Gibbs to Resign as HC/President

[BigSKINBauer]

He made a decision to go. He is old. I respect his decision and am glad that he brought us back into contention. His job coming here was to make us a respectable team and 2 playoff apperences in the last 3 years makes us a respectable team. He did a fantastic job and now look at the players and coaches we got in here. We will probably promote Williams to coach and that is great. There is not such a drastic change. The wheels will still keep moving. Gibbs did that. He took that sorry piece of shit team we had and made us a real team. He put the pieces in place. We have a full chess board now and maybe someone else will do a great job controlling it. Gibbs did exactly what he was supposed to do. Bring the chance of winning back to washington. Gibbs is the man.

[Daseal]

When did he say he was coming back for sure in 2008? All I recall him saying is that he'll have his usual sit-down with Snyder once the season is over.

Gibbs had said over and over he would fulfill his contract. The whole 5 years. I was curious if someone would be upset over that. It's a fair gripe, in my opinion.

[cpayne5]

Originally Posted by Daseal

Gibbs had said over and over he would fulfill his contract. The whole 5 years. I was curious if someone would be upset over that. It's a fair gripe, in my opinion.

I believe he always used the phrase "it is my intention to fulfill the contract". I do not doubt he intended to. Circumstances sometimes get in the way of intentions. His personal life (family) is more important than Lombardi trophies.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by cpayne5

I believe he always used the phrase "it is my intention to fulfill the contract". I do not doubt he intended to. Circumstances sometimes get in the way of intentions. His personal life (family) is more important that Lombardi trophies.

Yeah and since when can't people change their minds?

If his heart isn't in it, he would be doing everyone a huge diservice by coming back and just going through the motions.

Cut the guy some slack. I can't imagine from his point of view how difficult this season was.

[mheisig]

Originally Posted by Daseal

Gibbs had said over and over he would fulfill his contract. The whole 5 years. I was curious if someone would be upset over that. It's a fair gripe, in my opinion.

I guess I don't ever remember hearing him say "I will fill out my 5 year contract regardless of the circumstances in my personal or professional life."

If someone's got a link to an article or soundbyte I'd love to have it - I'm not privy to all the local news in D.C. given that I don't live in the area any more.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by mheisig

I guess I don't ever remember hearing him say "I will fill out my 5 year contract regardless of the circumstances in my personal or professional life."

If someone's got a link to an article or soundbyte I'd love to have it - I'm not privy to all the local news in D.C. given that I don't live in the area any more.

What he always said was he intended to coach for the full 5 years.

Obviously circumstances changed, and he had a change of heart. Haven't well all had something similar happen to us at some point?

[mheisig]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

What he always said was he intended to coach for the full 5 years.

Obviously circumstances changed, and he had a change of heart. Haven't well all had something similar happen to us at some point?

That's exactly my point.

Seems pretty easy to accept in my mind. Of course his intentions were to fulfill his contract and win a Super Bowl or three.

I guess some people took "I intend" as "I will absolutely do, regardless of changing personal and professional circumstances."

Language is important folks. An intention is not an iron-clad guarantee.

[FRPLG]

I think we need perspective on this. Fans can get angry at a guy like Petrino just walking away adn quitting for greed or selfish reasons. hell we can get mad at Spurrier for tanking the team into the ground and then bolting. But Joe brought this team back to respectability through some trying times and he isn't leaving the cupboard bare. He has honest to goodness struggles in his personal life to deal with. I have no ill will about this. Just disappointment.

[killromo]

G. Will could be alright as long as Saunders stays for the O-fense. Guess we'll all wait and see what drastic changes our team will endure this offseason. Damn, I was just starting to feel our continuity too. Oh well here's another few years off my life thanks to the skins. But thanks for everything Joe and good luck in all of your endeavours. Enjoy your time on this earth brother

[BrunellMVP?]

Ok, from my perspective I wanted Gibbs back. I think we were very close to being an elite team this year (how many games did we have the lead in the 4th quarter and lose?), next year i think could have been great. now, if we don't keep Williams, we will risk having to start all over. I'm sick of that. Lets see what Williams and Co can do...

