Your Least Favorite Washington HC of the last 30 Years

[NickyJ]

I never see people talk about this but I actually think the Beck hype from Shanahan was fake as hell and they were slyly tanking for Luck, organizationally. Griffin emerged and made the top of the 2012 draft extra enticing, and we didn’t quite make it to #1 for Luck, but it was close and he was hyped from a mile away as worth tanking for, while the Colts came out of nowhere as a horrible team also due to horrific starting QBing with Manning out. They almost nailed it.

Shanahan would never openly tank during games, no coach would, but he still had power over Bruce Allen at that point and I think he tanked the way that GM’s do: setting up the roster to fail and then watching the coaching staff try to coach the hell out of it anyways every week.

And it almost worked (and still kind of did bc Griffin as a consolation prize at the time was genius).

I've wondered if tanking was the plan, but if it was, man did he miscalculate when it came to losing the next 2 years of first round draft picks.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

I've wondered if tanking was the plan, but if it was, man did he miscalculate when it came to losing the next 2 years of first round draft picks.

I'm still not sure that he did. I think if you have a shot at a QB and you don't have one, you take it. Shrug. We needed a QB.

The problem was the combination of Snyder + Griffin's immaturity and dumb ass dad was the never going to work.

I actually wonder if somehow the Colts had fallen in love with Griffin, and we had gotten Luck, how different things would have been. Because Luck came without the Griffin baggage. And I think he would have worked with Shanahan, and while Snyder would have tried to interfere, I don't think it would have been anywhere near as explosive.

But we're way off topic.

Jay is the biggest dumbass coach we've had.

 

[NickyJ]

I'm not saying the trade was bad. It sucked how everything after it was handled, but acquiring a franchise QB is priceless.

But if the goal was to tank for a franchise QB, tanking and then still needing to trade the farm's future is a failed tank job.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

I'm not saying the trade was bad. It sucked how everything after it was handled, but acquiring a franchise QB is priceless.

But if the goal was to tank for a franchise QB, tanking and then still needing to trade the farm's future is a failed tank job.

Ah, yes. I see your point and you’re 100% right about that

 

[Boone]

For me, I can't really understand anyone choosing someone OTHER than Steve Spurrier. Not only was he clueless (2 words: Danny Wuerffel) but you just got the sense he really didn't particularly care how the team played. I understand Zorn was a bad hire, but he did at least get the team to .500 and gadget plays aside, he tried and at least had an NFL background. It's got to be Spurrier.

Most annoying HC in recent memory for me is Ron Rivera. I think Ron is a decent human being, but his cliches as he was 'learning and growing' were just excruciating to listen to. He also made a lot of excuses for poor coaching and poor execution. I never bought into him being a 'great leader'. Good man, but a very overrated coach. That was true in Carolina, and it was true in Washington. Most annoying - Mike Shanahan runs a close 2nd. Because - Mike Shanahan.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

For me, I can't really understand anyone choosing someone OTHER than Steve Spurrier. Not only was he clueless (2 words: Danny Wuerffel) but you just got the sense he really didn't particularly care how the team played. I understand Zorn was a bad hire, but he did at least get the team to .500 and gadget plays aside, he tried and at least had an NFL background. It's got to be Spurrier.

Most annoying HC in recent memory for me is Ron Rivera. I think Ron is a decent human being, but his cliches as he was 'learning and growing' were just excruciating to listen to. He also made a lot of excuses for poor coaching and poor execution. I never bought into him being a 'great leader'. Good man, but a very overrated coach. That was true in Carolina, and it was true in Washington. Most annoying - Mike Shanahan runs a close 2nd. Because - Mike Shanahan.

I have a real sore spot with yuk-yuk-yuk nepo baby Jay Gruden. He just had the most punchable face. HIs blend of arrogance, stupidity, incompetence and I really don't think he was a good dude come together as my least favorite coach. As I said earlier, I don't think he's necessarily the worst, but he's my least favorite. By a mile.

I don't understand why the Washington media has done an image rehabilitation on him, but they have. It's bizarre to me. His teams lacked leadership and underperformed. He was quick to take credit for personnel "wins" and then blame "losses" on others.

His biggest success here was with Kirk and McVay. When McVay left, the wheels started to come off, when Kirk left, we saw what he really was.

