Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

I think King sums up my feelings pretty accurately, even though I know some (most?) here don't agree. I think the Fassell hire would have been redemptive in my eyes, would have proven Snyder could forgo the flashy hire, and could ignore public opinion. The way the thing happened was strange, they kept Williams hanging before making the big push to get Fassell, Zorn, and Ryan. When that trio pick-up went south and people got angry about Fassell they backed off, interviewed Spagnuolo, then gave Zorn the head job. All the while they dangled the head job in front of Fassell before turning around and telling him he was out. No matter how it turns out, Snyderatto just does not operate on the up-and-up. Maybe that is just how it is reported, maybe they get a bad rap from guys like La Confora, but its seems like a real pattern to me. I just don't like it but of course there isn't much for me to do.

As King says, Zorn is a good guy and a good coach, but he should be spending all his time with Jason and the offense, not worrying about the delegation, media, etc. that goes with being the head man.

[url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/peter_king/02/10/tyree/3.html]SI.com - Writers - MMQB (cont.) - Monday February 11, 2008 9:26AM[/url]
1. I think once [B]Dan Snyder[/B] saw the virulent anti-Fassel sentiment all over his fandom, he went looking for anyone to hire as the next Redskins coach but [B]Jim Fassel[/B]. A shame. I like [B]Jim Zorn[/B]. I think he's bright, I think he was overqualified to be a quarterbacks coach, and I think he will be a thoughtful coach his players will grow to like in Washington. This is not a criticism of Jim Zorn, the coach. It's more of a criticism of the decision, the process and the reaction to the candidacy of Fassel.
Fassel was fired from the Giants after seven years, with a head-coaching record of 60-56-1. That includes a 41-0 whitewashing of the Vikings in the 2000 NFC Championship Game, and a 34-7 loss to Baltimore in Super Bowl XXXV. He's never gotten another chance to be a head coach. He worked for friend [B]Brian Billick[/B] as the Ravens' offensive coordinator before being fired with the Ravens 4-2 in 2006.
In my opinion, if [B]Norv Turner[/B] got three chances as a head coach, and [B]Lindy Infante[/B], [B]Bruce Coslet[/B] and [B]Dave Wannstedt[/B] two, Fassel -- the only one of the five to have taken his team to a Super Bowl -- certainly deserved a second shot. The Redskins had a chance to have a winning NFC East coach (Fassel is 6-5 against [B]Andy Reid[/B], 8-6 against Dallas, 7-6-1 against Washington) paired with a bright and up-and-coming quarterback guru in Zorn.
Now they'll have Zorn, who has never called the plays, never coordinated an offense and never been a head coach, running the show in a media-hungry market with an owner far more involved than any Zorn's ever worked with. And they'll have a quarterback, [B]Jason Campbell[/B], who should have had Zorn working with him for hours a day; but a head coach can't spend hours a day with a young quarterback.
A better team would have been Fassel, experienced in the daily calamities of life in the NFC East and Zorn. That would have been better than a rookie coach and whomever Zorn installs as his quarterback and offensive mentors.

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

I certainly would not have hated the hiring of Fassel, and I do wonder how much of an impact the fan's insanely negative reaction towards him had to do with this decision to pass him over.

But at the same time I liked the decision to gamble on Zorn. Sounds like a lot of the candidates that were interviewed were very high on him, Fassel included, and I guess they finally realized that they had a solid HC candidate right under their noses. Time will tell if this is too much too soon for Zorn, but on the plus side he's got an experienced staff around him that should help ease him into things.

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

Peter King hit the nail on the head in my opinion

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

I am basically convinced that most media and a lot of fans will never ever look at something Snyder does and think it was done right when it comes to footbal. I am just so tired of all the complaining and bashing. I don't even care what PK says because I just wont read it. I am just done with the negativism. I am not defending DS but in the end he is obviously damned is does and damned if he doesn't on just about everything.

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

Ok I lied and did read it and my reaction is

"...and maybe not"

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

[quote=FRPLG;420603]I am basically convinced that most media and a lot of fans will never ever look at something Snyder does and think it was done right when it comes to footbal. I am just so tired of all the complaining and bashing. I don't even care what PK says because I just wont read it. I am just done with the negativism. I am not defending DS but in the end he is obviously damned is does and damned if he doesn't on just about everything.[/quote]

Very true.

