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Originally Posted by JoeRedskin
I'm just curious. Under Spurrier, how was personnel aquisition organized? Was it all Dan? Did Vinny run the show? Or was Spurrier basically given a green light for whoever he wanted on offense and defense was just whatever looked good in the papers?
I believe it was a disaster. I am just interested in a) What was the culture that made it so disasterous? b) How did Gibbs change it? c) Even though some of the players remain unchanged (anyone still here from the Spurrier era other than VC?), have the changes Gibbs created taken hold?
I realize it my be too early to tell on (c), but I am curious as to your opionion on it.
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Spurrier didn't give a damn who was playing defense. He couldn't name more than two or three players on defense without a script in front of him.
Under Spurrier, meetings where chaotic and no one was held accountable. Ladell Betts on multiple occassions would doze off and call people on his cell phone. Rod Gardner would do the same. Heck he called me once during a meeting. Players were regularly late to meetings. No one was ever held accountable. Under Gibbs (granted I wasn't actually there for Gibbs, I left right before) there was accountability and an understanding of the consequences of not being responsible. Not in terms of fines but in terms of the respect of your colleagues and the effects on the field.
For all intents and purposes, the true head coach that first year was Marvin Lewis. He was the leader of many meetings, he knew both the offense and defense.
As for player acquisitions and personnel, Snyder just gave Spurrier whatever he wanted, with the occasional minor disagreement. But it was such a joke because Spurrier never attended any personnel evaluation meetings, he would vacation at the start of free agency. You know how most coaches, Gibbs for example, call up a potential free agent, fly out to see him, fly him in to Redskins Park, etc., Spurrier couldn't even be reached by phone during the first days of free agency. The whole Jetskins ordeal of 2003, there was no rhyme or reason to that. That was just Dan and Vinny (mainly Dan) scrambling to do something based on the offense Spurrier said he needed.
That was pretty much the last straw. Snyder wanted Spurrier to succeed, for selfish reasons as well. But changes were ready to happen the next offseason. I believe it would have started with putting Cerrato in charge of the football operations, and responsible for the roster. The same way he is now, but five years earlier. But when Spurrier quit, and Gibbs came aboard, VC took a back seat.
In short, there was no sense of responsibility under Spurrier and he constantly skipped out on important meetings and off-season decisions. It was every man for himself in the locker room. There was no "team"