Quote:
Originally Posted by sportscurmudgeon
djnemo65:
Excuse me: You can take Joe Gibbs at his word all the time?
How many times did he say he was here for the duration of his contract? He won't be doing that...
Joe Gibbs is a football coach. Football coaches - at every level - live by telling the person in front of them what the person wants to hear OR what the coach wants them to believe. That applies to recruits, free agents, players agents, owners interviewing them for positions, assistant coaches, reporters, TV/radio people and etc. Football coaches who do not have that "survival skill" wind up unemployed.
That does not make football coaches into bad people and it certainly does not make Joe Gibbs a bad person; he is not. But you take him at his word all the time with the same comfort that you take a professional poker play at his word all the time...
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While I agree with the general point you're making, I think you're also missing the point that the traits that define Joe Gibbs are not inclusive to those of what make a great football coach. He's also a good man, a devout Christian, and someone who believes in leading by example, trust, and mutual respect.
While you can certainly make the case that he "didn't tell the truth" about saying he'd honor his contract, I don't believe for a second that he ever thought he wouldn't live up to that at the time he made that statment, and I'd also suggest that ANYONE who put themselves through what that man did for four years, including this past one (which he called the most trying of his professional career), could not be blamed for choosing to walk away and spend more time with his family.
Joe is a leader, and as a leader, he often said the right thing rather than the popular or juicy thing, but I really don't think he was a man who embraced the practice of deception, which is what you seem to be saying here.