Adam Schefter on Greg Williams(NFL CHNL)

MEZZSKIN · Post by **MEZZSKIN** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 3:31 pm

Reported that a rumor is flying that Greg Williams has been told by the Washington Redskins that he will succeed Joe Gibbs when he retires. He stated that Williams could be out of the Head coach market.......Guys please stay on top this and reporT anyhing you see or read ....It would be awesome if he stays.

Michaelf382 · Post by **Michaelf382** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 3:41 pm

THIS IS AWESOME!!! I am glad they are going to great lenghts to keep him. I really do not want us to lose williams. We pay him handsomely and I think he and Gibbs click on every level. WOW, continuity at redskins park. We are setting ourselves up nicely for success for a while ahead. !!!!!! Keeping williams will be HUGE

SkinsJock · Post by **SkinsJock** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 3:54 pm

This is great news - this was also "suggested" by THN (staff) as early as last year. :shock:

The "inside reports" (we were told) were that when Joe met with Greg in Buffalo, he assured him that Williams would be paid like a head coach, would be the assistant head coach (he is!) and that when Joe stepped aside Greg would be offered the job. Since then Williams has said he owed it to his family who all (reportedly) like it here in DC that he would consider all offers - this includes the Redskins.
I just do not think he wants to leave here just yet or that he thinks it would be better for him elsewhere. The media think that! :roll:

I do not think Gibbs (or Snyder) is going to let Williams go unless either or both of them are not convinced he is the right guy to take over. Not going to happen IMHO!

But, this would be confirming all that for us again.

JPM36 · Post by **JPM36** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 4:16 pm

WOW.

That is great news. I'll be honest, I just assumed he was gone with so many head coaching spots opening up.

I'd be thrilled if he stayed.

Chris Luva Luva · Post by **Chris Luva Luva** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 4:23 pm

I mean seriously...

PulpExposure · Post by **PulpExposure** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 4:24 pm

I'd be absolutely thrilled.

SkinFan 0-16 or 16-0 · Mon Jan 02, 2006 4:30 pm

Can anyone confirm/ back up this story. Cause if it's true ythis is the best news I've heard all day.

Irn-Bru · Post by **Irn-Bru** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 4:46 pm

Based off of everything that we've seen, the burden of proof is on the side of people that say G Williams in likely to leave. He loves the area and so does his family, whispers of Williams taking over after Gibbs have been around since day one, and there have been no substantiated rumors of a potential departure.

I think CLL got this one right

SkinzCanes · Post by **SkinzCanes** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 4:54 pm

I think people need to seperate GW the defensive coordinator from GW the head coach. He is a great coordinator, probably the best defensive coordinator in the league, but as a head coach in Buffalo he was terrible. Sure I want him to stay but I don't like the idea of keeping him by promising him the head coaching job after Gibbs retires. Who's to say that he'll be the best candidate when Gibbs retires.

BossHog · Post by **BossHog** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 5:17 pm

SkinzCanes wrote: Who's to say that he'll be the best candidate when Gibbs retires.

The fact that he will have just learned a huge amount about being a head coach from joe Gibbs and the fact that his system will be in place, along with the continuity of being able to use the same playing personnel is a HUGE reason that I personally would say he'll be the best candidate. Same playbooks, terminology, players... things that I know have become foreign to Redskin fans but that are very important IMO.

What more could you possibly hope for when you have a coaching change?

SkinsJock · Post by **SkinsJock** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 5:19 pm

SkinzCanes wrote:I think people need to seperate GW the defensive coordinator from GW the head coach. He is a great coordinator, probably the best defensive coordinator in the league, but as a head coach in Buffalo he was terrible. Sure I want him to stay but I don't like the idea of keeping him by promising him the head coaching job after Gibbs retires.

See if you can persuade Gibbs and Snyder of this - these are the guys responsible for this!

.. Who's to say that he'll be the best candidate when Gibbs retires.

