Your thoughts "IF" Shanahan were to replace Zorn in 2010

[BigHairedAristocrat]

Smoot, great memory! I had completely forgotten about that rant. If memory serves me, someone here (or on ES) who had some sort of connection to Portis crew (friend of a friend) indicated that Portis was mouthing off and that Zorn did not change the running game in the 2nd half of the season - that our problems really were almost soley due to the o-line breaking down and that, contrary to other reports that I had read, Zorn really was well-liked by the team. Seeing that i had inaccurate information, my whole basis for making Zorn the lone scapegoat for our teams problems were fundamentally flawed. That said, I still think it was foolish to hire Zorn as HC and force the WCO on Campbell.

However, now that we've made the switch, we need to stick with it. If, as some have stated, Zorn really was hired as nothing more than a stop-gap, then we shouldnt have given him a 2nd year. Shanahan and Gruden are available now - why the delay? Which means Snyder must really be coveting Cowher or Holmgren (if the stop-gap theory is true). Which brings me to...

Originally Posted by PainTrain

If it happened, and I'm not advocating it, I wouldn't look at it as here we go again. If Snyder hires a Shanahan or Cowher, he's looking at a 10 year hire, and the first $100 million coach. With that kind of investment he's got to give full and complete control.

Zorn really had 'stopgap' written on him from jump. There wasn't a plan to replace Gibbs so Snyder had to go with what he could in a 'weak' coaching market that year. To hook a big fish he's going to have to shed his albatross in Vinny which was reportedly the barrier to getting Spags from NYG and take a large step back from football operations.

Very interesting take on the situation, Pain. I think 10 years is a bit long for a contract, but 10M/year over 5+ years would be enough garaunteed cash that Snyder would be "forced" to stick with his decision. I wouldnt like starting over from scratch, but i could live with it if it garaunteed 5+ years with a superbowl HC.

I know numerous people have commented that Cowher wouldnt come here because he's close to Marty, but Marty has gone on record saying he and Snyder are friends and he'd work for Snyder again... so what if Snyder hired Cowher as coach and Shotty as GM and committed to them for 5+ years? Something like THAT I could live with.

What I absolutely couldnt live with is Shanahan or Holmgren serving as coach AND GM... neither has done well with both responsibilities in the past. And Gruden shouldnt even be in the conversation. Maybe as a QB coach/OC but thats it.