{"id":2855,"date":"2009-10-22T14:48:38","date_gmt":"2009-10-22T14:48:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thehogs.net\/blogs\/?p=2855"},"modified":"2009-10-22T14:50:43","modified_gmt":"2009-10-22T14:50:43","slug":"sacred-cow-tipping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/2009\/10\/22\/sacred-cow-tipping\/","title":{"rendered":"Sacred Cow Tipping"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oh, I know I\u2019m gonna ruffle some feathers with this one.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s my question; Was Jack Kent Cooke really the genius we believe him to be, or did he just have the right cogs fall into place?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to hate Dan Snyder. The team is losing, it always seems like it\u2019s the same ol\u2019 thing every year. We can only hope to achieve mediocrity and we just can\u2019t seem to reclaim the glory years of the franchise.<\/p>\n

So, we look back to Jack Kent Cooke and draw him as the comparison for what the Redskins\u2019 owner should be. A man who loved his fans; a man who loved his team; a man who loved to win.<\/p>\n

The Washington Post, who has really made no secret of their dislike for Snyder, recently published an interview with John Cooke, Jack Kent Cooke\u2019s son [Burgundy & Old Pain<\/a>]. While the article was obviously meant to feed into the despair that Redskins\u2019 fans are feeling right now, it unintentionally sheds some light on Jack Kent Cooke\u2019s near miss with disaster.<\/p>\n

Referring to the 12-years of greatness, where the Redskins appeared in four super bowls, and won three with Joe Gibbs<\/a> as the head coach, John Cooke had this to share with the Washington Post:<\/p>\n

\u201cThat extended period of revelry almost did not happen — or at least would not have included Gibbs — if not for what [John] Cooke said was his own intervention with his father, who was prepared to fire Gibbs after the team’s terrible start in the coach’s rookie year and replace him with legendary Redskins coach George Allen. As Jack Kent Cooke rode home after the Redskins fell to 0-5 in October 1981, he turned to his son, the team president, and said he was going to make a change. He said he’d summon Gibbs and Bobby Beathard, the general manager, to deliver the news.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bobby Beathard, legendary Redskins General Manager for those years believes that if Gibbs had been fired, he would have been also as he was the person who sold Cooke on the idea of hiring Gibbs.<\/p>\n

“[Cooke] had stopped talking to me about what he was going to do,” Beathard said. “I could have been on my way out, too. So I definitely believe that Mr. Cooke was thinking about bringing back George Allen then. [It] made perfect sense to him.”<\/p>\n

Many credit Jack Kent Cooke for not \u201cmeddling\u201d with the team, but once Joe Gibbs had established himself as a winning head coach combined with what Charlie Casserly and Bobby Beathard brought to the team, did he really need to? This was a different age for the NFL. There was no such animal as free agency. Teams couldn\u2019t lure away your star players with the promise of a better offer, and once a team starts winning, why would anybody want to leave?<\/p>\n

Another item to consider when discussing Jack Kent Cooke\u2019s decision making is what happened after Joe Gibbs retired. Most fans remember it as a transition from Gibbs to Norv Turner and forget the 4-12 season under Richie Petitbon, or the 3-13 season that followed when Turner was hired a year later.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, many fans seem to forget the controversial decision to move the Redskins out of Washington DC and into Landover, MD. A common complaint among Redskins fans is the remote location of the stadium with roads ill suited for stadium traffic and limited local transportation and parking options.<\/p>\n

These problems are often attributed to current Redskins owner, Dan Snyder, but in reality it was Cooke\u2019s decision to move the team, even attempting (unsuccessfully) to have the post office recognize the team\u2019s official address as \u201cRaljon, MD\u201d instead of Landover, MD. Cooke\u2019s ambition was to build a stadium large enough to host a Super Bowl, but it wasn\u2019t until after the stadium was built that the league decided to only host Super Bowls in domed stadiums, or cities with warmer climates.<\/p>\n

In the Washington Post article, John Cooke claims that his father wanted the team to be put up for bid so that the maximum amount of money would be able to go to the Jack Kent Cooke Charitable Foundation. Certainly, Jack Kent Cooke realized that he was setting the team out on the open market in doing so. Many argue now whether it was simply a lack of careful planning on Cooke\u2019s part, or whether Jack Kent Cooke had little confidence in his son\u2019s abilities to properly run the team.<\/p>\n