We could ask Bill up in NE. He was even worse in Cleveland and he was/is not as good a defensive co-ordinator in NY, Cleveland, NY, et al as Williams. I believe that he is decent example of this! It's just that we have not yet had the opportunity to see what Williams (the HC) will be like after a "spell" with the magician that is Gibbs, if you'll pardon the pun. :roll:

SkinzCanes · Post by **SkinzCanes** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 5:35 pm

I understand the reasons why they would do this (learning the system, terminology, etc.). But I just don't like the idea of promising someone a job over 3 years down the road. Sure he could learn a lot from Gibbs, but they have 2 very distinct styles of coaching so just how much he learns from Gibbs is yet to be seen. And being a head coach in the NFL goes far beyond x's and o's and terminology. The head coach also has to manage personalities, has more imput on personnel decisions, and has to deal with management/ownership. Putting together a solid defensive gameplan every week is very different from overseeing an entire football team. Gibbs is very calm and collected, while GW is a very emotional, in-your-face type of coach. I'm just not sure if his style of coaching translates very well into the NFL.

1niksder · Post by **1niksder** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 5:42 pm

SkinzCanes wrote:I think people need to seperate GW the defensive coordinator from GW the head coach. He is a great coordinator, probably the best defensive coordinator in the league, but as a head coach in Buffalo he was terrible. Sure I want him to stay but I don't like the idea of keeping him by promising him the head coaching job after Gibbs retires. Who's to say that he'll be the best candidate when Gibbs retires.

The great one are able to critque themselves and be just as harsh as if they were doing it to a complete stranger. GW couldn't do that when he was a head coach, it was something he hadn't learned as a assistant and it was missing when he went to Buffalo. He has learned that now. More important he has learned that there is so much more that he needs to know before taking that leap again.
Once he has learned all that he feels he needs to know (my his own quotes you see he is still learning) he will be ready to take over a team. What better team to take over than the one that was the modle in which you learned from.

The only job out there that scares me is KC, but not really.
Vermeil used the same principal that Gibbs currently uses( the coach doesn't matter if the enviroment in right). For Williams this is the right enviroment and property value is shooting threw the roof.

When Williams takes a head coaching job he will consider a lot of things.
1. Location
2. The front office of the new team
3. The current roster...( GW will best fit a offensively loaded team needing to put a "D" on the field)
4. Has he completed the task that he set out to complete here (he's what you could call a "Taskmaster" and hates to leave a job unfinished)
5. How will this effect his family (that's a big one)
6. How will it effect the coaches and their families that fall on the D side of the ball (about 7 coaches.. a new DC will want his own people).
7. He makes more than a lot of HC now, Gibbs has total control and he is his mentor will he want the same set up (Can he get it?)

I could give more reason but seven is a good number in this situation. They all seem to point to him staying

but if he does leave I'll wish him well. I also know that Joe Gibbs will not miss a beat in with him or without him.

I think I know what Gibbs has for a ultimate goal but I know Williams knows what it is. If I'm even close Gregg will be here.

Chris Luva Luva · Post by **Chris Luva Luva** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 5:44 pm

SkinzCanes wrote:I understand the reasons why they would do this (learning the system, terminology, etc.). But I just don't like the idea of promising someone a job over 3 years down the road. Sure he could learn a lot from Gibbs, but they have 2 very distinct styles of coaching so just how much he learns from Gibbs is yet to be seen. And being a head coach in the NFL goes far beyond x's and o's and terminology. The head coach also has to manage personalities, has more imput on personnel decisions, and has to deal with management/ownership. Putting together a solid defensive gameplan every week is very different from overseeing an entire football team. Gibbs is very calm and collected, while GW is a very emotional, in-your-face type of coach. I'm just not sure if his style of coaching translates very well into the NFL.

Gibbs doesn't see over the entire team as it is now. Gibbs does the offense, Gregg does the defense. Of course Gibbs has some overall duties but for hte most part he just takes care of the offense. Who's to say Gregg wont have the same deal happening when he takes over? I just wonder who Gibbs will groom to oversee the offense after he leaves.

Smithian · Post by **Smithian** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 6:55 pm

I am going to be the first THN poster to put my money on Musgrave being the offensive coordinator when Gibbs leaves if the offensive coordinator comes from in house.

JPFair · Post by **JPFair** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 7:12 pm

I like what Williams had to say when asked about whether or not he would entertain offers for HC positions next season. It's at http://www.sportsline.com/nfl/story/9134673

"I think each and every year we learn and experience and become better at what we do," he said. "There's no doubt in my mind I'll be a better head coach next time around. That's why I came here to be with Joe Gibbs. I really wanted to make sure I got a chance to learn at the hand of a master.

