Where Are They Now? Bobby Beathard

MR Historian · 07-11-09, 10:29 AM

Bobby Beathard

Legendary Redskins GM Still a California Dreamer

Once a Southern Californian, always a Southern Californian.

Bobby Beathard, the legendary ex-Redskins general manager and a key architect of the franchise’s glory years in the 1980s and early-90s, would have it no other way. He grew up in El Segundo, Calif., near Los Angeles and now lives in retirement in Encinitas right on the Pacific coast about 30 miles north of San Diego. “I just walk down my stairs into the sand and right out to the water,” he said.

Can’t beat that for convenience to reach the ocean waves, where Beathard body surfs and even enters an annual body surfing contest in the nearby town of Oceanside. It helps that the 72-year-old man is in superb physical condition thanks to an exercise routine that includes running and mountain biking. Sounds so apropos for the California dreamer who once dreamed of big things in the nation’s capital, and made many of them come true.

But Beathard didn’t fit the portrait of an NFL general manager. Not with his blond pageboy haircut, playful smile, California surfer-boy image, laid back, soft-spoken demeanor, and work attire that often consisted of short-sleeved shirts, shorts and jogging shoes.

Such an innocent appearance belied the real Bobby Beathard, a magician when it came to making player personnel decisions and uncovering talent, some of it in the most obscure places. And it’s no stretch to say he was the best ever at his craft. In a career that spanned four decades, he was a player personnel executive on teams that made seven Super Bowl appearances.

His era of greatest fame was as the Redskins’ general manager from 1978 to 1989, a stretch when they played in three Super Bowls and won twice: XVII and XXII. The Sporting News named Beathard NFL Executive of the Year in those two Super Bowl-winning seasons. The Redskins also captured Super Bowl XXVI with a squad heavily assembled on his watch. “In the NFL, there’s no Midas, just Beathard,” the Redskins once wrote of their astute personnel man.

“He’s the best general manager in the history of the National Football League,” said former Redskins general manager Charley Casserly, who succeeded Beathard after being on his staff for 11 seasons in Washington. “I was lucky enough to work for people like him. Bobby was a great human being, excellent eye for talent, very easy to get along with, would listen to you, encouraged you to have your own opinion. He would think outside the box and was very aggressive in his way of doing things.”

Former Redskins superstar receiver Gary Clark, who played for Division I-AA James Madison and was not picked in the primary NFL draft in 1984, was one of those so-called diamonds in the rough unearthed by Beathard. He called Beathard the “standard of GMs.”

“If every other GM could have the type of illustrious career Bobby Beathard had, you’d be talking about them,” Clark said.

In his remarkable NFL journey, Beathard also worked in the front office in Kansas City, Miami, San Diego and Atlanta. He was a scout for a Chiefs team that lost to Green Gay in Super Bowl I; the player personnel director for a Dolphins squad that finished 17-0 in 1972 and beat the Redskins in Super Bowl VII, then captured another Super Bowl a year later; and the general manager for a Chargers team that lost to San Francisco in Super Bowl XXIX.
Beathard retired from the NFL following a front-office stint with the Falcons in 2003. He and his wife, Christine, now spend a lot of time traversing the country visiting their family of four children and 13 grandchildren. Of Beathard’s three boys, Kurt is the quarterbacks coach at the University of Illinois, Jeff is a scout with the Carolina Panthers and Casey is an award-winning country songwriter.

BGO’s Mike Richman recently caught up with Bobby Beathard.

How much do you miss the Redskins’ glory days in the 1980s when the Joe Gibbs-coached team played in three Super Bowls and won twice while you were the GM?

