Thursday, January 10th, 2008...2:52 am by Lee Gibbons
It has to be Gregg Williams
The Washington Redskins are once again faced with a big decision this off-season. Who will be the next head coach? Joe Gibbs’ surprising re-retirement this week has forced Dan Snyder and the front office into making a coaching change at least a year earlier than they were expecting. Luckily for the Redskins, the choice is an obvious one: Gregg Williams.
Williams has led the Redskins defence to top notch performances in three of his four years here, proving that he knows what he’s doing. He’s been a head coach before in the league, so he understands the responsibilities and the work involved. Most players who have spoken out about their opinion of the next coach support Williams. Its a gimme for Snyder, pick Williams.
The Redskins are in a unique situation. Usually when a team is hiring a new coach, its because they stink and are in desperate need of a change. The Redskins, on the other hand, are coming off a playoff season and appeared to be improving as the year went on. The players and coaches spoke of the unique chemistry on the team this year, hiring an outsider would likely ruin any chances of a carry-over from the late season momentum to next year.
Gibbs is obviously a great leader when it comes to bring a team together and earning the player’s support. But his super conservative ways cost this team more than few games in his second tenure here. Gregg Williams is a much more aggressive coach. He’d take the shackles off Al Saunders which should lead to more consistent offensive production. In 2 of the past 3 years, the Redskins would have been an elite team if the offence was just a bit better. Oddly enough, losing Gibbs is likely to lead a nice improvement in the offensive numbers.
The Redskins are close to being a very good team. Now is not the time to blow it all up and start over. If there is one lesson that we all hope Gibbs taught Snyder, its that making the big flashy move isn’t always the right choice. Williams is a boring choice- nearly every columnist, fan and blogger are all calling for his hire. But in this case the obvious choice is the right one. Gregg Williams for Head Coach in ‘08.
4 Comments
January 10th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
Lee, the problem is that it WON’T be Gregg Williams, which is a BIG problem.
If Snyder wanted to prove to his players, to his coaches, and to his fans that he is committed to winning, SOON, and with a prolonged shot at staying one of the premier teams, Williams would have been shown his new office within 24 hours; he’s the logical choice, and if the Redskins were to promote him to Head Coach, the Roony Rule would not apply. There would be no uncertainty, the Redskins would be able to start working on the contract restructurings they need to do NOW, and they would keep the players from getting the jitters; while most of the key players are under contract for next season, we’re going to need to restructure a lot of money, and that means the players need to have confidence. The players have spoken; they want Gregg.
The only hold up in this is that if the Redskins truly want to continue to build, they would need to have a clause saying that Williams could not replace Saunders, at least not without the owners permission; my understanding is that Saunders and Williams, though amiable enough, are not as close as you would hope for the Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator; Williams would, if left to his own, probably prefer someone other than Al as his OC. That would mean a regression of the Offense, slowing down your franchise QBs development, and hurting the Redskins for the next year or two as the personnel adjustments are made to support the new scheme.
It’s telling that Snyder DID NOT hire Williams as Head Coach in the immediate aftermath, but that’s ALMOST understandable; when you’re working on a billion dollar operation, you need to do some due dilligence. However, the simple fact that he didn’t express a vote of confidence in Williams (”We think we have a fine candidate here on staff, NOW, but we have to at least take a look around to see what else may be out there”) is the key in this; Snyder hasn’t forgiven Williams for 2006, and thus is not leaning toward supporting the only coach who CAN finish what Gibbs has started; if Williams isn’t the choice, we tear up the team and instantly start a new 2-3 year rebuilding effort; so long playoffs, much less Superbowl dreams.
January 12th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
I disagree with you on this one Bill. I think it will be Williams. Due to the NFL rules they have to interview at least one minority candidate so there is a process you have to go through. If Snyder had just come out and said ‘Gregg Williams is our guy’, no respectable candidates are going to be interviewed with no shot and getting the job. If you have to interview at least one other person, you might as well bring in a few others and at least see whats out there in case someone completely blows you away and Williams completely flubbs his interview.
I’d guess by this time next week, Gregg Williams will be the new coach of the team.
January 18th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Just wondering - why has no one mentioned Russ Grimm? He almost got the Bears job a few years ago but no one ever mentions his name. Instead, we go for a guy whose previ0us head coaching experience was with Buffalo. Let Williams stay and run the defense - let Grimm run the offense and the team. Or at the least, hire Grimm to be offensive coordinator. At least we’re not hiring a former Dallas asst. coach this time… By the way, please see my article in support of Monk making the HOF at http://www.coachmike.net/artmonk/artmonk.htm. Thanks.
January 20th, 2008 at 12:17 am
Lee, I think you’re going to end up right, at this point. However, we could have had two weeks less uncertainty, and two weeks of time we cannot recoup, if Snyder had just named Williams the head coach immediately; the Rooney rule does not apply if the only person interviewed and the selection comes from an in house advancement.
The ONLY concern I would have had in Snyder’s place would have been to get William’s assurance that he’s not going to get rid of Saunders; however, Snyder isn’t as big on Saunders as I am. If Williams/Saunders is the combo for next season, I think we’ll improve (and if Gregg goes over to Al and says “You’re going to be fired next year if the Offense doesn’t improve, but I’m leaving the play calling totally up to you” it WILL improve; simply witness the Redskin’s effort the last month of the season to know that the Offense can work with these players).
Instead, we’ve lost two weeks of time that we could have been renegotiating some of the contracts that need to be restructured, deciding who we need to target for replacement, who we need to target in the draft, and working on further building our scouting department for next year.
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