But if Zorn works out and we win consistently, the media won't have much of a leg to stand on... until he has to make another coaching decision that is.

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

I appreciate the fact that D.S. took his time with this hire and didn't rush into it. Obviously he wasn't comfortable with any of the other more qualified candidates or he would have hired them right away and not waited to talk to Spagnoulo. I liked Zorn's press conference, it reeked with knowledge and confidence. I'm looking forward to a fresh start.

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

I like the Zorn hire. Zorn has the fire in his eyes
With all due respect to the threads author, NOBODY outside of Snyder's inner circle REALLY knows the chain of events were, or what motivated them. All the rest is pure speculation as is evidenced from all the relible info and conjecture for the past month. TO my knowldge , none of the established pundits called for Zorn to be the HC.
DS doesn't generally get a fair shake in his Skins decisions, and that may well be the case here.
I for one applaud his efforts, and REFUSAL to bow to media and fan pressure to make a possibly premature decision, to be regretted later.
HTTR

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

[QUOTE=Mattyk72;420606]Very true.

But if Zorn works out and we win consistently, the media won't have much of a leg to stand on... until he has to make another coaching decision that is.[/QUOTE]

BS. I don't think he is ever going to get a fair shake. We'll really need to start running off SBs like NE to quiet them down. Every single thing PK said I can understand what he is saying and I don't necessarily disagree but it all strikes me as so damn speculative. And all the specualtion about the Skins under DS is simply negative.

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

FRPLG, PK didn't really say anything negative about Danny. I guess it was more towards the fans for bashing Fassel. No one can argue Danny is unique in listening to the fans, if anything he probably listens to fans the least out of most owners.

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

[QUOTE]A better team would have been Fassel, experienced in the daily calamities of life in the NFC East and Zorn. That would have been better than a rookie coach and whomever Zorn installs as his quarterback and offensive mentors.[/QUOTE]
That is basically saying he hired the wrong guy and I'd say that WTF does he know. He MAY be right but MAYBE Zorn ends up being the greatest coach in the history of the league. SOmehow I think it'll be somewhere in the middle. Agian I didn't say I disagreed I am simply tired of knee-jerk reactions to the FO moves of this team. No one ever talks about the things they do that worked. And they have done plenty.

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

Peter King is a queen...he hates the Redskins and kicks us at every chance he gets. Lemme ask Peter one question: If fossil is so good, why isn't he writing about how Atlanta passed him by? Why didn't Parcells hire him? Maybe it's because snyder saw what everyone else did: Fossil ain't that impressive.

Here's a funny video on peter king the queen: [url=http://www.OntheRAC.com]On the RAC: Redskins Appreciation Club, the Humurous Redskins' Fan Site.[/url]

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

[QUOTE=Hog1;420609]I like the Zorn hire. Zorn has the fire in his eyes
With all due respect to the threads author, [B]NOBODY outside of Snyder's inner circle REALLY knows the chain of events were,[/B] or what motivated them. All the rest is pure speculation as is evidenced from all the relible info and conjecture for the past month. TO my knowldge , none of the established pundits called for Zorn to be the HC.
DS doesn't generally get a fair shake in his Skins decisions, and that may well be the case here.
I for one applaud his efforts, and REFUSAL to bow to media and fan pressure to make a possibly premature decision, to be regretted later.
HTTR[/QUOTE]

That is mostly true but VC was on the radio for 15 minutes talking about the process and a lot of the speculation was pretty right on. JZ was not on the list of HC candidates until after the Spags interview. It sounds as if they were very impressed with him and after the other interviews were done, they decided to re-interview him for the HC position. To hear Vinny and Dan tell the story, after whatever happened with Spags (either they didn't offer the job, or he didn't take it, no one but those guys knows), they called up JZ and asked him if he'd like to interview for the job.

It was actually a very interesting discussion with Vinny and it was refreshing to hear from the FO about the process. However, make no mistake about it, JZ wasn't a HC candidate until after he joined to team as the OC and after the Spags interview.

