After a month of searching, Dan Snyder and the Washington Redskins went off the board to hire Jim Zorn as the team’s new head coach. The search itself was thorough, confusing and maddening at times, but in the end the Redskins came away with an intriguing choice to lead the team.
In the day and a half since the announcement, reaction has been fairly negative to the hiring. Many are saying Zorn is not experienced enough or he will basically be Snyder’s new puppet, but much of the outrage is misguided hatred for Snyder and Vinny Cerrato, the Redskins’ de-facto GM.
Snyder had painted himself into a no-win situation; no matter who he hired this week, fans were going to be ticked off. Most fans wanted Gregg Williams as coach and when it became apparent he wasn’t going to get the job, there was no one out there who was going to pacify an angry fan base.
One of Snyder’s main ‘problems’ is that he is terrible at dealing with the media, never was it more apparent than during the coaching search. Snyder attempted to conduct his search in complete secrecy, an impossibility these days. If he had leaked a few names to certain media outlets, they’d likely have been more forgiving of the process which in turn would have lowered the anger among fans.
In a lot of ways however, Snyder’s disdain for the media and his complete disregard for their opinions helps the Redskins. If you compare Snyder to Jerry Jones, an owner who is very concerned with his public reputation, the differences are clear. Last year, Jones hired a Wade Phillips, a guy who the media loves, but who’s been completely unsuccessful in every head coaching stint he’s ever had. If Jones was heading up the Redskins search, he would of likely hired Steve Mariucci, a media darling, whether he was the best fit or not. There is no way he would have gone out of the box and hired Jim Zorn.
Zorn is an interesting choice for many reasons but it’s also a very gutsy move by Snyder. Promoting a guy from a job he never actually was very obviously going to lead to ridicule from the media. Hiring Zorn cements the impression that coaching search was an unorganized mess. But it also shows that Snyder has an open mind and is willing to take a shot to his reputation if he feels it will help the Redskins. Many will say Snyder’s reputation is already sullied, so another hit is no big deal, but don’t forget that Snyder had won over many detractors this season with his generous handling of Sean Taylor’s death.
The Zorn hiring boils down to two opinions, either he’s going to be Snyder’s puppet or he’s an inspired choice who really nailed his interview. A month ago, Zorn was a complete unknown to most Redskins fans, but from media reports that have come out since his hiring; he’s well respected in NFL circles. He’s not the type of guy who’d be hurting for a job or some young pup who’s not been around the block. He’s a 54 year old experienced NFL coach and it’s doubtful he’d have agreed to the job just to do Snyder’s bidding.
Everyone can agree the search for the next Washington Redskins head coach wasn’t a smooth process. There is no debate that Dan Snyder didn’t look good over the past month, but that doesn’t mean he screwed the team by hiring Zorn. Fans and experts alike should be willing to give Zorn a chance to prove himself before writing him off as just another Snyder blunder.
Lee, I appreciate the positive thoughts and want to believe you’re right. I am just not convinced Zorn won’t lose this team. I am imagining another Pettibone year (4-12), or Norv’s rookie season (3-13). I know the talent is better now, but with Gregg, Al, and Joe gone, Zorn’s got a lot of things to start from scratch. Not an easy task for a first-timer. (But I hope I’m wrong.)
I’m pretty ambivalent with Zorn overall; however, I need to say something about one thing you did say in your post: Snyder earned a lot of people’s grudging respect this past season with Sean Taylor’s death. However, for many (not all; I for one was never one of his detractors until now), he was simply getting back to average, a team owner who had been over zealous and hurt the team was finally starting to mature under Coach Gibbs’ tutelage to the point where he could become a good, even maybe a very good, owner. In the first few days after Gibbs’ sudden retirement, Snyder could have cemented that, and given himself years of benefit of the doubt from the Redskin Nation, by simply doing the logical thing: appoint the heir apparent as Head Coach. He had a week, week and a half, to do that. If he did, we’d be comfortably talking about the changes Gregg would have brought to the table, how Snyder had matured as an owner, and how he had demonstrated that he really does have a coherent long term strategy for success. He squandered that opportunity, and that hope. Now, we know, Snyder is back to the quick fix days (CHAD FREAKING JOHNSON? Give me a break! We don’t need another poisonous, but talented, player. Westbrook ring a bell?). We have no long term plan. We have no long term chance for success. Oh, yes, Snyder is 43. He’ll live another 30 years or so, and yes, probably, during that time we’ll have a good chance at the NFC title game or maybe even a Superbowl (flail enough and eventually you’ll hit SOMETHING along the way). But remember this: from 1945 until 1969, the Redskins didn’t have a winning season. That’s 24 years. We might be looking at that kind of interegnum all over again, and we’ve just had a decade long stretch generally losing football before Coach Gibbs came back.
Oh boy. Thanks Dan… just what I always wanted, to be always in the hunt for a low first round draft pick (that we can then trade away for a garbage player!)
Hey Lee,
First off, thanks for the comment. Secondly, today’s news just further makes me worry about the Skins. Are they really ready for Chad Johnson? Can Zorn, a rookie coach handle the ego/personality of Chad Johnson? Like the commenter before me said, I’m a little scared that it might be another Westbrook situation, if they get him. Snyder seems to kill this team in free agency nearly every season. It’s always the quick fix, or pay a lot of money to the most talented player available, when its not always the most talented player that will help your team be the most successful. I’m still worried that he will go completely into senile Al Davis mode if he’s running the team in 25 years.