Theory: Putting together a staff for the future

[MTK]

Alright I'm going to toss my hat in the ring and toss out this theory as to what the plan is.

With Gibbs out of the picture, the nice and easy solution would have been to retain Williams as HC and leave the rest of the staff relatively intact.

Here's the hitch though, this staff was Joe Gibbs' staff. He put it together and let's face it, it wasn't exactly a staff built for the long term. I'm not sure of the average age of the staff, but it's got to be right at the top for one of the oldest, errr, I mean experienced staffs in the league. Again, not a staff built for the long term and not one that was picked by Williams.

So what I'm saying is, even if Williams took over, there was going to be some pretty significant changes. Saunders was probably outta here no matter what, and guys like Breaux and Burns weren't going to stick around with Gibbs out of the picture. You promote GW, you need a new DC, so that's another open spot on the staff. A few other coach's have contracts that are up, so who knows if they would have been retained as well.

There have always been rumblings that Williams and Snyder weren't exactly best buddies the past few years, and Gibbs was the buffer between the two. Just look at Williams' style. Tough guy, disciplinarian, on the arrogant side, sound familiar? Sounds a little like another coach that Snyder didn't play nice with... Marty Schottenheimer. In summary, Williams and Snyder probably weren't going to last in the long run. Eventually their egos would have clashed (probably sooner rather than later), and then where would that have left things? In search of another new HC and more turmoil? If you ask me, if Snyder has any doubt about working with Williams for the long run, the right move is to not even try to go there. Cut the head off this thing now and move on rather than trying to avoid the inevitable. He tried this once with Marty and we all know how that worked out. He doesn't want to go down that road again.

So ultimately I think the plan is to put together a staff for the long run. If that means taking a step backwards now in order to take steps ahead in the future, this is what has to be done. It certainly isn't pretty, but it seems like this is what needs to happen in order for Snyder to have a staff in place that he is comfortable with going forward with.

I have to say that I already like the Zorn hiring, and before you jump all over this notion that why did they hire an OC without having a HC first, let's just point out that Dallas did the same exact thing last year when they hired Garrett before Phillips. Zorn was reportedly high on the lists of all the potential HC's, so it was a no-brainer. I think we're going to see some more quality hirings too and in the end once the dust settles we just might like the looks of the new staff. Give it some more time, stay patient, and let's judge the entire package once everything is in place. Did anyone see the Zorn hiring coming a few weeks ago? I sure didn't. That tells me that someone is doing their homework in this search to turn up quality assistants and they're not just shooting for the big names. Look at some of the other names that have been floated out there. Schwartz, Meeks, Spagnola... not exactly the sexy big names that we always blame Snyder for going after.

Feel free to agree or disagree, but let's just keep things civil. There seems to be this notion that the moderators here don't want to hear any dissenting opinions. That's simply not true, what we're looking for is less emotional over the top stuff and more civil rational discussion.

Fire away.

[GTripp0012]

Hog Heaven | MVN - Most Valuable Network » Blog Archive » The Great Counter Argument

I wrote that last night, but a lot of the points you are making are very similar to mine.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

Hog Heaven | MVN - Most Valuable Network » Blog Archive » The Great Counter Argument

LOL I swear I didn't see that before writing my take. Nice to see we're on the same page.

[AlvinWalton'sNeckBrace]

Well, Williams himself wasn't exactly ancient...but I see what you're saying. I guess my problems lie more in the process than in the actual hiring. Time will tell how the players react and how the fans accept the adjustments.

[GTripp0012]

The process itself, initially, was very thorough. It sure seems like some mistakes have been made of recent though, especially with the alleged contract offering/pulling due to Rex Ryan's disinterest.

Anyway, I think Matty's post best illustrates the way that most people would have wanted us to go with the coaching search three months ago. Since then, a lot of people have become attached to the idea of Gregg Williams at HC. I hope that if Williams officially pulls his name today, people will take it as a sign that this decision was mutual.

[SFREDSKIN]

The only way spagnuolo comes here is as a HC, no way the Giants let him go on a parallel move and if the Redskins give him an Associate HC title I can Guarantee you the Giants will match. So this can be tough.

[Dirtbag59]

I think that right now the smartest thing for the Redskins would be to hire Fassal as Head Coach and promote Blache to DC. I think that not only would that help the Redskins maintain continuity but Blache would appreciate the chance to be in a position where other teams would take him seriously as a Head Coaching canidate.

[SouperMeister]

Originally Posted by Dirtbag359

I think that right now the smartest thing for the Redskins would be to hire Fassal as Head Coach and promote Blache to DC. I think that not only would that help the Redskins maintain continuity but Blache would appreciate the chance to be in a position where other teams would take him seriously as a Head Coaching canidate.

I thought that I read that Blache wasn't interested in moving up to defensive coordinator, even had Williams been promoted to head coach.

As for Matty's premise on the long term viability of the staff (or lack thereof), I agree with that on the offensive side of the ball, but not on Defense. Williams is 49 or 50. He has some excellent young guys on his staff, particularly Jerry Gray and Kirk Olivadotti. Even with the loss of Sean Taylor, Laron Landry looked perfectly suited to step into Williams's deep FS role as exhibited by his two 4th quarter picks in the playoff game. If Fassel or someone else from the outside is hired as HC, I would feel a lot better if Jerry Gray was promoted to defensive coordinator. Gray also coached with Williams in Buffalo, and could bring some level of continuity to what Williams built on the Redskins D.