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

If Zorn were to turn around the Offense in any kind of significant way he would be outta here in a year or two as a head coach somewhere else and we would have Fassel. I don't mind taking a chance on Zorn at all although I didn't really have a problem with Fassel either. For some reason when I heard Matt Hasselbeck say a few weeks ago that we should have hired Zorn as the head coach I just had a feeling that he might be on to something.

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

[quote=FRPLG;420603]I am basically convinced that most media and a lot of fans will never ever look at something Snyder does and think it was done right when it comes to footbal. I am just so tired of all the complaining and bashing. I don't even care what PK says because I just wont read it. I am just done with the negativism. I am not defending DS but in the end he is obviously damned is does and damned if he doesn't on just about everything.[/quote]

What if he had hired GW as head coach? Or hired a GM to handle business more effectively and fired Vinny C? I cant stand negativism either, but he brings it on himself.

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

Actually, I am excited that apparently Jim Fassel was the man barring a large unforseen interruption in the process. Apparently VC and DS were so overwelmed with JZ, they stopped the search, and gave him the job. To me that means he has the "IT"....and we did not settle for what has been termed a "retread".
HTTR

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

[QUOTE=mlmpetert;420619]What if he had hired GW as head coach? Or hired a GM to handle business more effectively and fired Vinny C? I cant stand negativism either, but he brings it on himself.[/QUOTE]

Again I didn't disagree but can you actually envision what he could have done that would have made just about everyone say "Gee that is the smart move to make?".

Hirign GW maybe but eventually we all have to ask ourselves why was this guy who is so obsessed with winning(even though he has sucked at it) so turned off by a guy who appears a shoe in for the job. Maybe, just maybe GW wasn't really the right guy for the job. Maybe it was obvious to those who actually know what is going on that it was a disaster waiting to happen.

I am just saying that nowadays most of the criticism towards DS is just criticism for the sake of criticism and usually has little to do with reality and mostly to do with bias and specualtion.

Wheteher he brought it on himself is irrelevant anyways.

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

I love the Zorn hire. We have an ambitious coach that could be around for years upon years. While I also wouldn't have hated the Fassel hiring, I was certainly most excited about the offensive changes and Zorn. But looking around the league right now, how many very good teams have 'retreads' for coaches as many say. Even Dungy was fired from Tampa.

This is what we need. We have a coach with fire who is somewhat young. Snyder took his time, but I think he made the right choice. He can't hire anyone without criticism. If it were Cowher he's making a splash, if it's Fassel people complain that coordinators were picked first (IMO a decent gripe, but understandable seeing how long it took us to hire a HC.) Etc.

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

I agree that regardless of the decision he made, Snyder was going to face some criticism. That's the name of the game with him, he's every easy to take shots at, some deserved, some not.

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

If the redskins hired fassel, PK article would be about how the redskins hired the wrong guy and that Zorn is going to be the next superstar coach.

PK points out that Fassel was fired as OC while his team was 4-2. He forgets to mention that the ravens were last in the league in offense that year and the two previous years.
This man couldn't coach an offense to mediocre success and he is supposed to lead this team?

Give me a break, I would rather take a shot at someone with potential than give someone who has proven to be mediocre another shot.

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

I guess the crux of the matter for me is the degree to which public reaction to Fassel swayed the decision whether to hire Fassel or not. What King and La Confora are saying is that it probably had some and maybe quite a bit. If that is the case I think that is troubling. If that did not have any impact then fine, they got their guy. With the sequence of events it is difficult to think that it didn't have some impact. I certainly hope Zorn works out and probably won't ever really know much about what actually happened. That's the last thing I'll say about the coaching thing ... on to the draft.

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

I think the initial fan reaction did make them back off Fassel and prompted them to go back to the drawing board. But maybe it was a good thing in hindsight. It gave them more time to evaluate things, and in the end they realized they had a qualified candidate already on the staff in Zorn.

I don't care how they arrived at the decision, and in the end it will be wins and losses that either vindicates this decision or proves it to be wrong. Time will tell.

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

Is it possible that DS and VC just didn't like Fassel enough to give him the job?
The media is always jumping the gun trying to release the latest information. No one ever officially said that Fassel was going to get the job.
It's just as likely that DS and VC just came to the conclusion that he isn't the man to lead this team.