“Everything has changed so much since we were there. I still kind of feel, `Boy, we were in it at the greatest time.’ As you get older you think of that, and of all the organizations and teams I’ve been with, our best memories of being in the National Football League were back there. It’s not only the success we enjoyed, but it was the people, the enthusiasm for the Redskins and Washington, Virginia, Maryland, that whole area. It doesn’t compare to any place I’ve been. Out here in San Diego, we had a couple of good years. We went to a Super Bowl and San Diego’s a great place, but the fan intensity and everything about fans out here doesn’t compare to Redskin fans. I think that whole (NFC East), each time we’d go to an away game, I mean it is rabid back there. So that was really exciting, and I think nothing that I’ve been involved with compares, even being with (Hall of Fame coach) Don Shula those years in Miami. That was terrific. But the Redskins are something different. We still go back there about four times a year to see our neighbors. I still keep in touch with coach Gibbs, went to a NASCAR race recently. So it was a lot of fun, a lot of great people we met, a lot of friends that we have back there. It’s something I was really, really fortunate to have experienced.”

Many people believe you’re the greatest GM in NFL history. What do you think when people say that?

“I don’t take people too seriously when they say that. That’s very nice of them to say that. Maybe they have short memories, I don’t know. It’s kind of embarrassing sometimes when people talk like that. But it’s a great complement. There were so many neat people to work with (in Washington) that don’t get the credit that the general manager gets. (Redskins owner) Jack Kent Cooke was just phenomenal. When Joe Gibbs went 0-5 in his first season in 1981, Cooke was ready to fire both of us. I just said, `Hey, Mr. Cooke, just let us do it our way, and if we can’t do it, fire us. If we win, then we’re okay.’ He held to that. He never interfered. We’d always pass things by him. He was a fantastic owner.”

Do you think you deserve to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame?

“Oh God, please don’t ask me that. Even if it ever became a reality, I hate giving speeches. When I was inducted into the Cal-Poly (San Luis Obispo) Hall of Fame, and I played football with John Madden all through our Cal-Poly years, I couldn’t go but I was so happy that I couldn’t go. I asked John if he’d give my speech, and he did.”

You’ve been away from the NFL since 2003. Do you miss being a general manager or having a front office role?

“No. Not really. We have so many grandkids and kids. It’s time in our lives we felt, `Hey, let’s enjoy this … I love the work, and it didn’t seem that I ever had a job except when doing contract negotiations, which I didn’t like. But no, I miss a lot of the people, and we still talk to people at different teams, probably a few times a week. But it’s really fun now, it’s just a different part of our lives, seeing grandkids grow up. That’s why we bought a little place in Franklin, Tennessee, and we’ll be there the whole football season. That way, we can see our three grandsons in Tennessee play. We can drive up to Illinois, where Kurt coaches, to see a couple of their games. We can drive to Virginia to see Jeff’s two boys play. So it’s kind of neat. I love watching football, and there a lot of things you do miss. We had a great time. We were lucky.”

In 2001, you spoke with Snyder about possibly returning to the Redskins but backed out of any potential deal. How would you feel if Snyder called today and asked if you wanted to be a GM or consultant?

“I don’t think he would. I think I’d be the last one he’d call. But the problem I would have is I’d want to be able to control the scouting staff. That would be important. I’m not knocking their scouting staff. I don’t know who they are. I don’t know everybody they have.”

When Joe Gibbs returned to Washington in 2004 after an 11-season layoff, expectations were sky-high that he’d take the Redskins back to the Super Bowl. He reached the playoffs twice in four seasons but his overall record was below .500. Did he taint his legacy of the amazing things he accomplished in his first stint as Redskins coach, including winning three Super Bowls with three different quarterbacks?

“No. I would argue that anyone who thinks so is wrong. Because I’ve been with Joe, I know exactly how he operates. And I think it might be a little bit more difficult to do it today with all the new rules and everything. We could draft guys, we could get them ready and keep them. Today, you can’t keep everybody. We had a fantastic staff. I think Dan Snyder did the right thing. The fire’s always going in Washington for the Redskins, but he probably stoked it more bringing Joe back. Being out for that long, it’s tough to get back in and realize the game’s a little different. But I don’t think it should diminish his reputation for what he did. That was just remarkable. Being around Don Shula and being around Joe, they’re just amazing coaches the way they handled people. It was really a great experience to be around those guys and see how they did it.”

