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SKINSGRIDIRON EXCLUSIVESRedskins' New Head Coach Deserves a Fair Shake A Guest Column by Patrick Hite of ACCNation.com, Feb. 10, 2008 There won't be many happy Washington fans when it comes to Dan Snyder's latest hire. Bill Cowher or Pete Carroll would have been the sexy choice. Gregg Williams would have been the popular choice. Even Jim Spagnuolo would have been welcomed with open arms after what his Giants defense did to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. But Jim Zorn? The guy is a virtual unknown unless you've followed football for years and remember him as the Seattle Seahawks quarterback. The last seven years he's been the Seahawks' quarterbacks coach and many wonder if it is too much to ask Zorn to jump from position coach to head coach without a stop in between at offensive coordinator (well, except for a few weeks with the Redskins, but I'm not sure that counts). Editor's note: I'm positive those two weeks do not count! Does the name Andy Reid ring a bell? Reid made the same jump off of a Mike Holmgren staff, going from Green Bay to Philadelphia. That worked out pretty well. As long as Zorn doesn't have any kids that get thrown in the slammer, maybe things will turn out well for him, also. After all, Reid has been to four NFC championship games, which is four more than any coach Snyder has hired. Plus, there's the splash factor. Or, lack there of, in Zorn's case. Everything Snyder has done, seemingly, since arriving as owner has come with a big splash. Once he made the choice to get rid of Norv Turner, it's been one big name after another coaching the Redskins. How's that worked out? Zorn is more a ripple than a splash. Now, I'm not pretending that Zorn was Snyder's first choice. Or even second or third choice. But he ended up being the final choice and now the Redskins will go forward under his direction. I'm also not going to pretend to know much about this guy, except that, as a player, he threw the ball to Steve Largent a lot (and I'm old enough to remember him doing that) and as a coach he has helped develop Matt Hasselbeck into a pretty good quarterback. That could be good news for Jason Campbell. Joe Gibbs came out of nowhere when he got Washington's head-coaching job in 1981. That worked out OK. I'm not saying Zorn is Gibbs. Or even Reid. Maybe he's better. Maybe he's not. Maybe he's somewhere in between. Whichever it ends up being, Zorn deserves a chance now that he has the job. I'm willing to give it to him. Plus, he's not Jim Fassel. That has to be worth something. About Patrick Hite: In addition to being a life-long Washington Redskins fan, Patrick is co-host of the ACC Nation podcast and editor of ACCNation.com. |
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