He was just a schmuck.

Spurrier was just a bad hire and was uninterested. He said up front that he wanted to see what his offense with his players looked like in the NFL. That's really all he cared about. He made no bones about it. It didn't work, and he quit. Shrug. I also really believe if he put his mind to it, and really wanted to succeed and grind and work, he would have been able to do so. He is a really smart football guy. He just didn't want to.

It was Dan's biggest mistake as an owner to fire Marty to hire Dan.

Zorn was the worst coach.

Jay is my least favorite.

 

[skinsmarydu]

Well, I'm a Native Gator. Born in Orlando, the land of Goofy. Spurrier was our God, and my time after the Navy in Jax was da shit. We were battling FSU and their asshole coach.

But from what I read at the time, he couldn't command a locker room. Players late for meetings, etc. Did not expect that from him. He lost my respect in rapid fashion.

 

[SkinsNumberOne]

For me, I can't really understand anyone choosing someone OTHER than Steve Spurrier. Not only was he clueless (2 words: Danny Wuerffel) but you just got the sense he really didn't particularly care how the team played. I understand Zorn was a bad hire, but he did at least get the team to .500 and gadget plays aside, he tried and at least had an NFL background. It's got to be Spurrier.

Most annoying HC in recent memory for me is Ron Rivera. I think Ron is a decent human being, but his cliches as he was 'learning and growing' were just excruciating to listen to. He also made a lot of excuses for poor coaching and poor execution. I never bought into him being a 'great leader'. Good man, but a very overrated coach. That was true in Carolina, and it was true in Washington. Most annoying - Mike Shanahan runs a close 2nd. Because - Mike Shanahan.

I am 10000% on board with you. I had written a similar post about Spurrier but then I got distracted in memory lane, thinking of how amazing those teams were.

I mean, you're talking "the Wuerff," Jacquez Green,.. I think my distraction was trying to remember the last guy. I just looked it up (I gave up). Reidel Anthony! The MVP of the group by a LONG shot was Shane Matthews. Enough said.

Anyone who is that convinced that he can just bring the guys who knew his system and weren't "NFL caliber" but it was all the other systems' fault??? The arrogance. It's amazing. A match made in heaven for Synder's foolish arrogance.

Spurrier is #1 on the worst hire. I can see Zorn being the least qualified but we have to remember, the jig was up for Snyder; he just couldn't hire anyone else. Zorn was a horrible hire, but Spurrier's collection of Forida players and the results... however, I like VoR's qualification on the thread's actual question, "least favorite." That's a tough one. That's more personal. I think I will probably lean Spurrier here too, because there were many really bad hires that Snyder made. For me, it will be about what hire was the worst move for the team, and there I believe Zorn and Spurrier were the worst moves for the team, but Spurrier gets the nod for his attitude (supreme arrogance and laziness) and actions (ex-Florida players who in his eyes just needed his scheme) - that guaranteed it for me.

 

[RexTomb]

I am 10000% on board with you. I had written a similar post about Spurrier but then I got distracted in memory lane, thinking of how amazing those teams were.

I mean, you're talking "the Wuerff," Jacquez Green,.. I think my distraction was trying to remember the last guy. I just looked it up (I gave up). Reidel Anthony! The MVP of the group by a LONG shot was Shane Matthews. Enough said.

Anyone who is that convinced that he can just bring the guys who knew his system and weren't "NFL caliber" but it was all the other systems' fault??? The arrogance. It's amazing. A match made in heaven for Synder's foolish arrogance.

Spurrier is #1 on the worst hire. I can see Zorn being the least qualified but we have to remember, the jig was up for Snyder; he just couldn't hire anyone else. Zorn was a horrible hire, but Spurrier's collection of Forida players and the results... however, I like VoR's qualification on the thread's actual question, "least favorite." That's a tough one. That's more personal. I think I will probably lean Spurrier here too, because there were many really bad hires that Snyder made. For me, it will be about what hire was the worst move for the team, and there I believe Zorn and Spurrier were the worst moves for the team, but Spurrier gets the nod for his attitude (supreme arrogance and laziness) and actions (ex-Florida players who in his eyes just needed his scheme) - that guaranteed it for me.

