I heard on the radio this morning that there is a press conference planned at Redskins Park this afternoon at 3pm where Joe Gibbs will announce his retirement. Here are my thoughts:
1.) Did he leave the team better than he found it? I think he did. The WR position is much better than it was four years ago with Moss and Randle-El. I’ll grant that Brandon Lloyd was a complete bust, but you gotta take the bad with the good. Jason Campbell may not have been lighting things up this year, but I do believe that he will be a solid quarterback for many years to come (assuming he can get into an offensive system for more than two seasons). The defense may have sucked ass last year, but they finished in the top 10 the other three years.
2.) Who will replace him? My understanding is that Gregg Williams has a clause in his contract where if he does not take over after Gibbs retires he gets $1 million. Of course, that’s chump change to Daniel Snyder, who I expect to make a serious push at Bill Cowher. True, Cowher has gone on record as saying he does not want to coach until his kids graduate high school, but what if he’s offered $10 million a year? Can he really turn that down? Who are some other likely candidates?
3.) Did Gibbs let down the fans by not staying for all five years of his contract? I think he finally realized this year that the game had passed him by. This was an incredibly stressful year, what with the injuries to the O-line early in the season, the death of Sean Taylor, and the horrendous start the team had. I’m sure he wanted to go out after winning another Superbowl, but realized that wasn’t going to happen. This is probably the best note on which he can go out.
I’m not entirely sure it was the best move to come back at all. It seems to me that both the team and Gibbs were trying to relive the glory days, and neither one realized just how much things had changed since then.
That being said, I do think he helped them get back on their feet, but they need to learn how to float without Gibbs.
However, I knew Gibbs first as a team owner in NASCAR, and I think his team has preformed a little worse without his direct input. I hope he goes back to devoting his main focus to them.
Pretty pointless to come back if the end result was squeaking into the playoffs two of four years- not that much better than what Spurrier and the other guy did. Same basic garden variety NFL team, some good players, some not. Nothing to make you think a great coach could come in and turn this into a division winner next year, like with the Cowboys when Parcells left- especially with uncertainity at QB. Pretty undistinguished tenure, but if he had fun and made money, good for him.
1.) Did he leave the team better than he found it? I think he did. I would make the case that he took over an 8-8 team that had made 1 playoff appearance (3 seasons before) in the previous 12 seasons [since he left the first time]. He went 31-36 and made 2 playoff appearances (going 1-2) in 4 seasons. Look at it this way: that record is probably good enough that he would have another shot as a Head Coach on the NFL coaching carousel somewhere if he wasn’t already **Gibbs **(and ~70 years old) – he didn’t let anyone down we were lucky to have him as long as we did.
2.) **Who will replace him? **I know that everyone was saying that Gregg Williams has a clause in his contract where if he does not take over after Gibbs retires he gets $1 million. But by now you have now undoubtedly herd the Redskins knock that down and the awkward bend over backwards by Snyder today not to anoint Williams. I think Cowher might be a possibility – maybe Saunders is a dark horse. Maybe Russ Grimm? I’d bet Williams but its not a sure thing.
3.) **Did Gibbs let down the fans by not staying for all five years of his contract? **
Not for Redskins fans – at least the ones I know. It was like having Lincoln take a term or Babe Ruth batting a season for the Nationals or Michael Jordan playing for the Wizards … uhhh… No he is close to beloved by most fans in my experience. Really beloved.