Where's the Love for Zorn?

By Broadside Staff Writer Tim Blank

I’ve been hearing a lot of people talking about the recent hire of Jim Zorn as the Washington Redskins’ new head coach. I find it very surprising that so many people do not think of this as a good hire by the Redskins.

So many people are asking why the Redskins didn’t hire former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams or former New York Giants Head Coach Jim Fassel. I for one don’t think those would have been good hires.

Consider Williams, a highly regarded defensive coordinator in the NFL whose head coaching experience is very uninspiring. In three seasons as head coach of the Buffalo Bills, Williams accrued an overall record of 17-31.
Not only that, but the last time the Redskins hired a coach from within, there were disastrous results.

In 1993, the first year after Joe Gibbs retired, Richie Petitbon was hired as head coach of the Redskins. Petitbon had been the defensive coordinator for the Redskins for years before. He took the job and in his one year as head coach, could only manage four wins, with a team that won a Super Bowl two years before.

Speaking of Super Bowls, what about Fassel? Yes, he went to the Super Bowl in 2000, and his career record is over the .500 point, but what about everything else? He’s been in Baltimore the last few years as offensive coordinator to one of the most inept offenses in the NFL. Not only that, only three of his seven years as head coach of the Giants were winning seasons. He is way too inconsistent to be known as a quality head coach.

Let’s look at the good points of Jim Zorn. First off, this is a guy that has worked exclusively with quarterbacks in all his time with Seattle. In short, he helped in the development of Matt Hasslebeck into one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL. A coach like him is needed to help in the maturity of Jason Campbell, to which he has already committed. It helps that Zorn himself was the original starting quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks in 1976, a job he held until 1984.

While some may question his lack of head coaching experience, I find it comforting that they are taking a chance on a guy that doesn’t have any experience. This is the first coach hired by owner Dan Snyder that doesn’t have any kind of head coaching experience at all, pro or college.
In addition to that, this team that Zorn is taking on has enough raw talent to make it back to the playoffs, maybe even make a deep run.

It’s not like when Andy Reid took over for the Philadelphia Eagles in 1999 where he had nothing. Zorn can be a successful coach for the Redskins and I think he will be.