What was great about your relationship with Gibbs?

“Joe said you get the players, and we’ll coach them. We always had the coaches look at all of the tapes of the guys we were interested in and go out with us and work them. Joe would have felt uncomfortable if he had to pick the players because he didn’t see as much of them as we did. Sometimes organizations are set up where the coach has a little too much power. There should be a relationship where the personnel people and the coach are really together. We knew exactly what type of player each Redskin position coach wanted. We knew what kind (offensive line coach) Joe Bugel wanted, we knew what kind (linebackers coach) Larry Peccatiello, (defensive coordinator) Richie Petitbon wanted. I think on our first Super Bowl team we had 26 kids who weren’t drafted, we just signed them as free agents. It didn’t matter who we brought in. Those guys coached the dog out of them. When I was with (head coach) Kevin Gilbride in San Diego, he’d make up his mind before he even got to minicamp, `I don’t want that guy, I don’t want this guy, I don’t want that guy.’ And it became impossible to satisfy him with anybody. The exact opposite was Joe and his staff. Having a staff like that really helps the organization. I don’t remember Jack Kent Cooke ever coming to the draft. And we’d always call him and tell him who we were looking at and who we were going to get. He never said, ‘I want to get this guy or that guy.’ I don’t know about sitting in with owners. Having a say in who you take is not their strong suit.”

Current Redskins Executive VP of Football Operations Vinny Cerrato often says his philosophy is to draft the best player on the board. Do you agree with that?

“I do, but I wouldn’t have been comfortable with taking players I hadn’t seen personally or hadn’t done a lot of tape work on. You should always know the weaknesses and strengths of your scouts, and luckily they knew my weaknesses and strengths because in our meetings I would always encourage these guys, `Hey, look, if I’m pretty excited about a player, and you guys disagree, say Bobby you’re full of it. Let’s go back and look at the tape of this guy. He’s not what you think.’ So as long as the guys feel that way and can say those things, then it really helped us make better decisions. Sometimes you get into that situation when you have the philosophy which we did, you have to take the best one on the board, regardless of position. We always hoped when we picked there would be two or three good players available at different positions, so you’d at least get to take closer to your need. But if there’s just one there, and he’s outstanding, and you have a great grade on the guy and the next athlete on the board doesn’t have that kind of grade, you have to go with the highest-graded player.”

Toward the end of last season, media were speculating that the job of first-year coach Jim Zorn was on the line when the Redskins lost five of six games to fall to 7-7 and were no longer a serious contender in the playoff race. What do you think of the Redskins’ decision not to let him go?

“That’s a tough decision in a lot of cases. To go against the fan base. Sometimes you know more than the fans do, you know what the guy’s like inside, you know where you are. Maybe you want to say, `Let’s go through another draft and see where we can patch up a few things and give him another chance.’ That’s what usually happens in those cases. I’ve been in places where you give a guy one more year and see what happens, and it might turn around.”

The Redskins signed free agent defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth in March for $100 million over seven years, making him one of the highest-paid players in NFL history. What do you think of Dan Snyder shelling out big bucks for a marquee free agent such as Haynesworth? Is that the right approach to take in today’s day and age of unfettered free agency?

“Philosophical difference. We were among the teams that believed you build through the draft. You draft the most important players, then you fill in the holes with them. You may get burned with free agents. If you’re wrong, it kills you in the salary cap. I think there’s reason to be more conservative and hope you can get you’re real foundation through the draft. You don’t have to look at free agency as a feeding frenzy and sign every big name you can because a lot of guys change with big money. So our approach would be a little different.”

Did you follow the Redskins’ efforts to trade Jason Campbell for Denver QB Jay Cutler, who was instead dealt to the Bears?

