Marty Schottenheimer has just been named coach of the Redskins.
So, should we Redskins fans be happy? Disappointed? Kinda let down, but relieved that Snyder didn’t hire a college coach?
Personally, I’m in category #3. I thought Wilbon was dead on with the ‘find the best assistant coach out there, and hire him’ approach. (A bunch of the coaches now in the playoffs were assistants only a few years ago. And that’s how we got St. Joe, of course.) But Snyder clearly wanted a Big Name, and given that a lot of the Big Names he was pursuing were college coaches, I figured we’d wind up with one.
Schottenheimer is, of course, The Best Coach Never To Reach A Super Bowl. But I don’t see him having the ahead-of-the-curve sorts of insights that the good young coaches have - they understand where the game is, and where it’s going as well. I suspect Marty will do creditably, but not brilliantly - maybe make the playoffs twice in the next four years. And he won’t get to the Super Bowl in this tour of duty, either; I’d bet against his getting to the NFC championship game.
You know how I feel about the Deadskins, Mr. Firefly, but my thinking is that Danny Boy could’ve hired the Ghost of Tom Landry and the team will still be 8-8 and on the outside looking in.
I heard, but can not confirm, that one of the problems the last coach had was that players that buddied-up to the owner got a free hand at skipping practices and certain exercises. Anybody else hear this, or was I hallucinating?
Well actually, this may have been where The Danny more or less fired himself - from the overly hands-on role he seems to have played lately, at least. There’s three things going on here: first is that Snyder hired Schottenheimer, rather than inheriting him. Second is that Snyder begins from a position of respecting Schottenheimer; I don’t think Norv had Snyder’s respect more than briefly, in the year and a half they worked together. (That’s one advantage, at least, of Snyder’s hiring a Big Name.) And third is that Schottenheimer didn’t get back into coaching to be jerked around by an owner on matters that are properly the coach’s purview; if Snyder does interfere, he’ll walk at the end of that season. Schottenheimer has already been a vocal critic of Snyder’s overly involved management style. This means two things: he’s not afraid of Danny, and they undoubtedly dealt with those issues during their negotiations.
While I think the 'Skins under Schottenheimer will be respectable rather than stellar, (a) right now, ‘respectable’ is progress, and (b) Marty may be able to more or less ‘bring up’ Snyder as an owner - to show him what his role is, and what the limits are. And maybe in four years, Snyder will be ready to hire the next Brian Billick or Jim Fassell, and Marty will be ready to pass on a reasonably sound team to the next coach.
At any rate, it’s hard to imagine that Schottenheimer can be anything but a step up from Norv.
I was somewhat suprised at first about Schottenheimer since I hadn’t even heard him being talked up as a possibility. Now that I’ve had a chance to think about it, I think it was a good move. I think a college coach would have been a mistake, and I am very happy that it wasn’t Bill Parcells.
One potential problem with Wilbon’s idea of going with a good assistant is that there would have been more temptation for Snyder to stay involved in the operations of the team. That’s less likely with someone like Schottenheimer.
I think this is part of the advantage of hiring someone with an established record as a head coach.
I wonder what Wilbon’s reaction would have been to Snyder hiring Art Shell. Shell and Ray Rhodes would make an interesting combination.
You know, Montfort, I’ve never understood why there has been so much vehemence about Snyder. He’s made some mistakes, but I don’t think he has been a terrible owner, and he has done some good things for the team (at least on defense). I don’t think he’s been any worse than some other owners, oh, say Jeffrey Lurie, during their first years.
I think Shottenheimer will do as well as anybody in that position, and it sounds like Snyder will let him be. The problem the Redskins will have is when they start to take cap hits when players like Deion retire - all those nice signing bonuses are going to hurt a lot more when they’re not prorated over the term of the contract.
