With the announcement that Keenan McCardell will become the Washington Redskins’ next wide receiver coach, it appears that the 2010 staff is now complete. While Washington may still add another name or two to the list, all of the important positions have been filled. Only four coaches remain from the last regime – Danny Smith for Special Teams, Steve Jackson for Safeties, Kirk Olivadotti as the Defensive Assistant, and Bill Khayat for Quality Control of the Offense. Here’s a look at the new members of the Redskin sidelines next year, and a little bit about them:
Mike Shanahan – Executive Vice President / Head Coach
The 28th head coach in franchise history has a long and storied NFL pedigree that spans 25 seasons. He spent fourteen of them as the head coach of the Denver Broncos (1995-2008) where he won Super Bowl XXXII and XXXIII, and led the Broncos to 138 regular-season victories. In his tenure, Denver won three conference championships, and made the playoffs seven times. In 1998, the Broncos expanded his job title to Executive Vice President of Football Operations – the same title he will hold the Redskins.
Shanahan’s Denver offense was ranked in the top five in nine of his fourteen seasons, and registered the best NFL home record during regular season play at 83-29 (.741 winning percentage). His Broncos were undefeated at home for three consecutive years (1996-1998).
The native of Oak Park, Illinois began his coaching career in 1975-76 as an offensive assistant for the Oklahoma Sooners. Since that time, he has served many roles on many teams to get where he is today: Northern Arizona – backfield – 1977; Eastern Illinois – Offensive Coordinator – 1978; Minnesota – Offensive Coordinator – 1979; Florida – Offensive Coordinator – 1980-1983; Denver Broncos – Wide Receivers – 1984 / Offensive Coordinator – 1985-87; Los Angeles Raiders – Head Coach – 1988-89; Denver Broncos – Quarterbacks – 1989; San Francisco 49ers – Offensive Coordinator – 1992-94; Denver Broncos – head Coach – 1995-2008.
Shanahan attended East Leyden High School in Franklin Park, Illinois. He was voted athlete of the year as well as most valuable player in both football and track, before earning a scholarship to Eastern Illinois University. He was the quarterback there before losing a kidney in his junior year, and received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. He and his wife, Peggy, have two children – son Kyle (new Offensive Coordinator in Washington), and daughter Krystal.
Offensive Coaching Staff:
Kyle Shanahan – Offensive Coordinator
Son of head coach Mike Shanahan, Kyle is building a coaching pedigree akin to his dad’s. Though he is just thirty years old, he has already spent six years coaching in the NFL. He spent the previous 4 seasons with the Houston Texans, including the last two as their offensive coordinator. In 2009, he guided the Texans to tops in the NFL in passing (4,654 yards) and fourth in total offense (6,129 yards) – both franchise records. Under his tutelage, Matt Schaub and Andre Johnson became one of the most dangerous passing tandems in football.
Before serving as Offensive Coordinator, he was Houston’s wide receivers coach in 2006, and the quarterbacks coach in 2007. He was a graduate assistant at UCLA in 2003, and then made the jump to the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers where he served as the offensive quality control coach in 2004-05.
Kyle was born in Minneapolis while his father was coaching at the University of Minnesota, and he attended Cherry Creek High School in Colorado. He was a wide receiver at Duke University in 1999, before transferring to the University of Texas in 2000. He spent two seasons there at wide receiver, and as a senior, played in 12 games and averaged 8.9 yards per reception.
He and his wife Mandy just celebrated the birth of their second child in January.
Bobby Turner – Assistant Head Coach/Running Backs
On January 14th, the Redskins named Bobby Turner their Assistant Head Coach and Running Backs coach. The move reunites Mike Shanahan and Turner, who helped the Denver Broncos produce more rushing yards than any team in the league since Turner joined them in 1995.
Together they established one of the top ground games in the NFL in Denver, and coached six different players to 1,000-plus yard seasons – including Clinton Portis. The other running backs were Mike Anderson, Tatum Bell, Terrell Davis, Reuben Droughns, and Olandis Gary. The Broncos had 11 individual 1,000-yard rushing seasons during Turner’s tenure, including (an NFL-record) four-year streak from 2003-2006 of having different running backs achieve the feat.
The 60-year old native of East Chicago, Indiana was an all-conference defensive back at Indiana State, where he tied the school’s single-season record by posting nine of his 16 career interceptions in his sophomore season, including two returned for touchdowns. He played both football and basketball in college and earned his bachelor’s degree in health and physical education in 1972. He went on to get his master’s degree in education/administration in 1976.
Turner was a four sport star at East Chicago Washington High School, and was inducted into the Indiana High School Basketball Hall of Fame Silver Anniversary Team in 1993, as well as the East Chicago Sports Hall of Fame in 1999. He and his wife Kimberly, have three daughters – Nacole, Krishana and Kiaana.
Chris Foerster – Offensive Line
Chris Foerster comes to Washington after spending the last two seasons as the offensive line coach in San Francisco. His line paved the way for Frank Gore to earn a 2009 Pro Bowl selection, and in Foerster’s 17 NFL seasons, he has coached at least one Pro Bowl player in 11 of them.
Prior to the 49ers, he was the offensive line coach and assistant head coach in Baltimore from 2005-2007. His other considerable NFl experience includes: Offensive Coordinator for the Miami Dolphins (2004), tight ends coach for the Indianapolis Colts (2002-03), offensive line coach for the Tampa Buccaneers (1996-2001), and assistant offensive line/tight ends coach for the Minnesota Vikings (1993-95).
The Milwaukee, Wisconsin native also had ten years coaching experience at the college level. After serving as a graduate assistant at his alma mater Colorado State in 1982, he went on to coach their offensive line from 1983-1987. From there he went on to be an assistant offensive line and special teams coach for Stanford (1988-91) and the offensive line coach for the University of Minnesota in 1992, before making the jump to the NFL.