I still remember Spurrier’s “fun and gun” offense was so hyped up. And he brought in Danny Weurfle to run it and by midseason we had a QB carousel and he was often spotted out on the golf course during the practice week. Those were some dark days.

 

[RexTomb]

I am 10000% on board with you. I had written a similar post about Spurrier but then I got distracted in memory lane, thinking of how amazing those teams were.

I mean, you're talking "the Wuerff," Jacquez Green,.. I think my distraction was trying to remember the last guy. I just looked it up (I gave up). Reidel Anthony! The MVP of the group by a LONG shot was Shane Matthews. Enough said.

Anyone who is that convinced that he can just bring the guys who knew his system and weren't "NFL caliber" but it was all the other systems' fault??? The arrogance. It's amazing. A match made in heaven for Synder's foolish arrogance.

Spurrier is #1 on the worst hire. I can see Zorn being the least qualified but we have to remember, the jig was up for Snyder; he just couldn't hire anyone else. Zorn was a horrible hire, but Spurrier's collection of Forida players and the results... however, I like VoR's qualification on the thread's actual question, "least favorite." That's a tough one. That's more personal. I think I will probably lean Spurrier here too, because there were many really bad hires that Snyder made. For me, it will be about what hire was the worst move for the team, and there I believe Zorn and Spurrier were the worst moves for the team, but Spurrier gets the nod for his attitude (supreme arrogance and laziness) and actions (ex-Florida players who in his eyes just needed his scheme) - that guaranteed it for me.

Don't forget Trung Candidate. Dude was a monster /sarcasm

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Well, I'm a Native Gator. Born in Orlando, the land of Goofy. Spurrier was our God, and my time after the Navy in Jax was da shit. We were battling FSU and their asshole coach.

But from what I read at the time, he couldn't command a locker room. Players late for meetings, etc. Did not expect that from him. He lost my respect in rapid fashion.

He really didn't want to be a head coach. He wanted to the be the passing game coordinator, but clearly coming off of being the HC at Florida, wasn't going to take that kind of a demotion.

He got his $5m/year. He handed the defense over to other people and tried to coach his QB/WRs. At one point he even said "I work with the QBs and WRs." He really had no interest in anything other than seeing if his passing game would work in the NFL.

As an aside, one of the funniest sports things I've ever heard was the "12 days of Spurrier" on SportsTalk 980, or whatever they were called back then. I don't remember who put it together, but the "5 golden rings" was "5 million a years" and I think 8 was "8 former gators" and 9 was something like "9 eagles gassed." (There was some disturbance at FedEx during the Eagles game and the team had to leave the sideline because of something. I think my favorite might have been "4 ways to say Darnerien" (For Darnerien McCants, each time it came up, they edited Spurrier saying his name differently. It was comic gold.

I don't remember all of them. I have, at different points through the years to see if anybody at the station still has a copy but I haven't gotten anywhere.

 

[SkinsFTW]

Well if I have to pick least favorite it's got to be Riverboat Ron. I picked Spurrier for the worst but at least Spurrier quit and gave up 15M dollars because he knew that he wasn't going to put in the effort. Ron also didn't put in the effort but still dragged all of us through a full contract worth of his idiocy picking players worse than my dog or anyone's pet would have randomly. Spurrier had nothing to do with the team being named Commanders either.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Well if I have to pick least favorite it's got to be Riverboat Ron. I picked Spurrier for the worst but at least Spurrier quit and gave up 15M dollars because he knew that he wasn't going to put in the effort. Ron also didn't put in the effort but still dragged all of us through a full contract worth of his idiocy picking players worse than my dog or anyone's pet would have randomly. Spurrier had nothing to do with the team being named Commanders either.

I give Ron a little bit of credit for having to deal with an enormous amount of crap during his tenure that he shouldn't have had to deal with:
1. Cancer
2. COVID
3. Social justice stuff
4. All the sexual harassment/culture stuff Dan had done which was coming due
5. Ugly sale of the team
6. Really having to be the only adult in the room because Dan was a mess and Jason Wright was incompetent.

So, given all of those factors, I slide him above some of the other morons on the list. His personnel decisions probably were the worst of the lot of them. And by the end, he assembled probably the least qualified coaching staff in the NFL.

