New Coach In Town Or Not?

Three days after a first-round playoff exit, the season-long rumors about Joe Gibbs retiring at season’s end came true. Following a season that dealt with tragedy in the form of safety Sean Taylor’s murder, a four-game losing streak that at the time seemed to end the team’s playoff chances, and finally a four-game win streak to finish out the season combined with the help of the Vikings and Saints blowing their playoff hopes resulted in an improbable wild card birth for the team. The Redskins face many uncertainties this off-season starting with the head coaching vacancy, the possibility of finally hiring a general manager, free agency, and what to do in April’s draft?

The head coaching vacancy will be the first question the team attempts to answer. The list of potential candidates includes but is not limited to defensive coordinator Greg Williams, offensive coordinator Al Saunders, Bill Cowher, Jim Mora Jr., Ron Meeks, Jim Caldwell, Russ Grimm, Rex Ryan, and Jim Schwartz to name a few. Greg Williams seems to have the best shot at the vacancy, the Redskins have had a pretty good defense for the most part under Williams since joining Gibbs staff when he came back to coach in 2004. During his first season as defensive coordinator, the team ranked number three overall in total defense. Many players on the team are already lobbying for Williams to replace Gibbs as head coach, and many experts think that Williams taking over would help with continuity within the organization.

This is where it gets really interesting, are the Redskins actually on the path to being a regular playoff contender or are they no better off than before Joe Gibbs returned? If Snyder believes the team is close to being a playoff contender year in and out, it’s an easy hire (in the form of Greg Williams). If not, he’ll need to rebuild his team and he should attempt to hire Jim Caldwell or Russ Grimm for that project. Jim Caldwell is the quarterbacks coach for the Indianapolis Colts, and Peyton Manning attributes much of his and the team’s offensive success to the coach. The Redskins have struggled to put points on the board for over a decade now, so I find it difficult to hire anyone other than an offensive specialist at this point in time. The hiring of former coach Steve Spurrier was an acknowledgment of the team attempting to solve its decade-long offensive woes by hiring “the old ball coach” because of his reputation as an offensive genius at the University of Florida at the time. If the team is serious about hiring Caldwell they need to act quickly because rumor has it that Tony Dungy may retire as head coach in Indianapolis and that he is the first choice to replace Dungy. There is no way he will want this job in place of coaching the best quarterback in the league on a team that has Superbowl aspirations and talent every year if that becomes available to him. Daniel Snyder needs to show up on Caldwell’s lawn with one of his giant Publisher’s Clearing House-like checks that he’s known for writing before Dungy has a chance to retire if he is indeed Snyder’s top choice to coach the Redskins.

Russ Grimm, was a member of the storied “Hogs” offensive line during the team’s Superbowl days from 1981 to 1991. He also served as the tight ends and offensive line coach during the 2000 season with the Redskins. He currently serves as the offensive-line coach for the Arizona Cardinals and has gotten the attention of many owners around the league by how quickly he has moved up through organizations around the league. If the Redskins do not hire Grimm, he will certainly become a head coach somewhere within the next couple of years, possibly even in Arizona due to the history of the franchise struggling to win and the short time frame head coaches get to turn things around in today’s NFL. Grimm is an ideal candidate because he’s a hometown guy, played here, coached here, and was a contributor to championship teams.

Bill Cowher is most likely very high on Snyder’s wish list. Snyder is known for always attempting to bring big names to Washington. Cowher’s name has been rumored for over a year now, however he has said that he intends to sit on the coaching sidelines for at least another year. As much as I’d love to see Cowher leave CBS’s unwatchable pre-game show making it perhaps a bit more bearable, he’s not the guy the Redskins need. He is however one of the most overrated coach’s of all-time, I know he has a Superbowl ring with the Steelers, but remember it took him 15 years there to finally win one. You almost have to attribute that to the luck of working for his former owner, in today’s NFL, coaches are fired in their first season for practically nothing at times, so he was lucky to be given 15 chances in contrast to many of his peers. Snyder definitely will not wait 15 years for a Superbowl ring, so he won’t work out here.

You can probably take Rex Ryan, Jim Schwartz, and Ron Meeks out of the running because their all defensive guys, and will be quality hires elsewhere. If Snyder intends to let his offense continue to struggle he might as well stay with someone he knows is a defensive genius in Greg Williams, so I doubt Snyder will seriously consider any of them. Al Saunders was known as an offensive genius with a 700 page playbook with the Chiefs, but hasn’t been in Washington for long, and the offense hasn’t been great like expected, so he won’t get any real consideration either.

I was shocked to learn that Jim Mora Jr. would be asked to interview for the position, seeing as how things did not go great for him in Atlanta. The Falcons were a decent team at that point but nothing to rave about outside of Michael Vick at the time. Popular perception says that he was fired because he “joked” that he would leave the Falcons if the head coaching job ever opened up at his alma-mater, even if the Falcons were in the playoffs at the time. His father, Jim Mora Sr. is known for one of the single greatest sound bites in sports history when he said “What's that? Uh -- Playoffs? Don't talk about -- playoffs? You kidding me? Playoffs? I just hope we can win a game!” Well, if Jim Mora Jr. is hired to coach the Redskins, there won’t be any need for him to do his best Mickey Mouse impression and discuss the playoffs, because the playoffs will be irrelevant in D.C. until he’s inevitably fired.

Williams has to be the favorite to succeed Gibbs, but if the Redskins choose to go outside of the organization they should go with Caldwell or Grimm, both could work here respectively. By hiring an outsider though, that could signal the end of Williams and/or Saunders tenures with the team since most head coaches like to bring in their own people to be a part of their staff. Which could also mean Jason Campbell, who has impressed many people around the league this year will not be the quarterback of the future for this team after all, as well as other popular players being replaced in favor of new systems being implemented. You almost have to wonder if it really matters at all who is hired to coach the team though, for years fans and experts have said that the team can not win until a general manager is hired, and Snyder seems adamant about not hiring one, heck, Britney Spears has a better chance of getting custody of her kids at this point, than Skins fans do of getting a general manager. Over the next few weeks though someone will be hired, and all the Redskins faithful can hope for is that things go a lot more smoothly over the next decade following Gibbs departure from the team than the last one did following his first retirement.