Finally, a new Head Coach

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A month and a day from Joe Gibbs retirement announcement, the Washington Redskins have hired their 27th Head Coach, Jim Zorn. Who? Who is that?

I must say, this does come to some surprise, although not a total surprise. The Daniel normally goes after the big names for head coaches but there were not any out there this year. Bill Cowher was not going to come to DC or any other team this year, Bill Parcells was hired as the Dolphins President, Joe Gibbs already retired (again), no-one in DC wanted Jim Fassel and he ran Gregg Williams right out of town. What, Vince Lombardi couldn’t come back for a second term with the Skins? But none the less, Jim Zorn joins the list of some great coaches for the Washington Redskins. Coaches such as Lombardi, Gibbs, Otto Graham, Jack Pardee, Spurrier (ah, nevermind). Zorn has a chance to become this generations Joe Gibbs.

So who is this Jim Zorn? As you know, Zorn was hired as the offensive coordinator for our Washington Redskins about 2 weeks ago. He was brought here from the Seattle Seahawks, where has been the QB coach for the past seven seasons. He helped develop Matt Hasselbeck into a top tier QB in the NFL today. Along with Steve Mariucci, Andy Reid, John Gruden, and Marty Mornhinweg, Jim Zorn comes from the Mike Holmgren coaching tree. That list isn’t a bad list to be a part of. Like Reid, Zorn becomes a head coach with no prior head coaching experience. I am pretty sure that if Zorn has the same success that Reid has brought to the Philadelphia Eagles, then the Redskins faithful will be pretty darn happy.

Zorn started the Seattle Seahawks franchise as their first QB. He had the honor of throwing TD passes to Congressman Steve Largent. However, before Seattle became a recognizable franchise, Zorn was replaced by Dave Krieg in Seattle. Zorn then went to Green Bay to become their QB for one season. He had a short stint in the CFL for one season before returning to the NFL with Tampa Bay, where he retired following the 1987 season. Zorn began his coaching career at Boise State where he was their QB coach. He then went on to become Utah State’s offensive coordinator for two seasons. Zorn made the jump to the NFL with Seattle when was hired by Dennis Erickson as their offensive assistant. After a 2 year stint in Detriot as a QB coach, he returned to Seattle to work for Holmgren.

Zorn brings with him, the West Coast offense. This offense will have a different look to it again. This means a lot of shorter routes for the WR’s and alot of passes coming out of the backfield, you remember Roger Craig don’t you? As far as the running game, I don’t know how that will affect Portis or the style that the Skins are used to but the one thing I do know is that Shaun Alexander had a pretty nice career in Seattle under Holmgren and the West Coast offense. The defense will be the same under Greg Blache but probably not as dominant with Gregg Williams. It may be a bumpy ride the first year but for the long haul, it could look very nice.

I have a good feeling about this head coach. It doesn’t worry me that he doesn’t have any prior experience. The Redskins once hired a head coach with no prior experience and they won 3 Super Bowls with him. I have been saying along that the Skins needed a coach that doesn’t bring much Zing with him. This franchise has been downright pitiful for the past 15 years and its about time that we have a bit of fresh air coming into town. But, if Zorn fails, we can not blame him. This is the Cerrato Era for the Redskins, one in which I am not happy about but will have to deal with. If Zorn succeeds, the Cerrato will be looked as a genius, and if he doesn’t succeed, I will be celebrating along with the rest of you Skins fans as we watch Cerrato leave town.

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