Peter King on Zorn Hire

[SC Skins Fan]

Found it. If you search "top 10 Jim Zorn" on NFL.com video search it will come up. It has a clip of the commercial at the beginning.

NFL Video Galleries

[Daseal]

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.

[SC Skins Fan]

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.

[MTK]

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.

[jamf]

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.

[GMScud]

Originally Posted by jamf

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.

Fassel also wasn't shopping for the groceries in Baltimore. It's not his fault he was given Kyle Boller, Anthony Wright, and a no receivers to work with. He also took a Kerry Collins-led team to the Super Bowl in NY.

I don't dislike Zorn, but I think Fassel would have been the better hire. Remember, regardless of who we hired yesterday we had Zorn in the bag as OC. And OC in itself was a promotion for him. He could have devoted all his efforts to the offense and developing Campbell. Now both Zorn and the Redskins are in unchartered waters big time. I hope for the best and expect the worst.

I ask you, would we be better off with Fassel as HC and Zorn honing the offense and JC's skills, or with no Fassel and a guy who was a position coach 3 weeks ago running the whole show?

[SmootSmack]

Originally Posted by GMScud

Fassel also wasn't shopping for the groceries in Baltimore. It's not his fault he was given Kyle Boller, Anthony Wright, and a no receivers to work with. He also took a Kerry Collins-led team to the Super Bowl in NY.

I don't dislike Zorn, but I think Fassel would have been the better hire. Remember, regardless of who we hired yesterday we had Zorn in the bag as OC. And OC in itself was a promotion for him. He could have devoted all his efforts to the offense and developing Campbell. Now both Zorn and the Redskins are in unchartered waters big time. I hope for the best and expect the worst.

I ask you, would we be better off with Fassel as HC and Zorn honing the offense and JC's skills, or with no Fassel and a guy who was a position coach 3 weeks ago running the whole show?

I tend to agree...and congrats on 2,000

(though I don't expect the worst)

[OverseasSkinsfan]

Originally Posted by GMScud

Fassel also wasn't shopping for the groceries in Baltimore. It's not his fault he was given Kyle Boller, Anthony Wright, and a no receivers to work with. He also took a Kerry Collins-led team to the Super Bowl in NY.

I don't dislike Zorn, but I think Fassel would have been the better hire. Remember, regardless of who we hired yesterday we had Zorn in the bag as OC. And OC in itself was a promotion for him. He could have devoted all his efforts to the offense and developing Campbell. Now both Zorn and the Redskins are in unchartered waters big time. I hope for the best and expect the worst.

I ask you, would we be better off with Fassel as HC and Zorn honing the offense and JC's skills, or with no Fassel and a guy who was a position coach 3 weeks ago running the whole show?

The answer is we're better off with Zorn as HC. Fassel is proving all over the media today that he's no leader, just an ego. More to the point, it's obvious the FO wanted Zorn as OC to employ a WCO scheme. Fassel is from the Walsh tree, but not a big WCO guy. We didn't need Fassel for the D and he didn't possess the WCO skills needed to integrate the offense, so it's best to go with a guy many around the league viewed as a rising star and not shoulder him with a HC who'd muddy the process. Fassel would have been an excess ego, not a benefit to the team. He wasn't value added in the end, so why pay him when he wasn't going to bring anything to the table?

[GMScud]

Originally Posted by OverseasSkinsfan

The answer is we're better off with Zorn as HC. Fassel is proving all over the media today that he's no leader, just an ego. More to the point, it's obvious the FO wanted Zorn as OC to employ a WCO scheme. Fassel is from the Walsh tree, but not a big WCO guy. We didn't need Fassel for the D and he didn't possess the WCO skills needed to integrate the offense, so it's best to go with a guy many around the league viewed as a rising star and not shoulder him with a HC who'd muddy the process. Fassel would have been an excess ego, not a benefit to the team. He wasn't value added in the end, so why pay him when he wasn't going to bring anything to the table?

Head coaching experience? A vast knowledge of the NFC East? Two-time coach of the year? An NFC Championship? I wouldn't exactly say he wasn't bringing anything to the table. Fassel apparently approved of the Zorn hire as OC and thought very highly of him. I don't know precisely how they would have integrated offensive philosophies, but I don't think it would have been a big issue.

[OverseasSkinsfan]

Originally Posted by GMScud

Head coaching experience? A vast knowledge of the NFC East? Two-time coach of the year? An NFC Championship? I wouldn't exactly say he wasn't bringing anything to the table. Fassel apparently approved of the Zorn hire as OC and thought very highly of him. I don't know precisely how they would have integrated offensive philosophies, but I don't think it would have been a big issue.