“I didn’t, but I love Jay Cutler. When I saw him leave Denver, I said, `Oh my God … this guy is a really special quarterback.’ The Bears were fortunate. I was just with (NFL coaches) Ernie Zampese, Mike Martz and a bunch of guys, and we got on the subject of Cutler. They raved the same as I did about the guy. I don’t know how anybody could get rid of a Jay Cutler. But you never know what goes on. If the Redskins had Jay Cutler on their mind, they were surely going the right way in my opinion.”

Did the Redskins’ front office alienate Campbell by first trying to trade him for Cutler, then seriously considering drafting superstar USC quarterback Mark Sanchez?

“A player has to get by that. A lot of times there are going to be just exploratory trade talks. And you find out, `Okay, here’s a guy maybe if we got the right players we’d do the trade, but we still don’t want to lose him unless it’s a blockbuster deal,’ and maybe they just had feelers out there like you do about a lot of players. Then sometimes you think this is going to be very delicate if this player finds out. Even though you don’t really want to lose him, you could afford to lose him if you got something special for him. But I think players have to get by that. Some get their feelings hurt when their name is thrown out there but some of them say, `Hey, that’s part of the game. I’m still here, and I’m going to work my butt off and be ready.’ (Campbell’s) their leader, he’s their quarterback. He can’t let that bother him because when it bothers him, it’s going to bother the team.”

How far away do you think the Redskins are from being one of the premier teams in the NFL?

“I don’t know how far they are. I always hope they can do well. I’d love to see that for the town, and it’s such an exciting sight during football season when they’re doing well. We get the NFL package and watch most of the Redskin games, and it’s great to see when they win. I’d love to see them take the NFC and go all the way. That would be a thrill to anybody that’s been a Redskin.”

Om · 07-11-09, 11:41 AM

What a treat that was to read. Thanks MIke.

Some very interesting answers in there from Bobby that will make for lively discussion. Looking forward to it ...

MR Historian · 07-11-09, 01:13 PM

Thanks, Mark! He was so cool during the interview. I think his level-headed demeanor probably played a key role in making him a success during his GM days.

beamish · 07-15-09, 01:18 PM

i wish i could ask bobby how he found a joe jacoby, darrell green, gary clark, et al. if he has a system that uncovers these diamonds, i wish snyderatto would buy him lunch and pick his brain. hell, i'd pick up the tab!

Jimbo · 07-16-09, 04:39 PM

As ridiculous as it sounds, I blamed (and hated) Bobby for Jack Pardee's firing after the 1980 season. Then again, I was among those that wanted Gibbs fired after going 0-5 in 1981.

Thankfully, I saw the error of my ways on both counts.

This article makes me like Bobby even more. Glad he's enjoying his retirement. He's earned it. Thanks Mike!!!

MR Historian · 07-16-09, 11:27 PM

Thanks, Jimbo!

LegionOfDoom · 07-17-09, 10:26 AM

Awesome article I didn't know he was apart of so many Super Bowl teams!
Posted via BGO Mobile Device

MikeSr619 · 07-17-09, 11:27 AM

Just like they used to call us the Jet-Skins for a bit I used to call them DC West when Bobby took them to the Super Bowl with Stan Humphries were on the team.

Redskins14to13 · 07-21-09, 12:36 AM

"I don’t know about sitting in with owners. Having a say in who you take is not their strong suit.”
Hmmm...You hear that Vinny and Dan?

Ax · 07-22-09, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beamish

i wish snyderatto would buy him lunch and pick his brain. hell, i'd pick up the tab!

No doubt. One question might be, "What was the bigger waste, the 2nd rounder used to pick up Jason Taylor, or the 2nd rounder used to draft Tory Nixon?

Hey Mr. H, do you have the breakdown on Beathard's drafts?
Like what next years 1st did he use to get ______?
That sort of stuff.

Boone · 07-22-09, 06:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeSr619

Just like they used to call us the Jet-Skins for a bit I used to call them DC West when Bobby took them to the Super Bowl with Stan Humphries were on the team.

I haven't thought of Stan Humphries in years - man I loved that guy