In terms of Gibbs 2.0: from an objective perspective (for the most part i think), it wasn't that impressive...we had two "good" (playoff years) where it took miracle runs (5 wins and 4 wins in a row to close the season) to make the playoffs. Under Gibbs 2.0, we'll have a losing record, 1 playoff win, and are currently 20 mill over next year's salary cap. his 4 years were plagued with poor clock management, conservatism, and frustration.

From a personal point, I think he did some very good things in terms of building player and fan morale, team chemistry, and expectations of winning. Are we better off now than before? I'll leave that for the other thread.

Overall, I'm sad to see Gibbs go (however frustrating I found these past seasons)...I just hope the team he build, doesn't' disintegrate with his removal.

[memphisskin]

Gibbs leaving brings up a bigger issue, our three headed personnel chief is down one head. Who is going to interview the new coach? Cerrato and Snyder? Do they replace Joe with a team president?

John Riggins called this way early on his radio show, can't wait to hear his thoughts on this.

[Mikern]

I'm disappointed that he wont be back for his final year but not at all suprised. I think the stress of this season just took much out of him. He probably had alot of time to reflect on the whole ST situation and wanted to spend more time with his family. Despite the ups and downs I believe the team is better and has more stability than before he came back. This being said I believe that Gregg Williams should be the successor. If you bring in another coach I believe it would be a total overhaul in the coaching staff and the team would suffer. I am heartbroken but I will always appreciate what Gibbs has done for this franchise both the first and second tenures. Keep your heads up fans.

[DynamiteRave]

This isn't terribly surprising for me yet I didn't think he'd kick bricks before the end of his contract..

[jdlea]

This just sucks. I mean, I was really starting to believe that this team would be turned around by Joe and now he steps down. I don't know where they go from here, but I hope that it isn't to Gregg Williams. I don't trust him as a head coach.

Also, I hope that the new coach doesn't decide that since he didn't pick Jason, Jason isn't his QB. It would be another wasted first round QB.

I would like to see a young guy in the Mike Tomlin mold come in and give this team a jump start and a coach who could be here for 10 years.

[SmootSmack]

I suspected something might be up when my call with Joe Gibbs Racing was cancelled today. And then one of my coworkers sent me an email early in the AM "What exactly is Gibbs going to advise the Redskins on?"

But...DAMN!! I really didn't see this coming. Resigning as HC doesn't completely surprise me but I thought for sure he'd be President still. The Wrong President Resigned (free sig, there for the taking)

Seriously though, I'm admittedly upset. Not with Gibbs, but just with the fact that he's gone sooner than expected. And for the second time we don't have the opportunity to prepare for it and give him a proper send off (farewell tour)? It's how he wants it I suppose, but it's a shame that we spent so much time dissecting every aspect of his performance (down to the most minute details), yet never really took the time-or had the opportunity to take the time-to appreciate that our team, our beloved Washington Redskins, were led by one of the true legends of all of sports. I think a lot of us have taken what we had in him for granted. And had he said "I'm back for one more year and that's it" then maybe we would have spent time thanking him. You can call for a change and an infusion of youth all you want, that's fine. But I don't think there is a single fan of the NFL who can deny or refuse to appreciate the impact he had on the team, the city, and the entire league.

At the same time, sometimes news like this just needs to hit you hard then you need to just rip it off like a band-aid instead of letting it linger.

Now, as to the future. I haven't heard much, all I know at this point is that he'll be a part owner/advisor. But the advisor part will be a bit more impactful than it sounds supposedly. Still he won't be in a day to day management capacity.

Now, why did he resign? Haven't heard much there either. A couple of things I have heard, he was tempted to resign last year after his grandson was diagnosed with leukemia. However, he was upset (angry?) at how the season went and how he and the team were perceived. So he wanted at least one more year to get them back to respectability. Then when Sean Taylor died, he started reevaluating things and wondering where his priorities were that he would pass up the chance to be with his real family to take care of the Redskins family. Something else I was told late last night some of his top assistants, not Saunders or Williams, but I did hear the name Bugel (don't know how true it is, my source on that one isn't reliable), weren't keen on coaching much longer and Gibbs wanted to leave with them. There's also another rumor that Snyder wasn't keen on giving some of those guys extensions like he supposedly was with Gibbs.

Anyhow, that's all I've heard so far...which is really not much. As always, if I hear anything I'll tell...some of you.

Honestly though, when the season began did anyone think if Gibbs resigned it would NOT be the biggest Redskins news of the year?

RIP Sean