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

Hasn't everyone (Media, Fans, Etc.) been saying for years that DS should hire a coach who is young, and has come up thru the nfl ranks, and does not necessarily have a big name. This is not a big splash name, but a calculated smart decision, and we still bash…..The guy will never get a break, and I don’t think he really cares.

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

My impression is that the Zorn hire was more about VC not liking Fassel, or at least that was JLC's thought.

I think this is on Vinny. My guess is that GW and Fassel didn't want to bow to the guy, and Zorn, as a youngster, was just fine with it. I think DS was into Fassel, and they are apparently friends. This is make or break for Vinny: either it works, and we are happy, or he's gone, and we are happy. Look on the bright side!

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

[quote=jamf;420632]Is it possible that DS and VC just didn't like Fassel enough to give him the job?
The media is always jumping the gun trying to release the latest information. No one ever officially said that Fassel was going to get the job.
It's just as likely that DS and VC just came to the conclusion that he isn't the man to lead this team.[/quote]

I guess we'll really never know. Snyder and Vinny are the only ones that really know what the rationale was behind this decision making process.

People are going to believe what they want to believe. There are always two sides to a story though.

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

[QUOTE=FRPLG;420625][B]Again I didn't disagree but can you actually envision what he could have done that would have made just about everyone say "Gee that is the smart move to make?[/B]".

Hirign GW maybe but eventually we all have to ask ourselves why was this guy who is so obsessed with winning(even though he has sucked at it) so turned off by a guy who appears a shoe in for the job. Maybe, just maybe GW wasn't really the right guy for the job. Maybe it was obvious to those who actually know what is going on that it was a disaster waiting to happen.

I am just saying that nowadays most of the criticism towards DS is just criticism for the sake of criticism and usually has little to do with reality and mostly to do with bias and specualtion.

Wheteher he brought it on himself is irrelevant anyways.[/QUOTE]

Well, nearly 81% of the people on this site approve of the hiring which should be reflected on the decision making of DS and VC so that has to make you feel good ;)

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

I love the Zorn hiring, and if he doesn't pan out this season, Snyder will just fire him and wait for a new crop of better coaches next year. I personally think this hire will work out well, and Zorn wil become a legend here in DC!

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

[QUOTE=LandrySlice;420648]I love the Zorn hiring, and if he doesn't pan out this season, Snyder will just fire him and wait for a new crop of better coaches next year. I personally think this hire will work out well, and Zorn wil become a legend here in DC![/QUOTE]

What did Greg Novis have to say about it? ;)

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

There are plenty of markets around the US for an NFL franchise. Disrespecting your fan base is one sure way to wind up like our two Baseball teams that wound up becoming the Minnesota Twins, and the Texas Rangers respectively. The City was 33 yrs. waiting for the return of Baseball and that was only after a tug of war.

One would not think ordinarily that public opinion would in any way sway an owner's decision as to who to hire for a particular position, but in this case I feel it did. While Zorn's hire may not be popular with some, there are others who feel it was both good and right.

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

Fassel was fired in BAL in 2006 when they were 4-2? Either way, Fassel and Zorn (and Blache) would've been a great combo.

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

[QUOTE=DieHardSkin;420634]Hasn't everyone (Media, Fans, Etc.) been saying for years that [B]DS should hire a coach who is young[/B], and has come up thru the nfl ranks, and does not necessarily have a big name. This is not a big splash name, but a calculated smart decision, and we still bash…..The guy will never get a break, and I don’t think he really cares.[/QUOTE]

I thought I'd point out, since everyone seems to be saying this, that Zorn is 54, 55 in May. I'm not saying he's old, but that's not a "young head coach."

Young would be Mangini at 35, or even Gruden at 44. Zorn falls pretty much right in the middle as far as age goes.

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

[QUOTE=sbaughone;420615]Peter King is a queen...he hates the Redskins and kicks us at every chance he gets. Lemme ask Peter one question: If fossil is so good, why isn't he writing about how Atlanta passed him by? Why didn't Parcells hire him? Maybe it's because snyder saw what everyone else did: Fossil ain't that impressive.

Here's a funny video on peter king the queen: [url=http://www.OntheRAC.com]On the RAC: Redskins Appreciation Club, the Humurous Redskins' Fan Site.[/url][/QUOTE]

With regard to his general position on the Redskins, I don't know that I'd say that PK is a Len Pasquarelli, but I guess he is indeed within the ranks of Redskin-hating football writers. The funny thing is that whenever I think of PK in the context of the 'Skins, the first thing that always comes to mind is his prediction that Wuerfful was going to have a career year as the QB in Spurrier's offense.

