Is Jim Zorn lucky or should we feel sorry for him?
He’s was lucky to be in the right place at the right time to get his dream job as a head coach in the NFL. As with all dreams come true, there is a catch. His job is with Book’em Dano Snyder, who thinks he can run a team better than any of the NFL professionals. Dano has a history liking stars – see Steve Spurier under over paid coaching hires. Zorn was a nice player in his day but no star outside of a few places in Washington. Unfortunately, we’re talking the state of Washington, not DC.
Zorn took an interesting and unusual route to get to the right place at the right time. He’s never been a head coach. After quarterbacking Seattle well for years, he was a coach at two WAC colleges, Boise State (1989-91) and Utah State (92-94). Then he moved on to the Big Ten at Minnesota (95-96). Now Minnesota has never been known as Quarterback U, but the WAC is one of the most exciting offensive leagues in college football. Wouldn’t it be nice if he still has some of the plays Boise State used to upset Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl 2 years ago.
What worries me is the way that Book’em Dano conducted his search for a new coach. Dano hired Zorn as an offensive coordinator first. So whoever he planned to hired as the new coach would not have an option to bring in his own man and/or style. Dano then eliminate the obvious choice of defensive coordinator Gregg Williams for reasons never explained, which leads many to believe that he was looking for another “yes” man. Head of Football Operations Vinny Cerrato is the original.
If you ever get a chance to read the Dano’s bio on Zorn, it is easy to understand why he was hired. According to the Redskins, Zorn is the reason that Seattle’s Tim Hasselbeck is a successful NFL quarterback. The job Zorn choose to accept is to turn Jason Campbell into a successful quarterback. A task that Joe Gibbs and his staff couldn’t complete.
Everything points to Zorn being a good guy. He is talkative with the press and it sounds like the players truly like him. However, being a good guy means nothing. Wins and only wins count as a head coach in the NFL. Those over price players will quit on him if he doesn’t put them in position to win games.
I am not so concern with the big question is Zorn ready to be a head coach. Actually, I like the idea that the Redskins didn’t hire a retread old head coach. This despite the fact last year’s Super Bowl teams were both coached by retreads.
Fresh blood is a bold move, but very risky for even the best organizations. Since Dano took over the Redskins in 1999, the Redskins have never been accused of being a well oiled machine on the field or especially in the front office. This is not Jack Kent Cooke and Bobby Beathard, but Dano and Vinny.
Usually such a move brings in a bright, young innovative coach, like, Joe Gibbs. Zorn maybe bright but he is not young (55) and the West Coast Offense is now standard not innovative
Let’s hope that Jim Zorn is lucky and good.
He’s was lucky to be in the right place at the right time to get his dream job as a head coach in the NFL. As with all dreams come true, there is a catch. His job is with Book’em Dano Snyder, who thinks he can run a team better than any of the NFL professionals. Dano has a history liking stars – see Steve Spurier under over paid coaching hires. Zorn was a nice player in his day but no star outside of a few places in Washington. Unfortunately, we’re talking the state of Washington, not DC.
Zorn took an interesting and unusual route to get to the right place at the right time. He’s never been a head coach. After quarterbacking Seattle well for years, he was a coach at two WAC colleges, Boise State (1989-91) and Utah State (92-94). Then he moved on to the Big Ten at Minnesota (95-96). Now Minnesota has never been known as Quarterback U, but the WAC is one of the most exciting offensive leagues in college football. Wouldn’t it be nice if he still has some of the plays Boise State used to upset Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl 2 years ago.
What worries me is the way that Book’em Dano conducted his search for a new coach. Dano hired Zorn as an offensive coordinator first. So whoever he planned to hired as the new coach would not have an option to bring in his own man and/or style. Dano then eliminate the obvious choice of defensive coordinator Gregg Williams for reasons never explained, which leads many to believe that he was looking for another “yes” man. Head of Football Operations Vinny Cerrato is the original.
If you ever get a chance to read the Dano’s bio on Zorn, it is easy to understand why he was hired. According to the Redskins, Zorn is the reason that Seattle’s Tim Hasselbeck is a successful NFL quarterback. The job Zorn choose to accept is to turn Jason Campbell into a successful quarterback. A task that Joe Gibbs and his staff couldn’t complete.
Everything points to Zorn being a good guy. He is talkative with the press and it sounds like the players truly like him. However, being a good guy means nothing. Wins and only wins count as a head coach in the NFL. Those over price players will quit on him if he doesn’t put them in position to win games.
I am not so concern with the big question is Zorn ready to be a head coach. Actually, I like the idea that the Redskins didn’t hire a retread old head coach. This despite the fact last year’s Super Bowl teams were both coached by retreads.
Fresh blood is a bold move, but very risky for even the best organizations. Since Dano took over the Redskins in 1999, the Redskins have never been accused of being a well oiled machine on the field or especially in the front office. This is not Jack Kent Cooke and Bobby Beathard, but Dano and Vinny.
Usually such a move brings in a bright, young innovative coach, like, Joe Gibbs. Zorn maybe bright but he is not young (55) and the West Coast Offense is now standard not innovative
Let’s hope that Jim Zorn is lucky and good.
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