Redskinz Finally Hire A New Head Coach

After a search that lasted 32 days, the Washington Redskins finally hired a new head coach-Jim Zorn. Who's that you ask? Well he's most recently the long tenured quarterbacks coach of the Seattle Seahawks. The Redskins originally hired Zorn two weeks ago to be the team's new offensive coordinator. Then they turn around and promote him to head coach. Zorn has never even been an OC of an NFL team and the Skins make him the HC. It's a departure from the big name HC hires the Redskins are known for since little man Danny Snyder bought the team-Gibbs 2.0, Spurrier and Schottenheimer. Whether it's a big name or a no name, the Redskins organization is screwed up. Washington Post sports columnist Sally Jenkins said it best in her Feb 7 column:

It's a bitter shame to say this, given how much it surely pains local fans, but the truth is that Redskins Park is no place for someone with a bright future. It's too dark and dysfunctional. The phrase "coach killer" comes to mind. No good one, except possibly Joe Gibbs, has had a decent experience under Snyder, not Norv Turner, Marty Schottenheimer, Steve Spurrier, Al Saunders or Gregg Williams. Which is why the only people who seem to be realistically entertaining the job now are either those desperate to get back in the game, such as Jim Fassel and Steve Mariucci, or climbers looking for their first head coaching office.

There is a consistent, central weakness in the Redskins' organization that no coach can fix. It's Snyder's tycoon mentality, his assumption that he can purchase people and make them do what he wants, and if they displease him, discard them. His paycheck players and presto coaching solutions fail every time. The franchise is based on a series of extravagant bribes, not a dime of which has ever been spent on the qualities that made the Giants into Super Bowl champions, namely good faith, loyalty, patience, unity and, above all, belief in the leadership at the top.

Something else in the NFL world saddens me as well. After 31 years, HBO is "sacking" Inside the NFL. I love that show. I didn't like any of the hosts-Bob Costas and former NFL players Dan Marino, Cris Carter and Cris Collinsworth-but it was a "deep" football highlights show, if there is such a thing. Inside The NFL was unique. I'm a traditionalist, so when I see a institution like Inside the NFL taken off the air by a dominant TV station due to competition, well all is not right in the world.