He was a walk-on at Colorado State, but earned a scholarship in his sophomore season. He was their center from 1979-82.
Matt LaFleur – Quarterbacks
Like Kyle Shanahan, Matt LaFleur came to the Redskins via the Houston Texans. He spent the last two seasons there as an offensive assistant under Shanahan – helping with the quarterbacks in 2009 and the wide receivers in 2008. His coaching pedigree includes: Ashland University as offensive coordinator (also coached the quarterbacks and wide receivers) in 2007, Northern Michigan coaching the quarterbacks and wide receivers in 2006, Central Michigan as offensive assistant in 2004-05, and Saginaw Valley State as an offensive assistant in 2003.
The native of Mt. Pleasant, Michigan played quarterback and wide receiver at Western Michigan from 1998-99, and then quarterback at Saginaw Valley State from 2000-02. He also played in the National Indoor Football League for Omaha, Nebraska, and Billings, Montana.
Keenan McCardell – Wide Receivers
Redskin fans know the name Keenan McCardell well, as he started and ended his NFL career as a Redskin. He was drafted in the 12th round in 1991 (326th overall) but never made it on to the field before ending up on injured reserve, and was released following Washington’s Super Bowl victory. He went on to play for Cleveland, Jacksonville, Tampa Bay and San Diego and earning two Pro Bowl honors along the way. In 2007, the gritty receiver returned to Washington to play in their final ten games and retired at the end of the season. He finished his career with 883 receptions and 11,373 yards and 63 touchdowns. He won a Super Bowl ring with the Bucs in 2002 to go along with the one that he got in his rookie Redskin season.
This will be McCardell’s first official coaching stint, but he did coach the West team wide receivers for the 2010 East-West Shrine Game. He also worked with the New York Giants staff at the 2009 Training Camp as part of the Bill Walsh Minority Coaching Fellowship.
The native of Houston, Texas played his college ball at UNLV, and was inducted into their Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005.
Jon Embree – Tight Ends
Jon Embree was the Kansas City Chiefs tight ends coach from 2006-2008, where he worked with future hall of famer Tony Gonzalez. Before coaching in Kansas City, he was at UCLA where he was the assistant head coach, and the wide receivers coach (2003), and tight ends coach (2004-2005).
He played for the Los Angeles Rams in 1987 and 1988, before an elbow injury in 1989 ended his career.
Embree was a four-year letterman at the University of Colorado, and finished his career in the school’s top five in career receptions (80) and receiving yards (1,116) for a tight end. Following his NFL playing days, he became a volunteer assistant at his alma mater in 1991, and would spend most of the next decade on the Buffaloes coaching staff – tight ends coach (1993-1994), defensive ends coach (1995-1998), tight ends coach (1999-2000) and wide receivers and kicker coach (2001-2002).
He and his wife, Natalyn, have three children: Taylor, Connor and Hannah. Taylor is a standout wide receiver at UCLA.
Sean McVay – Offensive Assistant
Sean McVay spent 2009 with new Redskin Defensive Corodinator Jim Haslett and the undefeated Florida Tuskers of the United Football League, where he served as the quality control and wide receivers coach. Prior to that, he was with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an offensive assistant in 2008 and helped wide receiver Antonio Bryant earn The Sporting News Comeback Player of the Year Award.
He graduated from Miami University (Ohio) where he played wide receiver, and won the Scholar-Athlete Award in 2007. He was a four-year starter at Marist High School as a quarterback and defensive back, and was the first player in school history to amass 1,000 yards rushing and passing in consecutive seasons.
His grandfather, John McVay, played football at Miami and went on to become the general manager for the San Francisco 49ers.
Bill Khayat – Quality Control Offense
Bill is the only offensive coach that kept his job with the Redskins for 2010. He is the offensive quality control coach, but helps with the tight ends, and this will be his third season doing so in Washington. Khayat served in the same capacity with the Arizona Cardinals (2004-2006) prior to coming to Washington, and also assisted with their offensive line. Before making the jump to the pros in 2004, he was at Tennessee State for four seasons. He was their tight ends coach and video coordinator from 2000-02, and then the running backs coach and recruiting coordinator in 2003.
In 1998, the Camden, New Jersey native was with the Barcelona Dragons of the now defunct NFL Europe, after being on Kansas City’s practice squad in 1996 and Carolina’s in 1997.
In college, Khayat was the first Duke University tight end to lead his team in receptions for 25 years, and set a Hall of Fame Bowl game record against Wisconsin, with 109 yards on 11 receptions. During his tenure at Duke from 1992-1995, he was twice named to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference second team, and in 1994, he was an honorable mention All-America pick and was named to the All-Carolina team. He missed most of his senior season with a groin injury, but finished his collegiate career with 105 receptions for 1,155 yards and seven touchdowns. He was named to the Academic All-ACC Football team, was on the Distinguished Dean’s List, and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in biological anthropology and anatomy.
When at York Catholic High School in York, Pennsylvania, he was an all-state football player, the starting center for the state champion basketball team and an all-county selection as the baseball team’s catcher. His jersey was retired in 1991 and he was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 2002.
THN will post a summary of all of the defensive coaching staff tomorrow. They are as follows:
Jim Haslett – Defensive Coordinator
Jacob Burney – Defensive Line
Bob Slowik – Defensive Backs
Lou Spanos – Linebackers
Kirk Olivadotti – Defensive Assistant
Steve Jackson – Safeties
Danny Smith – Special Teams
Edit: This blog was archived in May of 2016 from our original articles database.It was originally posted by Mark Solway