lose out on two other Bills assistants: linebackers coach Don Blackmon and defensive line coach Tim Krumrie. Even if former coach Steve Spurrier had returned, Snyder was expected to pursue star assistants because the owner believed that Spurrier would have found NFL success if surrounded with a cadre of top-notch assistants. (Spurrier's staff included seven assistants who did not have previous NFL experience.) Snyder has characteristically spared no costs in assembling a staff. But because some of the candidates are being courted by other teams, the Redskins have exceeded the salaries allocated for the coaching staff. "I did step over the budget," Gibbs said last week, laughing. Williams is among the highest-paid defensive coordinators in the league after signing a four-year deal averaging $1.15 million. But Williams has told friends that he is earning $1.8 million, an indication that his contract is incentive-laden. The only other defensive coordinators earning more than $1 million are Tampa Bay's Monte Kiffin, Philadelphia's Jim Johnson and Dallas's Mike Zimmerman. Gibbs has 10 known assistants but their titles are still being ironed out. Although Don Breaux was expected to be a running backs coach, Gibbs wants him to help oversee the offense, shifting from position to position. When Rennie Simmons was signed from the Falcons where he was the offensive line coach, he wasn't certain if he would deal with tight ends or merely assist Joe Bugel, the Redskins' offensive line coach. "We don't get hung up on titles," said Bugel, who has been named assistant head coach. Cerrato added last night: "Gibbs wants a bunch of great teachers. He knows what it takes to win." Ernie Zampese, 67, will likely spend the least time at Redskins Park while being an offensive consultant. Zampese is expected to help the Redskins develop an offense during training camp. But once the season starts, Zampese will split time at his San Diego home while assisting with the offensive game plan against each opponent. Gibbs's staff will have an NFL rarity with two offensive quality control assistants in Bill Lazor and Coy Gibbs. NFL teams generally have one each on defense and offense. A quality control assistant is an entry-level position into the coaching ranks, akin to a graduate assistant in college, with duties involving such things as analyzing film for the team's tendencies and charting plays. Lazor held the same position with the Falcons, where Gibbs owned 1.67 percent of the team. Lazor was considered a computer whiz, and loaded game films on DVDs so the club could evaluate its plays in various scenarios. Coy Gibbs, Joe Gibbs's son, played linebacker at Stanford, and was interested in learning the offensive aspect of coaching. "Number one on the list for every head coach is putting together a good staff," said former Bills coach Marv Levy. "Joe is a master at that." © 2004 The Washington Post Company Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hauss Posted January 20, 2004 Share Posted January 20, 2004 Originally posted by panthro Lazor was considered a computer whiz, and loaded game films on DVDs so the club could evaluate its plays in various scenarios. Coy Gibbs,. " [/b] During the Patriots bye week--right before they played the Cowboys--my son-in-law was flying from Atlanta to Boston. When his company sends him out, he usually gets to travel first class. He was seated, when a guy got on the plane with several people who were with him, the guy seated himself not too far from my son-in-law. A couple of kids came up and got the guys autograph. My son-in-law found out that it was Tyrone Poole of the Pats. After the flight got underway--my son-in-law had a good view of Tyrone Poole--he saw him pull out a personal DVD player and he started watching plays of the Cowboys. My son-in-law said that on parts of the screen you could see the Qb--the offensive formation and where the receivers were when making their breaks in relationship to the movements of the Qb. He said Poole just watched play after play during the flight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TC4 Posted January 20, 2004 Share Posted January 20, 2004 Originally posted by Hauss During the Patriots bye week--right before they played the Cowboys--my son-in-law was flying from Atlanta to Boston. When his company sends him out, he usually gets to travel first class. He was seated, when a guy got on the plane with several people who were with him, the guy seated himself not too far from my son-in-law. A couple of kids came up and got the guys autograph. My son-in-law found out that it was Tyrone Poole of the Pats. After the flight got underway--my son-in-law had a good view of Tyrone Poole--he saw him pull out a personal DVD player and he started watching plays of the Cowboys. My son-in-law said that on parts of the screen you could see the Qb--the offensive formation and where the receivers were when making their breaks in relationship to the movements of the Qb. He said Poole just watched play after play during the flight. Yeah, DVD is a far better format to review game flims on, as the quality of the picture is vastly superior to the quality of video tapes, and when you pause a DVD, you get a much clearer view of the shot that isn't all grainy looking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn X Posted January 20, 2004 Share Posted January 20, 2004 Yeah, I'm a real technology nut myself. In fact, please excuse me while I go fire up the Betamax and alphabetize my 8-track tapes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shotgunner Posted January 20, 2004 Share Posted January 20, 2004 Why not utilize the technology however you can to help get an edge. Good story. :applause: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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