[Dirtbag59]

Originally Posted by SouperMeister

I thought that I read that Blache wasn't interested in moving up to defensive coordinator, even had Williams been promoted to head coach.

As for Matty's premise on the long term viability of the staff (or lack thereof), I agree with that on the offensive side of the ball, but not on Defense. Williams is 49 or 50. He has some excellent young guys on his staff, particularly Jerry Gray and Kirk Olivadotti. Even with the loss of Sean Taylor, Laron Landry looked perfectly suited to step into Williams's deep FS role as exhibited by his two 4th quarter picks in the playoff game. If Fassel or someone else from the outside is hired as HC, I would feel a lot better if Jerry Gray was promoted to defensive coordinator. Gray also coached with Williams in Buffalo, and could bring some level of continuity to what Williams built on the Redskins D.

Thats awseome. So we have three (two) viable candiates to run the same defense that has been the cornerstone of this franchise over the past few years. I guess D-Coordinators really are a dime a dozen. However in light of this information I would like to see Gray take the Coordinator job. The guy already served as a coordinator once and did a pretty good job.

Personally I don't disagree with Snyders reservations of having Grilliams be HC, given that in Buffalo he was so conservative that the announcer dubbed the opponents side of the field the "Maroon Zone." However Snyders people skills have a lot of work to do. If he hadn't led Gregg Williams on for so long then this wouldn't nearly be as big an issue, but then again thats been said about a millon times already.

[Sheriff Gonna Getcha]

Good post Matty and that may very well be Danny's thinking. However, I could see turning things over in the long term best interests of our team if we had a bad season. We won 4 of our last games and made the playoffs. What happened to the continuity? Or was the continuity Snyder and Cerrato?

[GMScud]

Originally Posted by Sheriff Gonna Getcha

Good post Matty and that may very well be Danny's thinking. However, I could see turning things over in the long term best interests of our team if we had a bad season. We won 4 of our last games and made the playoffs. What happened to the continuity? Or was the continuity Snyder and Cerrato?

I agree, I don't trust Danny here at all. Mix messages for sure. Continuity is important only when it's convenient to say so apparently.

That said, I agree about the possible conflicts between Williams and Danny (and Vinny for that matter). This very well may have been a proactive rather than reactive move by Snyder in anticipation of future problems.

And I also love the Zorn hire, especially as far as Campbell is concerned.

[SmootSmack]

Originally Posted by Sheriff Gonna Getcha

Good post Matty and that may very well be Danny's thinking. However, I could see turning things over in the long term best interests of our team if we had a bad season. We won 4 of our last games and made the playoffs. What happened to the continuity? Or was the continuity Snyder and Cerrato?

I think there is a notion that continuity meant Saunders and Williams. It really shouldn't be viewed in such narrow terms, in my opinion. While certainly it'd have been beneficial to keep them, continuity isn't just about the two of them.

It's about the scouts and the front office (like it or not); it's about having built a base of young players (Doughty, Campbell, Rogers, Rocky, Montgomery, Landry, and so on) to build something with for several years, as opposed to the aging veterans we seemed to have focused in the past; and it's about several key coaches on the staff that tend to fly under the radar.

And I think the last part is the most important, the one that bears the most watching over the next several weeks. Losing Williams and Saunders alone isn't the big story, it's about the domino effect it may create (or not create.) Never mind guys like Breaux and Burns. Really, are we going to miss them? Thanks for everything, but let's not kid ourselves they were basically just like members of Gibbs' posse. The key, for me, will be what about the guys who really do the down and dirty work with the position players-Byner, Hixon, Lazor, Olivadotti, Jackson-what of them? I'm really curious to see what happens with them. None of the offensive guys really have a connection to Saunders so I don't know that they would necessarily try to follow him wherever he goes.

[skinsguy]

Like I've said in the Zorn thread, I love the move to get Jim Zorn. I wasn't very impressed with Al Saunders as an OC. I realize Saunders did great things in KC, but that just didn't translate in Washington. I never really felt we needed an offensive coordinator in the first place, but that's a whole different argument. In regards to signing your coordinators on before the head coach, I don't really see a problem with that. I think if anything, it just makes the eventual head coach's job that much easier. He won't have to worry about going out and finding guys to fill those coaching positions, they will already be in place. All he'll be concerned with is implementing the offseason game plan to get ready for next season.

Let us not forget that Gibbs is assisting in some sort of way. I would not be surprised at all if Gibbs is not telling Dan and Vinny who to pick up as coordinators.

[TheMalcolmConnection]

I AM ready for Schwartz as a possible DC. System would be relatively the same and I really do like the Zorn signing.

[SFREDSKIN]

Originally Posted by TheMalcolmConnection

I AM ready for Schwartz as a possible DC. System would be relatively the same and I really do like the Zorn signing.

Do you think Jeff Fisher will just let him go? Especially if the Redskins did screw over his best friend? The only way is if Williams goes back to the Titans with Schwartz becoming free to come here.