Sonny Jurgensen, the Hall of Fame quarterback who now broadcasts the team’s games, said: “John is a good man. But if his dad thought he was capable of running the franchise, I think he would have given it to him. They could have taken care of the charitable trust when John sold the team.”<\/p>\n

After Cooke\u2019s passing in 1997, his son John did take over operations of the Redskins on an interim basis for the 1997 and 1998 seasons. During that time the Redskins went 14-17-1.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t meant to denigrate Jack Kent Cooke, but to remind fans that when comparing Cooke to Snyder, they should remember the teams were from two different eras.\u00a0 The Redskins\u2019 drop in fortunes not only coincides with the retirement of Joe Gibbs, but the beginning of Free Agency in the NFL. After Gibbs retired, the team went 36-59-1 while still under management of the Cooke family. That\u2019s a 0.375 win percentage.<\/p>\n

To show how bad that is; Snyder has gone 66-78 (not including the \u201999 and current seasons). That\u2019s a 0.458 win percentage.<\/p>\n

John Cooke claims Norv Turner was the future of the Redskins organization, and implies that if he had been able to purchase the team; Turner would have been his guy. Obviously, this comes from the 10-6 finish Turner had in 1999 that was good enough to win the NFC East. Many like to believe that Turner would have gone 10-6 again in 2000 if only he hadn\u2019t been fired by Snyder.<\/p>\n

Turner\u2019s six losses in 2000 came against Detroit (9-7), Dallas (5-11), Tennessee (13-3), Arizona (3-13), Philadelphia (11-5), and New York (12-4). Now obviously, you can see by the records of New York and Philly that even 10-6 would have placed the Redskins at third in the NFC East. Turner\u2019s next three opponents were Dallas, Pittsburgh, and Arizona; two of which had already beaten him once that year.<\/p>\n

Turner went on to coach Oakland where he went 9-23 in two years, and currently is coaching San Diego. The team he inherited in San Diego went 14-2 the year before he took over. They have since gone 11-5, 8-8 and are currently 2-3.<\/p>\n

The future may not look all that bright for the Redskins right now, but maybe ol\u2019 Jack knew what he was doing by not leaving the team to his son. Maybe he thought John would be too \u201chands-off\u201d in his approach; not wanting to disrupt anything his father had put together and in doing so would simply let the team fall apart. Who knows? That\u2019s the real question.<\/p>\n