But he was running up hill pushing a boulder, so I give him an inch more latitude than I do some others.

 

[prodigy]

I give Zorn a pass because he was a victim of the situation Snyder put him in. he was never intended to be a head coach...it just ended up that way because Snyder couldn't find a head coach. the worst coach is, undoubtedly, Spurrier. Spurrier is made worse given the fact that shotty seemed like he had turned a corner with the team, but got fired because Snyder's ego was bruised.

 

[prodigy]

I give Zorn a pass because he was a victim of the situation Snyder put him in. he was never intended to be a head coach...it just ended up that way because Snyder couldn't find a head coach. the worst coach is, undoubtedly, Spurrier. Spurrier is made worse given the fact that shotty seemed like he had turned a corner with the team, but got fired because Snyder's ego was bruised.

on second thought...I forgot Zorn said "maroon and black" and "keeping it medium" and tried to bring back the "hip hip hooray" celebration. that cheer made me cringe so much. I may change my choice of least favorite on those points alone....ugh, but I hated spurrier so much. tough decisions...

 

[ArtMonkWasMyHero]

on second thought...I forgot Zorn said "maroon and black" and "keeping it medium" and tried to bring back the "hip hip hooray" celebration. that cheer made me cringe so much. I may change my choice of least favorite on those points alone....ugh, but I hated spurrier so much. tough decisions...

I got a kick out of the cheer because it was so cornball. It fit Zorn well as he is a bit of a choir boy. And I dare say that in the beginning, the players liked it too.

Zorn was/is not HC material. But he was an accidental HC. He really kept his cool as the Sword of Dannycles was above him. Bruce's first act was to can him as they got off the plane in the wee hours. Not cool. Zorn left with his dignity intact and found other work in football. Danny and Bruce continued to destroy the Redskins and ultimately destroyed themselves.

I would never recommend or hire Jim Zorn as a HC. But he was a pretty good QB back in the day and as much as I know him- admittedly not very much- seems like a good man. Several times, I used him as an example of dignity and class under immense pressure for my then toddler son. The man is a saint compared to many of the cretins who were haunting Redskins Park at the time.

 

[Boone]

People say Zorn 'wasn't a head coach' and never could be. I sometimes wonder if that is fair or even true? For the complete clueless loser we describe him as, he had some early success. The guy was a relative star QB in the NFL. We talk about him so disrespectfully, as if he had no idea what winning in the NFL took. I'm pretty sure he knew. I'm not saying he was going to be Joe Gibbs - but Gibbs had people calling for his firing early on. A lot of people.

Gibbs himself in his 2nd stint could barely eek out winning seasons with Snyder as the owner and with no GM to help guide him.

I'm just saying, the Zorn scorn, mostly based on some unfortunate word choices, is a little much.

 

[burgold]

Honestly, Shanny was the coach that frustrated me the most. Looking back, it's even worse. With that coaching staff there was no excuse to be that horrificly bad. His neglect of the defense, both on the coaching side and talent side was all but malicious. He was just there to cash a check.

 

[Darc Requiem]

Shanahan. Not only did he underperform but his total lack of accountability leaves me sour on him til this day. A few years after he was gone, he had all the press believing that every thing that went wrong was someone elses fault. The switch from the 4-3 to 3-4 on defense comes to immediate mind. Plus the endless leaks from the locker room than magically disappeared when he was gone. That dude is a disengenous rat. Spurrier and Zorn were what I expected. Spurrier was never going to put the hours in needed at the NFL level. Zorn was supposed to be the OC for Fassel and Danny boy panicked at the fan reaction to Fassel. Rivera was an awful GM but I don't think he's a bad person. I live in the Charlotte area. Whatever his faults as a coach/GM, he wasn't a bad guy. Shanahan...eff that guy.

 

[NickyJ]

I give Zorn a pass because he was a victim of the situation Snyder put him in. he was never intended to be a head coach...it just ended up that way because Snyder couldn't find a head coach. the worst coach is, undoubtedly, Spurrier. Spurrier is made worse given the fact that shotty seemed like he had turned a corner with the team, but got fired because Snyder's ego was bruised.

You shouldn't hold "maroon and black" against Zorn. It was a prophesy that took 14 years to fulfill.