I'm not saying Fassel and Zorn wouldn't have gotten along personally, just saying I don't think what he was going to add was worth the $s and more potentially would have hindered the WCO integration. All head coaches got to start sometime.
Ironic that many are saying you have to have been a HC before to lead the football team in Washington, but the next President of the US will never have been a "Head Coach" of anything either before they take over in Washington. Don't want to get overly political here, just happened to see a story on TV before I started typing. Thought it was an interesting perspective though.

[talk show host]

Originally Posted by OverseasSkinsfan

The answer is we're better off with Zorn as HC. Fassel is proving all over the media today that he's no leader, just an ego. More to the point, it's obvious the FO wanted Zorn as OC to employ a WCO scheme. Fassel is from the Walsh tree, but not a big WCO guy. We didn't need Fassel for the D and he didn't possess the WCO skills needed to integrate the offense, so it's best to go with a guy many around the league viewed as a rising star and not shoulder him with a HC who'd muddy the process. Fassel would have been an excess ego, not a benefit to the team. He wasn't value added in the end, so why pay him when he wasn't going to bring anything to the table?

Interesting take and I agree with you about everything but Fassels ego. He has been very PC in all his comments, even saying that he would still like to work for THE SNYDER. I think right now he is more interested in keeping his name "out there" should other vacancies (of any kind) pop up.

I wonder if Fassel would be willing to be an "Assistant Head Coach - Quarterbacks" under Zorn or whether that would just be too weird. No one can dispute that Fassel has an excellent record of working with QBs. Zorn really won't have much time to work with Campbell, so we currently need one of two things:

1) A veteran WCO Starting QB (Hell, Mark Brunell)
2) A PROVEN QB coach who can develop Campbell.

Personally, I hope to never see Brunell on the field in anything other than a pre-season game ever again.

[OverseasSkinsfan]

Originally Posted by talk show host

Interesting take and I agree with you about everything but Fassels ego. He has been very PC in all his comments, even saying that he would still like to work for THE SNYDER. I think right now he is more interested in keeping his name "out there" should other vacancies (of any kind) pop up.

I wonder if Fassel would be willing to be an "Assistant Head Coach - Quarterbacks" under Zorn or whether that would just be too weird. No one can dispute that Fassel has an excellent record of working with QBs. Zorn really won't have much time to work with Campbell, so we currently need one of two things:

1) A veteran WCO Starting QB (Hell, Mark Brunell)
2) A PROVEN QB coach who can develop Campbell.

Personally, I hope to never see Brunell on the field in anything other than a pre-season game ever again.

For a look at Fassel's non PC interview about the Skins decision to hire Jim Zorn, hit ProFootballTalk.com -- The Best Pro Football Scoop on the Internet. I thought he was poised at first too. but he's moved on to a more bitter position now.

[redsk1]

Originally Posted by GMScud

Fassel also wasn't shopping for the groceries in Baltimore. It's not his fault he was given Kyle Boller, Anthony Wright, and a no receivers to work with. He also took a Kerry Collins-led team to the Super Bowl in NY.

I don't dislike Zorn, but I think Fassel would have been the better hire. Remember, regardless of who we hired yesterday we had Zorn in the bag as OC. And OC in itself was a promotion for him. He could have devoted all his efforts to the offense and developing Campbell. Now both Zorn and the Redskins are in unchartered waters big time. I hope for the best and expect the worst.

I ask you, would we be better off with Fassel as HC and Zorn honing the offense and JC's skills, or with no Fassel and a guy who was a position coach 3 weeks ago running the whole show?

I agree. I was one of the ones who REALLY didn't want JF. Mainly because i was that much for GW. I slowly came around and thought it might actually be a good hire. Then Zorn. I have mixed feelings now.

I think much of Redskins nation kind of came around on JF, so I hope DS didn't eliminate JF as a candidate just b/c of the fans.

[MTK]

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.

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

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.

Well, I don't know. If this team takes three more years, and still can't reach the elite level, then we can say that the front office made some mistakes that cost us a shot at being elite, but we can't really project their failures onto Zorn.

Unfortunately for Zorn, he's now a head coach in the NFL and his legacy is going to be seperate from the effect his has on his players. He may win, or he may lose, but that doesn't necessarily reflect on the job he's doing.

Barring some major F-up by the front office, I do think he has a great foundation to work with. It will take some time though, we aren't ready to make the jump to the top of the league just yet.