"I don't feel any pressure because I have a great job. I really love what I'm doing and where I am. And I love whom I'm working with. I think every day is an interview, in every walk of life. I just happen to do it in front of an awful lot of people.

SKINS#1 · Post by **SKINS#1** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 8:09 pm

George Michaels on NBC in DC stated that GW would NOT leave the Redskins, he will be with the team next year.

MarcusBeNimble · Post by **MarcusBeNimble** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 12:31 am

I've heard this rumor swirling around since Williams was even hired in the first place. Whether or not there is any validity to it is beyond me, but you best believe I would'nt be opposed to it.

If you look at MOST good teams in the NFL, having a long tenured, or coach familiar with the team helps greatly (cohwer,belichek, marvin lewis)

Williams is a nice fit, all he needs is some help on offense.

mulkey · Post by **mulkey** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 2:00 am

My only concern is that Williams doesn't look like a person that listens. I think that some folks are made to be kings and some king makers. Now, I don't know what type of relationship Gibbs and Williams have together. It's obviously working up to this point. Just don't know if Williams would give someone the offense the way Gibbs is giving Williams the defense. Looks to be a bit of a control freak. But thats the defensive mindedness within him. Lets just win this year and cross that bridge when it comes.

mulkey · Post by **mulkey** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 2:04 am

One other point that might need to be examined. Wouldn't it be against the NFL policy to promise such a thing. They would have to interview some other canidates. I can promise you that...The league mandates that now.

Snout · Post by **Snout** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 5:13 am

SkinzCanes wrote:I think people need to seperate GW the defensive coordinator from GW the head coach. He is a great coordinator, probably the best defensive coordinator in the league, but as a head coach in Buffalo he was terrible. Sure I want him to stay but I don't like the idea of keeping him by promising him the head coaching job after Gibbs retires. Who's to say that he'll be the best candidate when Gibbs retires.

This is very true.

I remember thinking at the beginning of the 1993 season "Hey, what if Richie Petibon is even more suucessful than Joe Gibbs?" After all, Richie was a great defensive coordinator, and he had years of mentoring from the master . . . well, it didn't quite work out the way I expected.

Ray Rhoades tried the head coaching thing and decided to go back to enjoying what he did best, which is to be a great defensive coordinator.

Some people have the gifts to be a head coach. Some don't. Whether GW can succeed as a head coach remains to be seen. But it's clear he wants another shot at it . . . and he will get it.

HEROHAMO · Post by **HEROHAMO** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 8:46 am

Adam schefter said on the Nfl network that Gw is top candidate for the St. Louis job.

hkHog · Post by **hkHog** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 9:32 am

This has been rumored from early last season, nothing new here at all.

SkinzCanes · Post by **SkinzCanes** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 12:50 pm

Redskins' Williams Is Becoming a Wanted Man
Texans, Rams, Packers, Saints Fire Their Coaches

By Mark Maske and Jason La Canfora
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, January 3, 2006; Page E01

The leaguewide head-coaching purge that began over the weekend continued in full force yesterday, as four more NFL teams fired their coaches. That left seven clubs looking for new coaches, and Washington Redskins defensive boss Gregg Williams immediately emerged as a top candidate for several openings.

The Houston Texans contacted the Redskins seeking permission to interview Williams, who also appears to be a leading candidate for the openings in Kansas City and St. Louis.

The Texans' Dom Capers, the Rams' Mike Martz, the Green Bay Packers' Mike Sherman and the New Orleans Saints' Jim Haslett were fired a day after the Chiefs' Dick Vermeil announced his retirement and Mike Tice was told by the Minnesota Vikings that his contract wouldn't be renewed. The Detroit Lions dismissed Steve Mariucci during the season.

A league source said the Texans contacted Redskins Coach Joe Gibbs to ask for permission to interview Williams next week. A source close to Williams said that the Texans, Chiefs, Rams and Vikings expressed interest recently.

"There are four teams I definitely know are interested in Gregg," said Williams's agent, Marvin Demoff. He declined to elaborate. In recent weeks, Williams said that the opportunity to return to Missouri, his home state, or Houston, where he began his coaching career, would be uniquely attractive to him, but yesterday declined to comment and said he is focused entirely on the playoffs.