A question that may never be answered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oh, I know I\u2019m gonna ruffle some feathers with this one. Here\u2019s my question; Was Jack Kent Cooke really the genius we believe him to be, or did he just have the right cogs fall into place?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[604,603,18,547,215,602,605],"class_list":["post-2855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-washington-redskins","tag-bobby-beathard","tag-charlie-casserly","tag-dan-snyder","tag-jack-kent-cooke","tag-joe-gibbs","tag-john-cooke","tag-norv-turner"],"yoast_head":"\nSacred Cow Tipping | The-Hogs.net<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/2009\/10\/22\/sacred-cow-tipping\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sacred Cow Tipping | The-Hogs.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Oh, I know I\u2019m gonna ruffle some feathers with this one. Here\u2019s my question; Was Jack Kent Cooke really the genius we believe him to be, or did he just have the right cogs fall into place?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/2009\/10\/22\/sacred-cow-tipping\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The-Hogs.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/the-hogs.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-10-22T14:48:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2009-10-22T14:50:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/washington-commanders-helmet.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bobby Johnson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@TheHogsdotNetv2\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@TheHogsdotNetv2\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bobby Johnson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/2009\\\/10\\\/22\\\/sacred-cow-tipping\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/2009\\\/10\\\/22\\\/sacred-cow-tipping\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bobby Johnson\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cabc19e8164a026bb9deffbb65ee2ffc\"},\"headline\":\"Sacred Cow Tipping\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-10-22T14:48:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-10-22T14:50:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/2009\\\/10\\\/22\\\/sacred-cow-tipping\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1207,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Bobby Beathard\",\"Charlie Casserly\",\"dan snyder\",\"Jack Kent Cooke\",\"Joe Gibbs\",\"John Cooke\",\"Norv Turner\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Washington Redskins\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/2009\\\/10\\\/22\\\/sacred-cow-tipping\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/2009\\\/10\\\/22\\\/sacred-cow-tipping\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/2009\\\/10\\\/22\\\/sacred-cow-tipping\\\/\",\"name\":\"Sacred Cow Tipping | The-Hogs.net\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-10-22T14:48:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-10-22T14:50:43+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/2009\\\/10\\\/22\\\/sacred-cow-tipping\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/2009\\\/10\\\/22\\\/sacred-cow-tipping\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/2009\\\/10\\\/22\\\/sacred-cow-tipping\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Blogs Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Washington Redskins\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/category\\\/washington-redskins\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Sacred Cow Tipping\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/\",\"name\":\"The-Hogs.net\",\"description\":\"Washington Football: From The Hogs to the Commanders \u2013 News, History, and Legacy\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"THN\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The-Hogs\",\"alternateName\":\"THN\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/ralphie2021.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/ralphie2021.png\",\"width\":400,\"height\":300,\"caption\":\"The-Hogs\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/the-hogs.net\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/TheHogsdotNetv2\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cabc19e8164a026bb9deffbb65ee2ffc\",\"name\":\"Bobby Johnson\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.the-hogs.net\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/author\\\/bob-0119\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sacred Cow Tipping | The-Hogs.net","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/2009\/10\/22\/sacred-cow-tipping\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sacred Cow Tipping | The-Hogs.net","og_description":"Oh, I know I\u2019m gonna ruffle some feathers with this one. Here\u2019s my question; Was Jack Kent Cooke really the genius we believe him to be, or did he just have the right cogs fall into place?","og_url":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/2009\/10\/22\/sacred-cow-tipping\/","og_site_name":"The-Hogs.net","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/the-hogs.net","article_published_time":"2009-10-22T14:48:38+00:00","article_modified_time":"2009-10-22T14:50:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":675,"url":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/washington-commanders-helmet.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"Bobby Johnson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@TheHogsdotNetv2","twitter_site":"@TheHogsdotNetv2","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bobby Johnson","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/2009\/10\/22\/sacred-cow-tipping\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/2009\/10\/22\/sacred-cow-tipping\/"},"author":{"name":"Bobby Johnson","@id":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/#\/schema\/person\/cabc19e8164a026bb9deffbb65ee2ffc"},"headline":"Sacred Cow Tipping","datePublished":"2009-10-22T14:48:38+00:00","dateModified":"2009-10-22T14:50:43+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/2009\/10\/22\/sacred-cow-tipping\/"},"wordCount":1207,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/#organization"},"keywords":["Bobby Beathard","Charlie Casserly","dan snyder","Jack Kent Cooke","Joe Gibbs","John Cooke","Norv Turner"],"articleSection":["Washington Redskins"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/2009\/10\/22\/sacred-cow-tipping\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/2009\/10\/22\/sacred-cow-tipping\/","url":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/2009\/10\/22\/sacred-cow-tipping\/","name":"Sacred Cow Tipping | The-Hogs.net","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-10-22T14:48:38+00:00","dateModified":"2009-10-22T14:50:43+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/2009\/10\/22\/sacred-cow-tipping\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/2009\/10\/22\/sacred-cow-tipping\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/2009\/10\/22\/sacred-cow-tipping\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blogs Home","item":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Washington Redskins","item":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/category\/washington-redskins\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Sacred Cow Tipping"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/#website","url":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/","name":"The-Hogs.net","description":"Washington Football: From The Hogs to the Commanders \u2013 News, History, and Legacy","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/#organization"},"alternateName":"THN","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/#organization","name":"The-Hogs","alternateName":"THN","url":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/ralphie2021.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/ralphie2021.png","width":400,"height":300,"caption":"The-Hogs"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/the-hogs.net","https:\/\/x.com\/TheHogsdotNetv2"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/#\/schema\/person\/cabc19e8164a026bb9deffbb65ee2ffc","name":"Bobby Johnson","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.the-hogs.net"],"url":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/author\/bob-0119\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2855\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}