| You gotta love the Redskins. There’s always
some sort of soap opera or melodrama playing out within the walls of team headquarters. Right
now, you’ve got an owner who desperately wants to become more involved in the
day-to-day football operations. Daniel Snyder took a step back this season, handing over
the reins of his prized franchise to Marty Schottenheimer.
But now, after Snyder came away unimpressed with an 8-8 campaign, he is toying with the
idea of another overhaul. The rumors are rampant about what will take place. There are
options that he is considering. While these options are certainly very interesting and
would put the franchise in the headlines nationwide, I don’t think they are in the
best interest of the team.
First off, Snyder is smitten with Steve Spurrier. The owner desperately wants the
ex-Gator to be his next coach. That, of course, would mean Schottenheimer would be fired.
Snyder also is considering hiring Bobby Beathard as the club’s general manager.
There is also the rumor that if Snyder is spurned by Spurrier, the Redskins would like
to lure current 49ers head coach Steve Mariucci to Washington. Mariucci is said to be
disillusioned by his lack of power in the personnel department because of the presence of
Bill Walsh and Terry Donahue.
So, while Snyder courts a new head coach, the current Redskins head coach must sit back
and watch, wondering what his future will be.
This is simply ludicrous.
Schottenheimer deserves to be retained. He deserves a chance to return. We’re not
talking about a coach who has failed to get the job done over the course of three or four
seasons. We’re talking about one season — that’s all that Schottenheimer
has had. To fire him now would be ridiculous.
Criticism of Schottenheimer is deserved. He got the team off to an 0-5 start. He
treated some future Hall of Famers with an alarming lack of respect. He made some poor
personnel decisions, most notably releasing FB Larry Centers and insisting that Jeff
George could run his offensive system. Mistakes, all of them. Schottenheimer has even
admitted he didn’t do everything right in his debut season.
But how can you ignore the dramatic turnaround in the second half of the season? After
that abysmal start, the Redskins won five in a row and climbed back into playoff
contention. Ultimately, the Redskins won eight of their final 11 games. That’s a
great finish. Washington wound up 8-8 and out of the postseason, but it posted a better
record than the 7-9 Giants, last year’s NFC champion.
Perhaps even more compelling is the fact that Schottenheimer has won over most of the
players. After a near mutiny early on, the team came to believe in its head coach. Many
players — including up-and-coming team leader LaVar Arrington — have voiced
support for Schottemheimer’s return. The young linebacker believes that the strong
finish could pave the way for a strong start next year. He wants to keep this thing
rolling.
The Redskins might be able to parlay some of this year’s late-season success into
a strong showing next season. The Bears closed strong last season, and look where
they’re at now.
But if Snyder decides to monkey around with this thing, the Redskins will be back at
square one. They will be starting over with a new coach and a new system and new rules. We
saw how hard it was for this team to adapt to all of these new things last season. Why
would Snyder want to go through that again?
I’ll tell you why. He wants to be involved. He wants to help make the football
decisions. Well, Snyder may get part of what he wants — to be involved. But I'll bet
he would come a lot closer to winning that Lombardi Trophy he aches for by keeping the
status quo. |
