Redskins Add Offensive Assistant

[Slingin Sammy 33]

Originally Posted by jsarno

I don't think you were referring to me directly since I was not that harsh about the signing, but just in case you were:
Like I have explained in another thread, had this been a signing for a Gibbs run team, I'd have no beef taking the chance. However, Zorn has no experience, and he is hiring people with no experience.
You say His team ranked top 15 in the country, well, that is not true...his team was a D3 team, so it ranked below the 120 or so D1 schools, and however many D2 schools there are. So he really ranked closer to 200 or so in the country.
I am not debating he did a good job with his team. There have been many high school teams that have had good coaches too, does that mean we hire them too? Again, my problem isn't with him as much as it is with Zorn. We need to hire people with experience to surround Zorn to help compliment where Zorn lacks. Zorn would have been a good choice for OC, but not HC. That's where my comments stem from.

ps- you need to ask yourself if this guy was so good, why was he at St. Olaf?

I wasn't referring to you directly, but I did read your post.

Meidt's team is ranked in the top 15 in the country against the teams he competes against. You cannot compare D1, D2 & D3 schools. D3 doesn't give out scholarships. Would he be a bad coach because his team lost to LSU or Ohio State?

Meidt has identified talent, coached & taught that talent and called the games on a consistently high level. He is recruiting & teaching kids that are not recruited by the D1 & D2 colleges and St. Olaf is not in a football hotbed or they would have won regularly before he got there. Based on his level of All-Americans & All-MAIC players I would say he has a great eye for talent or he is one hell of a coach. Either way I am glad he is on staff. What he has done is more impressive that what many D1 coaches have done. I would rather have Meidt than a D1 coach from a large school that stays at or near .500 all the time. That D1 coach at .500 is not a better coach just because he is at D1.

Same for the NFL, I'm sure many of the coaches son's who have gone on to better positions started in assistant positions similar to Meidt. Are they more qualified than him?

This would explain why Meidt is at St. Olaf's.

St. Olaf Football Coach Chris Meidt Hired By Washington Redskins | Minnesota Sports

After reading this I feel even more comfortable with the hire.

[jsarno]

Originally Posted by Slingin Sammy 33

I wasn't referring to you directly, but I did read your post.

Meidt's team is ranked in the top 15 in the country against the teams he competes against. You cannot compare D1, D2 & D3 schools. D3 doesn't give out scholarships. Would he be a bad coach because his team lost to LSU or Ohio State?

Meidt has identified talent, coached & taught that talent and called the games on a consistently high level. He is recruiting & teaching kids that are not recruited by the D1 & D2 colleges and St. Olaf is not in a football hotbed or they would have won regularly before he got there. Based on his level of All-Americans & All-MAIC players I would say he has a great eye for talent or he is one hell of a coach. Either way I am glad he is on staff. What he has done is more impressive that what many D1 coaches have done. I would rather have Meidt than a D1 coach from a large school that stays at or near .500 all the time. That D1 coach at .500 is not a better coach just because he is at D1.

Same for the NFL, I'm sure many of the coaches son's who have gone on to better positions started in assistant positions similar to Meidt. Are they more qualified than him?

This would explain why Meidt is at St. Olaf's.

St. Olaf Football Coach Chris Meidt Hired By Washington Redskins | Minnesota Sports

After reading this I feel even more comfortable with the hire.

Good post and good link.

My only concern with the logic is this...even if he did great at the D3 level, it's still too many levels under what he did. For instance, if a High School coach takes his team to state every year, does that mean he deserves a job at the NFL level? After all, he scouted his team and coached his team to the best of it's ability, and obviously has a great eye for talent. I say no, call it the big Spurrier blunder burnt on my mind. SPurrier was an AMAZING college coach, and it didn't even remotely translate to the NFL. That was only 1 step he had to take too. D3 is just about 1 step above High School football. So while he did do a great job with what he had, how do we know it will translate to the NFL?
Please keep in mind I am not against this hiring, my concern lies with Zorn being HC with no experience then hiring people to surround him with no experience to compliment him. I'm all for giving both of them a shot, but Zorn at HC has me scratching my head.

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by jsarno

Good post and good link.

My only concern with the logic is this...even if he did great at the D3 level, it's still too many levels under what he did. For instance, if a High School coach takes his team to state every year, does that mean he deserves a job at the NFL level? After all, he scouted his team and coached his team to the best of it's ability, and obviously has a great eye for talent. I say no, call it the big Spurrier blunder burnt on my mind. SPurrier was an AMAZING college coach, and it didn't even remotely translate to the NFL. That was only 1 step he had to take too. D3 is just about 1 step above High School football. So while he did do a great job with what he had, how do we know it will translate to the NFL?
Please keep in mind I am not against this hiring, my concern lies with Zorn being HC with no experience then hiring people to surround him with no experience to compliment him. I'm all for giving both of them a shot, but Zorn at HC has me scratching my head.

But the issue here isn't about why he deserves a shot, it's about why (if for any reason) he doesn't.