[url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/peter_king/news/2002/08/26/mmqb/]CNNSI.com - SI Online - Peter King - Monday Morning QB - Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback: Feeling Minnesota - Monday September 02, 2002 09:42 AM[/url]

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

The only reason I wasn't excited about having Fassel is because he looks funny. He was certainly most qualified. But Gibbs said it best. Snyder needs to be comfortable with his coach.

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

[quote=DieHardSkin;420634]Hasn't everyone (Media, Fans, Etc.) been saying for years that DS should hire a coach who is young, and has come up thru the nfl ranks, and does not necessarily have a big name. This is not a big splash name, but a calculated smart decision, and we still bash…..The guy will never get a break, and I don’t think he really cares.[/quote]

Zorn isn't very young is he?

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

I think this decision was largely driven by Cerrato. I don't think the backlash by the fans did Fassel in. If Snyder wanted to please the fans, he would have made GW the coach.

There's a scene in Oliver Stone's "Nixon" where James Woods, playing Bob Haldeman, says to John Erlichman, played by J.D. Walsh, "You know we're next, don't you?" Nixon had just fired his close friend John Mitchell. Well, Vinny is next. If this season goes in the crapper, Vinny has to get wacked. So the wheel of progress moves forward, however slowly.

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

The skins are easy to "bash." We've been mediocre, we spend LOTS of money-more money than the 30 others teams, and DS brings alot of heat by his antics. We are going to have to start winning to keep the dogs away.

We hire a guy that 28 days into the interview process is not even a candidate for HC, so look at it from a objective viewpoint, it is kind of odd. I'm pulling for Zorn for do great things, i'm also concerned that he might not be around for too long if DS gets himself a BIG name coach.

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

[quote=70Chip;420669]I think this decision was largely driven by Cerrato. I don't think the backlash by the fans did Fassel in. If Snyder wanted to please the fans, he would have made GW the coach.

There's a scene in Oliver Stone's "Nixon" where James Woods, playing Bob Haldeman, says to John Erlichman, played by J.D. Walsh, "You know we're next, don't you?" Nixon had just fired his close friend John Mitchell. Well, Vinny is next. If this season goes in the crapper, Vinny has to get wacked. So the wheel of progress moves forward, however slowly.[/quote]

I think you make a good point about the fans and GW. If he wanted to acquiesce maybe he would have just hired Gregg. I also think you're probably right about the Zorn hire being a highly influenced by Vinny. As to the last part of the post, we will see, but I just can't see it happening (Vinny getting whacked that is). Hopefully it doesn't come to that since it will mean bad results on the field.

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

[QUOTE=BringBackJoeT;420661]With regard to his general position on the Redskins, I don't know that I'd say that PK is a Len Pasquarelli, but I guess he is indeed within the ranks of Redskin-hating football writers. The funny thing is that whenever I think of PK in the context of the 'Skins, the first thing that always comes to mind is his prediction that Wuerfful was going to have a career year as the QB in Spurrier's offense.

[url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/peter_king/news/2002/08/26/mmqb/]CNNSI.com - SI Online - Peter King - Monday Morning QB - Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback: Feeling Minnesota - Monday September 02, 2002 09:42 AM[/url][/QUOTE]

It [U]was[/U] a career year for DW. That was the highest passer rating and yards passing in a single season he had his entire career :)

Re: Peter King on Zorn Hire
 

[QUOTE=70Chip;420669]I think this decision was largely driven by Cerrato. I don't think the backlash by the fans did Fassel in. If Snyder wanted to please the fans, he would have made GW the coach.

There's a scene in Oliver Stone's "Nixon" where James Woods, playing Bob Haldeman, says to John Erlichman, played by J.D. Walsh, "You know we're next, don't you?" Nixon had just fired his close friend John Mitchell. Well, Vinny is next. If this season goes in the crapper, Vinny has to get wacked. So the wheel of progress moves forward, however slowly.[/QUOTE]

You are pretty much dead on.

Maybe a year or two off on VC though.