Snyder's ineptness rears its ugly head again with coaching hire.
Feb. 9, 2008
By Pete Prisco
CBSSports.com Senior Writer
http://www.sportsline.com/print/nfl/story/10631354/2
You can have money. You can have power. And you can also insist on all your underlings calling you "Mister."
But none of that can bring you football sense.
Snyder's search for a head coach for his Washington Redskins ended Saturday night with the hiring of Jim Zorn, the former NFL quarterback he brought to Washington two weeks ago to be his offensive coordinator -- not his head coach.
The following rip job on that move isn't meant to indict Zorn, who is regarded highly as an offensive coach. But, come on, what the heck is Snyder doing?
Did he really need a month to decide on Zorn? Or is this simply a panic move or more like one of Snyder's trademark I'll-do-what-I-damn-well-please moves?
Snyder makes as much money as any owner in the league. He's a master at it, in fact. For that, he should be lauded.
But football-wise, he should be shredded.
He is the knee-jerk, react owner who spends lavishly and most of the time it's foolishly. Look at his track record. Take a look at his coaches. How'd that Steve Spurrier work out? How about bringing back Joe Gibbs? Wasn't exactly worth it, was it? Snyder's free agency and trade scoreboard is littered with failure.
Paging Adam Archuleta. Paging Antwaan Randle El. Paging Brandon Lloyd.
The problem is Snyder thinks he knows football just because he collected football cards years ago and wore Redskins colors to school. But he doesn't. Instead of hiring quality football people and letting them do their jobs, he's way too involved.
This is an owner who actually has sought out advice on free agents from league writers. I've heard it with my own ears, not that he ever asked me. Of course, I would have been a no-go on Archuleta and Randle El and Lloyd from the start. You can look that up.
Is he really the man who the Redskins faithful want having input into football decisions? Snyder is a brilliant businessman. As a football man, he's messier than Amy Winehouse's life.
Is Zorn really a better choice than Gregg Williams, the in-house candidate who was the odds-on favorite to get the job, only to be rebuffed when he didn't play kissy-face with the owner? No, but Zorn is probably a better yes-man.
It appeared the job was Williams' to lose when Gibbs retired, but Williams never seemed to win over the owner. The theory around the league is that it's because he wasn't open to those moments when Snyder wanted to play coach.
Snyder cast him aside, even though players and others thought him to be the right guy for the job.
Williams didn't bow down, which is a mistake when you work for Snyder. Many league insiders refer to Vinny Cerrato, the executive vice president of football operations, as "Snyder's boy." At times in his stint with the Redskins, Cerrato wondered if he would even have a job, but always was wise to stay close to the owner. Now he's the football decision-maker. He's a yes-man. Maybe his name should be Vinny "Cerrat-never-say-no."
Cerrato is actually now second in command in making football decisions to the ultimate decision-maker, Snyder. I mean Mr. Snyder. Oops.
It's clear that Snyder went for a coach who would listen to him. He picked Zorn. That's after several others backed away, including New York Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, who was told by confidants around the league to pass. Why did Spags and others pass? They didn't want to inherit two coordinators, Zorn on offense and Greg Blache on defense, already hired by Snyder.
Talk about troubles. How can you expect a new head coach to take two guys the owner hired onto his staff as his closest confidants? Doesn't Snyder watch mob shows? Even if they weren't rats, they'd both be perceived as such.
Zorn has never been a head coach. Heck, he's never been a coordinator. But he's probably open to Snyder's meddling. It is one of 32 jobs of its kind, which does mean something, even when the owner is calling you to the office two and three times a day.
When Gibbs was around, Snyder idolized him. He was a fan. He wasn't going to interfere with the legend. But with Gibbs gone, Snyder is back to his old ways, ways that his previous coaches hated.
Zorn might turn out to be a heck of a coach. I loved the way he played the game. He was daring and he might be that way as a coach. That's always a good thing.
But the perception with his players will be that he is Danny's Boy. That's never a good thing. It could make for some real problems.
Snyder is smarter than all this. I always look at the Redskins' business side to see just how smart he truly is in that area. It's a cash machine. He should tend to that and hire some smart football people, not men who have "Yes, Mr. Snyder" in their automatic reply settings because it's used so much.
Money and power mean a lot, Mr. Snyder. But they will never buy somebody football sense. We've been reminded of that once again by Snyder's actions of the past month.
Oh, Danny Boy. Not again.
