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New offensive assistant - Chris Meidt
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 6:40 pm
by CanesSkins26
It appears that the Skins have hired Chris Meidt as an offensive assistant.
Chris Meidt resigned Monday as head coach of the St. Olaf football team after six seasons in Northfield. Meidt announced Monday he has accepted a job with the Washington Redskins of the NFL. Meidt will be an offensive assistant under the offensive coordinator yet to be named.
Meidt will join Jim Zorn who was named head coach of the Redskins Saturday. The two became friends when Zorn was quarterbacks coach at the University of Minnesota in the mid-1990s.
During his six seasons as head coach, Meidt led St. Olaf to 40-20 record, including an 8-2 record in each of the last three seasons.
St. Olaf will begin a national search for a new head coach in the coming weeks.
http://www.kare11.com/sports/sports_article.aspx?storyid=4978542/11/2008 6:12:00 PM Email this article • Print this article
Meidt resigns at St. Olaf
Football coach headed to work with Washington Redskins
NORTHFIELD - Chris Meidt resigned as head football coach at St. Olaf on Monday to accept an offensive assistant position with the National Football League's Washington Redskins.
Meidt led St. Olaf to a 40-20 record in his six seasons at the helm. The Oles were 8-2 in each of the last three years - the first such stretch of eight-win seasons since 1969-71.
Meidt will work under an offensive coordinator yet to be named. Jim Zorn was hired as offensive coordinator on Jan. 26, but was named head coach on Saturday to replace Joe Gibbs, who retired Jan. 8.
In 2007, St. Olaf ranked as high as 13th in the D3Football.com poll and 15th in the American Football Coaches Association poll.
St. Olaf had a high-powered offense under Meidt. The Oles ranked in the top eight in the country in total offense and scoring in the last three seasons and set school records for points (49.0/game) and total offense (512.8 yards/game) last fall.
Meidt's recruiting classes boasted three All-America selections and 31 first team All-MIAC picks, including a league-best 23 over the last two seasons.
St. Olaf will begin a national search for Meidt's replacement in the coming weeks.
http://northfieldnews.com/main.asp?SectionID=27&SubSectionID=452&ArticleID=22185&TM=69293.82
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 6:59 pm
by dmwc
YO, is this for real?
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 7:28 pm
by aswas71788
It seems that Zorn is making the same mistake that Spurrier did by hiring coaches that are not familiar with the NFL. I believe that he has also hired a line coach from a college.
Not a good omen.
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 7:31 pm
by CanesSkins26
dmwc wrote:YO, is this for real?
Yes.
-- MEIDT HIRED AS OFFENSIVE ASSISTANT
The Redskins have named Chris Meidt to their coaching staff as an offensive assistant.
Meidt, who has spent the past six seasons as the head football coach at St. Olaf College (Minnesota), will work closely with the offensive staff and newly named Redskins head coach Jim Zorn.
Meidt is expected to work closely with the Redskins' quarterbacks. Bill Lazor, quarterbacks coach for the last two years with the Redskins, has not been retained for 2008.
Meidt helped St. Olaf to its third straight eight-win season and has compiled a 40-20 mark since taking over as head coach in 2002.
It is first time since 1969-71 that St. Olaf has had eight or more wins in three consecutive seasons.
Prior to St. Olaf, Meidt had a successful tenure at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minn., where he served as offensive coordinator from 1995-2001 and helped lead the team to consecutive MIAC titles in 2000 and 2001.
The American Football Coaches Association named Meidt, who coached five first team All-Americans at Bethel, the 2001 National Assistant Coach of the Year.
Meidt was an All-State high school quarterback in Minneota, Minn., and played for his father Gerhard Meidt, a Minnesota Hall of Fame coach.
http://www.redskins.com/news/newsDetail.jsp?id=34424
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 7:35 pm
by aswas71788
Went and looked it up. Zorn hired John Palermo as the defensive line coach. He has no NFL experience. Sorry if the info on Palermo is a double post but I did not see it anywhere else.
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 8:32 pm
by Redskin in Canada
St Olaf. St Olaf ? St OLAF ???!!!
I did not know that there was such a Saint in history let alone a high school with that name.
If this was a huge gamble with an assistant of an assistant as HC, they just raised the bet a notch with two assistants with no NFL experience at all.
What? Are we going to move from the NFL East to play in the Big Ten next College season?
And I was asking in other threads for -experienced- assistant coaches to help Zorn ...
It is double or nothing on this bet !!!
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 9:03 pm
by CanesSkins26
Redskin in Canada wrote:St Olaf. St Olaf ? St OLAF ???!!!
I did not know that there was such a Saint in history let alone a high school with that name.
If this was a huge gamble with an assistant of an assistant as HC, they just raised the bet a notch with two assistants with no NFL experience at all.
What? Are we going to move from the NFL East to play in the Big Ten next College season?
And I was asking in other threads for -experienced- assistant coaches to help Zorn ...
It is double or nothing on this bet !!!
And the guy that interviewed for the OC job has no prior experience in that position and has never called plays in the NFL. These guys all may be good coaches, but this is not a very experienced group that has been brought in so far.
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 9:22 pm
by SkinsFreak
CanesSkins26 wrote:And the guy that interviewed for the OC job has no prior experience in that position and has never called plays in the NFL. These guys all may be good coaches, but this is not a very experienced group that has been brought in so far.
Sherman Smith is the Asst. Head Coach in Tennessee. He would help teach the west coast offense. Zorn will most likely be calling the plays.
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 9:46 pm
by andyjens89
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 11:02 pm
by The Hogster
I'm optimistic, at least for now.
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 10:55 am
by Redskin in Canada
The Hogster wrote:I'm optimistic, at least for now.
I am the greatest optimist during the off-season too.
