Blast from the Past: Gibbs Takes Over in D.C.

Yahoo Sports ^ | 1/7/04

[leadpenny]

According to Sid Rosenburg, the Sports guy on the Imus in the Morning program, the Redskins are set to make an announcement today that the former Redskins Coach will be returning to be the new head coach.

Update:

Just a week after Steve Spurrier called it quits, the Washington Redskins have a new coach – their old one. Joe Gibbs agreed Wednesday to take charge of the struggling franchise. Gibbs coached the team from 1981-92, winning three Super Bowls along the way before resigning to pursue a career with his own NASCAR team. [link to source]

[HenryLeeII]

The reason Joe Gibbs left in January '93 was burnout. He had developed migraine headaches, was tired of sleeping in his office several nights a week, and wanted to spend time with his sons before they were all grown up and left home. The owner he worked under was Jack Kent Cooke, who pretty much gave Gibbs and general manager Bobby Beathard free reign (and an open and very deep checkbook) to run the club. There were no real problems between them, the way that Norv Turner, Marty Schottenheimer, and Steve Spurrier have had with Dan Snyder.

However, Gibbs now has nothing left to prove in NASCAR, his sons are grown and married, and he probably figures that if Dick Vermeil and Bill Parcells can come back successfully, he could give it one more chance as well.

The effect on Snyder would be interesting because he knows that the fans will side with Gibbs in a heartbeat on any issue. Snyder will have to back off somewhat and let the professionals take over. However, what the media usually doesn't report is that Snyder is a very persuasive salesman when courting free agents, and is fairly innovative in working salary cap numbers. "Experts" have been saying for years that each year the team will hit the wall and have to start jettisoning players, but to this point that has never happened (Stephen Davis was let go primarily to let Spurrier mold the team to his liking, plus Davis wasn't willing to negotiate much off of his $11M cap hit for the '03 season, and cutting him allowed the Skins to sign WR Laveraneus Coles, G Randy Thomas, K John Hall, KR Chad Morton, etc.). So, with the right personnel man in the front office and Gibbs as the coach and Snyder as the salesman, this could work.

Hatteras, the Redskins have the makings of a very good offensive line in place. Chris Samuels and Jon Jansen are a very good pair of tackles, Randy Thomas is a good guard, and Derrick Dockery may turn out to be a fine guard as well (he was a rookie this season, so its hard to tell). Many of the hits the Redskins QB's took this year were as a result of blown blocking assignments by the RB's or TE's, not the OL, or just poor scheming on the part of Spurrier.

Owl, I have to say this comes as a shock. Nobody in the DC media saw this coming (if indeed it does come to fruition)!

[Dixiekraut]

"The game has passed him by..."

That's what they said about Vermeil when he re-emerged from his "burn-out".

No matter how you slice it...this is good news....Redskin fans have hope again...and even an ego-maniac like Snyder will have to defer to his wisdom...he's already enshrined in Canton.

If Gibbs can't save this franchise ...then nobody can.

[HenryLeeII]

As a lifelong Skins fan, I agree with you. Vermeil and Parcells still win, despite their retirements, and Gibbs can too, as long as the front office helps him land the talent and doesn't get in his way. The league needs good rivalries, and the Skins-Cowboys is right up there with the Bears-Packers as the best!

[Hatteras]

Redskins Name Graham New Head Coach

[Dog Gone]

Oh man, I didn't notice the date at first. LOL.

I thought THAT would be quite the comeback.

[Moose4]

I was talking with our office's resident Cowboy fan and he was as shocked as I am. We agreed it'd be pretty darn good for the rivalry, though.

The thing I'll be interested to see is how Gibbs handles the 21st-century NFL player. The Skins teams in the '80s were choirboys (Timmy Smith excepted) compared to nowadays. Granted, they liked to party, and the players were fixtures at local clubs and bars, but we never heard about Redskins players at double murders, blowing away their pregnant girlfriends, dealing drugs, beating the crap out of each other in practice, pulling Sharpies out of their socks, etc.

I guess having good guys like Art Monk, Monte Coleman, Darrell Green, etc., on the team helped keep some of the other guys straight.

DC is probably having a giant collective orgasm right now. It's hard for anybody who's never lived there to understand just how the Redskins and Gibbs are worshipped in that town. Sports up there is Redskins 24/7/365...the Crapitals and the Bullets--er, Wizards--are an afterthought. :)

}:-)4

[Major_Risktaker]

The problem might lie in the fact that the players attitudes are different, and he may have trouble "connecting" with them.

The players today is one of many reasons Joe Gibbs will never comeback to football. The players of todays game is the reason my Sunday's have been football free now for 5 years. As far as the Superbowl, I like capitalism at it's best and watch the commercials.

______________________

If I were Gibbs, I would have a "no-meddling" clause with Dan "yes I suck" Snyder.

The only way Snyder bought the team was to sell Jack Kent Cooke name off the stadium to Federal Express for $200 million dollars. That amount was the difference in the John Cooke bid for the team.

To me it will always be Jack Kent Cooke Stadium and a Snyder Redskin owned team will never win a super bowl because of Dan Synder's corruption and greed business dealings. Snyder now has a ghost to deal with like Chicago Cubs and Boston Redsox forever.

[7thson]

Heath Shuler was a Norv Turner pick. He badgered Casserly into picking him.

[7thson]

Two words - Dick Vermial. Took the Rams to the SuperBowl. Got the Chiefs back in the playoffs and possibly to the SuperBowl. Gibbs will succeed because if you do not produce for him you are gone!

[Dante3]

Brad Johnson -- he won in the Superbowl

[Mudboy Slim]

Excellent news, my FRiends...MUD

[7thson]

Heath Shuler sucked and everyone knew it. He came from a college system that did not run a pro style offense and it showeed. He failed here, in New Orleans, and never made it past preseason with the Raiders.

[7thson]

They already did. Interview Rhodes yesterday. Met the criteria, screw you Rooney.

[7thson]

For right now - but like a commercial I saw shortly Gibbs left - He can still beat those Cowboys!!!!

[uncbob]

The Redskins better at least interview any of the following: Dennis Green Tim Lewis Ray Rhodes

Yep
Nothing like insulting those guys as puppets to the PC gods when they know Gibbs is going to get the job
Course Gibbs ain't qualified and will only get because he is white

[ironman]

Sorry, we're number one

"August 29, 2003
Forbes Releases NFL Franchise Values
Forbes has released their annual rankings of every NFL team in terms of dollar value, and the Washington Redskins are at the top of the list, once again, with an estimated value of $952 million. Rounding out the top five is Dallas at No. 2 worth $851 million"
http://football.about.com/b/a/022243.htm

[Tallguy]

The Dallas Cowboys are the most valuable NFL Franchise.

How do 'they' calculate these things? Seriously. Do Jerry Jones or Dan Snyder have a standing 'asking price'?

[uncbob]

He may have been a good coach 10 years ago, but the game of football has passed him by. The same thing happened to Chuch Noll in Pittsburgh.

That is IMHO a popular misconception about the game passing coaches by What really happens is they lose ALL their really good assistants to other teams as head coaches

[The Mayor]

I just heard on the local news that Marv Levy wants to come back and coach The Bills.

[No Blue States]

This is great. Now the Cowboys can own Gibbs too. Is he related to the BeeGees?

Now all we need is a QB, RB, 2 Deon Sanders and a Jay Novacek to be superbowl contenders again.