It's an odd transition to go from D-III HC to NFL offensive assistant, but roughly lateral. If anything, successful HCs at small college schools will make their way up the college ranks, and then jump to the pros at a position like offensive coordinator.

Just because it's the road less traveled doesn't mean he's going to slip on the ice and crack his neck. (Sorry about the metaphor, it's been a really messy week up here.) The reason that this is the road less traveled is because people who hold a head coaching position usually don't have the ego to swallow their pride and jump to the NFL where you are outranked by every other coach in the organization. The fact that this guy did that really speaks volumes about his character.

[jsarno]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

But the issue here isn't about why he deserves a shot, it's about why (if for any reason) he doesn't.

It's an odd transition to go from D-III HC to NFL offensive assistant, but roughly lateral. If anything, successful HCs at small college schools will make their way up the college ranks, and then jump to the pros at a position like offensive coordinator.

Just because it's the road less traveled doesn't mean he's going to slip on the ice and crack his neck. (Sorry about the metaphor, it's been a really messy week up here.) The reason that this is the road less traveled is because people who hold a head coaching position usually don't have the ego to swallow their pride and jump to the NFL where you are outranked by every other coach in the organization. The fact that this guy did that really speaks volumes about his character.

But I thought Zorn and Meidt are friends making this an easy move?
I disagree that the move from D3 to offensive assistant is lateral. The move from QB coach in a D1 team to the NFL is lateral. So why are the Skins brass so eager to skip steps with these new coaches? How come no one is really questioning the fact that they are taking the road much, much, MUCH less travelled?
(again, not saying Meidt is a bad choice, it's just an assistant spot, but the point still remains.)

[Slingin Sammy 33]

Originally Posted by jsarno

For instance, if a High School coach takes his team to state every year, does that mean he deserves a job at the NFL level? After all, he scouted his team and coached his team to the best of it's ability, and obviously has a great eye for talent. I say no, call it the big Spurrier blunder burnt on my mind. SPurrier was an AMAZING college coach, and it didn't even remotely translate to the NFL. That was only 1 step he had to take too. D3 is just about 1 step above High School football. So while he did do a great job with what he had, how do we know it will translate to the NFL?
Please keep in mind I am not against this hiring, my concern lies with Zorn being HC with no experience then hiring people to surround him with no experience to compliment him. I'm all for giving both of them a shot, but Zorn at HC has me scratching my head.

Thanks. I see where you are coming from and I know you are usually pretty optimistic. Just a couple of thoughts; Spurrier had a great system and really had no trouble recruiting, but he just didn't have the work ethic for the NFL and was spoiled by usually having far superior talent to the teams he played against. When he made the transition to the NFL, he couldn't adjust his system to the talent level of NFL defensive players and he got out. I'll never forget the comment he made, I think in reference to Jim Haslett, about "working smarter". That definitely bit him in the @ss.

I expect Meidt will bring good football knowledge to staff and at the level he is coming in at is probably over-qualified. He definitely won't hurt us, if he stinks he'll be let go.

While I think Zorn will work out, I would really love to know what went on behind closed doors in the interview process. Why didn't things work out with GW? Why not Meeks? What did they really think of Spags? Why didn't they pull the trigger on Fassel? (Why didn't they talk to Ron Rivera....my pet gripe) LOL. We'll never know, just speculate and bottom-line hope Zorn brings us the Lombardi trophy.

[jsarno]

Originally Posted by Slingin Sammy 33

Thanks. I see where you are coming from and I know you are usually pretty optimistic. Just a couple of thoughts; Spurrier had a great system and really had no trouble recruiting, but he just didn't have the work ethic for the NFL and was spoiled by usually having far superior talent to the teams he played against. When he made the transition to the NFL, he couldn't adjust his system to the talent level of NFL defensive players and he got out. I'll never forget the comment he made, I think in reference to Jim Haslett, about "working smarter". That definitely bit him in the @ss.

I expect Meidt will bring good football knowledge to staff and at the level he is coming in at is probably over-qualified. He definitely won't hurt us, if he stinks he'll be let go.

While I think Zorn will work out, I would really love to know what went on behind closed doors in the interview process. Why didn't things work out with GW? Why not Meeks? What did they really think of Spags? Why didn't they pull the trigger on Fassel? (Why didn't they talk to Ron Rivera....my pet gripe) LOL. We'll never know, just speculate and bottom-line hope Zorn brings us the Lombardi trophy.

Good questions!
How come Mooch wasn't hired? I really thought he was going to get it cause he seemed the most qualified, especially with the west coast system.
By the way, who did we interview that was a minority?

[SmootSmack]

Originally Posted by jsarno

Good questions!
How come Mooch wasn't hired? I really thought he was going to get it cause he seemed the most qualified, especially with the west coast system.
By the way, who did we interview that was a minority?

Ron Meeks

[jsarno]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

Ron Meeks

The DC of the Colts is a minority? Damn...guess I'm not paying enough attention.