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 11:36 am
by Bob 0119
In keeping with the puns on the name Zorn (Zorn in the USA was a fav)
Can we call this one Meidty Mouse?
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 11:54 am
by REDEEMEDSKIN
CanesSkins26 wrote:These guys all may be good coaches, but this is not a very experienced group that has been brought in so far.
Funny. We just had perhaps THE most experienced coaching staff in history lead us to (maybe) a .500 record over 4 years.
Could the opposite end of the spectrum (zero experience) translate to a better record??
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 12:33 pm
by riggofan
Ah it least it will give us somebody to blame if we don't do well next season. Its that inexperienced coaching staff!!!
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 1:50 pm
by Irn-Bru
I'm viewing all of these acquisitions as high risk, high reward. Snyder and Zorn are not chasing experience or adapting working systems into this franchise. They are going for something from the ground-up. It could work very well, but (like most of us feel) it will likely be a spectacular failure.
All I have to add is, these guys better have amazing undiscovered talent. Otherwise, I can't fathom why they've made the moves that they have.
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 2:01 pm
by VetSkinsFan
There's no reason to condemn them if they haven't done anything to earn it. Start Crying AFTER they screw up, don't damn then quite yet.
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 2:08 pm
by Fios
VetSkinsFan wrote:There's no reason to condemn them if they haven't done anything to earn it. Start Crying AFTER they screw up, don't damn then quite yet.
My sentiments as well
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 2:11 pm
by PeetyPa
I am optimistic as well.....the thing I really like about Zorn is that he brings new energy....he has a lot of character and I think he will be able to push our players a bit more than Gibbs...talent is here....
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 3:05 pm
by REDEEMEDSKIN
PeetyPa wrote:I am optimistic as well.....the thing I really like about Zorn is that he brings new energy....he has a lot of character and I think he will be able to push our players a bit more than Gibbs...talent is here....
Peety Pa: welcome to the site. I like the optimism, but is is too eerily reminiscent of the comments made on this very site when Spurrier was hired.
If anyone can find one of those old threads, you guys will see my point.
For everyone's sake and sanity, let's pray that Zorn is the real deal.
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 4:21 pm
by UK Skins Fan
Fios wrote:VetSkinsFan wrote:There's no reason to condemn them if they haven't done anything to earn it. Start Crying AFTER they screw up, don't damn then quite yet.
My sentiments as well
Exactly. We will have the whole of the rest of their lives to damn them. We may only have one season to support them...
If Meidt is going to be QB coach, I don't have a problem with his lack of NFL experience. I don't believe he needs NFL experience to teach the mechanics of throwing the football. Campbell does need help though, with reading defences and making decisions - I suspect that Zorn will be hands-on enough to help out on that side of things.
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 4:47 pm
by JansenFan
The one thin that's different between this and Spurrier is that Zorn takes over an offense with a bunch of really experienced guys. Guys like Buges and Rennie Simmons and even Greg Blache can help him with the learning curve. Spurrier brought in most of his collee coaching buddies that were just as clueless as he was.
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 5:13 pm
by SkinsFreak
JansenFan wrote:The one thin that's different between this and Spurrier is that Zorn takes over an offense with a bunch of really experienced guys. Guys like Buges and Rennie Simmons and even Greg Blache can help him with the learning curve. Spurrier brought in most of his collee coaching buddies that were just as clueless as he was.
That's exactly right. Buges has been a head coach for two different teams, as well as an assistant for this one for a long time. So Zorn certainly has some experienced staff to assist him.
And while it's true Meidt doesn't have NFL experience, the report on him is that he is a decent and well liked coach, albeit from a Division III school. But he is merely entering a role as an offensive assistant. It's not like he's going to be calling plays.
Zorn will most likely be calling plays and will be working with JC. Sherman and Mitchell have a lot of NFL experience and will probably work with the RB's, WR's and TE's, with Buges managing the line. All of them (Zorn, Mitchell, Sherman and Meidt) know the west coast system. So collectively, it appears Zorn has put together a decent offensive staff that he deems appropriate to effectively teach the system, which is what you want and would expect. I think Zorn and Mitchell will have the biggest impact with Sherman and Meidt assisting them. We all knew Zorn needed some help, and it appears he'll have it.
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 8:01 pm
by Sgraham
CanesSkins26 wrote:Redskin in Canada wrote:St Olaf. St Olaf ? St OLAF ???!!!
I did not know that there was such a Saint in history let alone a high school with that name.
If this was a huge gamble with an assistant of an assistant as HC, they just raised the bet a notch with two assistants with no NFL experience at all.
What? Are we going to move from the NFL East to play in the Big Ten next College season?
And I was asking in other threads for -experienced- assistant coaches to help Zorn ...
It is double or nothing on this bet !!!
And the guy that interviewed for the OC job has no prior experience in that position and has never called plays in the NFL. These guys all may be good coaches, but this is not a very experienced group that has been brought in so far.
Everyone is so pessimistic. Give the staff a chance! You guys kill me.
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 9:43 pm
by skinsfanpsu
i was listening to espn radio today when they were interviewing palermo, the new d-line coach who was hired by blache, not zorn. he didnt meet zorn until this week, and it seems like he has a lot of experience. He worked at notre dame, wisconsin with alvarez until he retired, miami, and many other places. He was d-line coach under coker until coker got fired, then moved to some small school in tennessee because that is where he is from and his family lived. he said that he had wanted to work in the NFL, but wasnt really interested in begging for a job. he was also a head coach/ or coordinator, i cant remember at some small lower division school, but said it wasnt for him.
one interesting thing is that he worked at miami the year that calais cambell did really well at the U. might be something to look into.
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 9:51 pm
by skinsfanpsu
sorry, i just saw there was another thread with this in it. will pay more attention next time