Teams must ask the Redskins' permission to interview Williams, as he is still under contract and the Redskins are still playing. The Redskins could wait until after their playoff game to grant permission -- and are under no requirement to do so -- and any interviews would have to be conducted next week in the Washington area, according to a general manager familiar with the process.

Gibbs is expected to wait until after Saturday's game to inform teams whether the Redskins will grant permission for an interview, according to a team spokesman.

During his weekly news conference yesterday, Gibbs said that he realizes the team has several coaches who could become candidates for other jobs.

"We hope they'll stay here and continue to work with us," Gibbs said. "We also understand that sometimes things come up like that and they want to consider them and we'll just work through it as we go and see what happens. We're going to try to keep everything intact, I know that."

League and team sources said they anticipate Redskins owner Daniel Snyder will do everything he can to retain Williams, whom he made one of the highest-paid assistants in NFL history when he hired him in 2004. Snyder has the means to match the financial package any team could offer, and it is already a well-established tenet within the organization that when Gibbs, 65 and in the second year of a five-year deal, leaves coaching, the job would go to Williams, 47, should he still be here.

Williams has made it clear that interested owners must be committed to winning and spending on staff and players. Last year, Williams quickly turned down two interview opportunities, but there are several jobs that offer locales and emotional pulls that others do not.

"There are definitely certain things that would be intriguing," Williams said before the end of the regular season, "but it's got to be the right situation."
None of yesterday's firings surprised many people in the league, even though Sherman and Martz had made their teams regular participants in the playoffs before this season and Haslett had endured the most trying of circumstances since the Saints were displaced from New Orleans in August by Hurricane Katrina.

The reshuffling probably isn't done, with other changes possibly in the works. The Oakland Raiders probably will fire Norv Turner. The Buffalo Bills could dismiss Mike Mularkey, although it appears that team president Tom Donahoe could be the first to go. Herman Edwards is under contract with the New York Jets but has been mentioned as a possible successor to Vermeil, and there has been talk about the Dallas Cowboys' Bill Parcells contemplating retirement.

Some executives around the league believe that Marty Schottenheimer could be in some trouble in San Diego and that there is a long-shot chance that Jeff Fisher won't be around for another season in Tennessee. There had been talk of Dennis Green's job being in jeopardy in Arizona, but it seemed to be an indication that he would stay when he began reworking his coaching staff yesterday.

Packers General Manager Ted Thompson said that Sherman was surprised to learn of his ouster in Green Bay. Thompson signed Sherman to a contract extension last summer, with Sherman coming off three straight division titles. But Thompson, as a first-year general manger, inherited Sherman as his coach, and Sherman was relieved of his coaching job a year after the Packers stripped him of the GM duties. He had a 57-39 regular season record in six seasons but was only 2-4 in the playoffs.

"I just think it was time for a new face in that position," Thompson said.

Martz, like Sherman, led his team to the playoffs four times in six seasons. But Martz coached only five games this season, taking a leave of absence to have treatment for a bacterial infection in his heart, and his clashes with the front office made it clear that he would not be retained. Martz has been cleared by doctors to return to coaching and he, Sherman, Haslett and Mariucci could be candidates for jobs elsewhere.

The Saints went 3-13 this season and will have the second overall draft choice. There had been reports recently that Haslett was weary of the club's vagabond status and might resign. General Manager Mickey Loomis said at a news conference that he and Haslett "mutually agreed" yesterday to part ways, but called the move a firing and said the club would pay Haslett for the one season remaining on his contract. The Saints haven't reached the playoffs since the 2000 season, Haslett's first as the coach.

"It's a difficult decision," Loomis said. "Jim's a good football coach. I think he performed very well under some adverse conditions, unprecedented conditions."

The Texans' league-worst 2-14 record made the dismissal of Capers inevitable, especially after owner Bob McNair hired former NFL coach Dan Reeves as a consultant. Reeves said at the time that he wasn't seeking to coach, but didn't rule out coaching in the NFL again, and suspicions around the league remain that Reeves could be on the Texans' sideline next season. The club decided to retain Charley Casserly as general manager, but McNair said in a written statement of the decision to fire Capers: "We had to make a change."

REDEEMEDSKIN · Post by **REDEEMEDSKIN** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 1:36 pm

I think Williams will stay. Think about it. He will have three more years of highly-paid training "at the hands of a Master", what more could he want???