Post by salavea on Jan 28, 2008 16:34:21 GMT -5
from Jason La Canfora
blog.washingtonpost.com/redskinsinsider/2008/01/something_to_chew_on.html?nav=rss_blog
It's long but a good read
Something To Chew On
The Redskins say it will be at a least a week until he tells us who the new head coach is and I know that's way too long for you all to spend dissecting the coaching career of Jim Fassel slone. How about we take a moment to examine someone whose names has not been publicly linked to the job yet.
Ready?
You sure?
Steve Mariucci.
Remember four years ago owner Daniel Snyder danced with a lot of coaches but all the while the Joe Gibbs recruitment was guarded with great secrecy? What if it's happening again? How would that go over?
Hear me out for a few paragraphs now, then let me know what you think,. Maybe I'm crazy. But connecting the dots, talking to various people with ties to Mariucci and the West Coast Offense family tree, other unrelated NFL execs, top agents, former players of Mariucci's ... this is a theory at least worth chewing over with my RI peeps.
I got Mariucci's agent, Gary O'Hagan, on the phone ever so briefly yesterday and after he peppered me with rapid-fire questions about the Redskins' coaching search I tried to pin him down on whether there had been contact between the Redskins and Mariucci and all he'd say is: "No comment." Mark Maske, our NFL reporter, ran into Mariucci in the media center for the Super Bowl in Phoenix, asked the former coach of the 49ers and Lions if he had talked to the Redskins regarding their opening: Mariucci seemed a little taken aback and said: "I'm working for the NFL Network right now, and that's all I'm doing."
Wonder if the "right now" part of that sentence turns out to be the key?
The Redskins are not commenting on any part of their coaching search. So I have no firm confirmation of contact, though one former Mariucci associate told me that Mariucci has been calling some of his former coaches recently, and that the Redskins are definitely possibility, with Oakland perhaps as well (assuming the Raiders work out whatever is going on with current coach Lane Kiffin. (Steve is a San Fran guy - via Iron Mountain, Michigan- and one of his former assistants told me Mariucci's wife would prefer to stay in a warmer locale.
So let's peel back this onion, shall we?
It certainly is unusual - though hardly unprecedented - that Snyder would hire his coordinators before his head coach. And league sources said that Jim Zorn was Jim Fassel's top choice as OC, and that he was very comfortable with Greg Blache running his defense as well. That all adds up. Snyder told Fassel on Wednesday night that while he was delaying a decision until after the Super Bowl that Fassel remained a top candidate. I buy all of that and no doubt whatsoever Fassel is in this thing and has a good chance of getting it. But Snyder also could have gone ahead and hired him this week, even though he was unable to get his top choice defensive coordinator, Rex Ryan.
Now, the Redskins have let it be known they have interest in coaches involved in the Super Bowl, with league sources saying Giants DC Steve Spagnuolo is of particular interest. But it would take some serious covert ops/tampering for any team to be talking to Spagnuolo now, especially to the degree to put together a staff around him. And would any coach take his first job walking into a virtually set staff of which he has no ties? Same goes for Ron Meeks, the Indianapolis DC who will have his second interview with the team this week. And again, they could have already made that hire, but instead we're having second interviews with Fassel.
Several league sources said they doubted a defensive coach would get this job now after Blache being promoted, and with the Redskins prizing the development of QB Jason Campbell, whom they have invested so much in, during this process (one of the primary reasons Fassel is an attractive candidate).
Okay, so let's see, Jim Zorn, West Coast Offense coach, directly from the Mike Holmgren tree. Well, what do you know, so is Mariucci. Very strong ties there. Perhaps he would not have been Mariucci's top choice as OC, but they come from the same system, Holmgren is their mentor (Zorn spent the last six seasons as Holmgren's QB coach). They run essentially the same system. Zorn has no previous experience as an NFL OC, but with an offensive minded head coach and another hire or two, your set. Also, Zorn will be working heavily with Campbell, and Mariucci goes back to Brett Favre in the developing QBs department.
What about Blache, you say?
Well, Blache is another West Coast guy, worked with Mariucci under Holmgren in Green Bay for a few years. In 2004, when Blache was leaving Chicago after 5 years as the Bears DC, Mariucci tired very hard to get him on his staff with the Lions. The Redskins ended up beating him out for that hire, but there was major interest from Mariucci, multiple league sources said.
Want another connection? Executive vice president Vinny Cerrato. Cerrato worked with Mariucci in SF and as the Redskins put in a press release about Cerrato's promotion last week, he is very influential in this process. Cerrato "loves" Mariucci, two NFL sources said. (Mariucci may have some concerns about Washington's current personnel structure, according to two of his former assistants, but no job is perfect and in the end money talks).
Mariucci has been under contract to the NFL Network, but all those deals have out-clauses to pursue coaching gigs. Also, in recent weeks the plane Snyder has used to conduct the coaching searches has been tracked multiple times to LAX, neat the NFL Network set, and then later to cities still involved in the playoffs, in some cases where the NFL Network was using a live set with Mariucci included.
The Redskins could have had lengthy conversations with him in recent weeks, and Cerrato would have been the perfect point man to set it all. He could have easily signed off on the decisions. And, like we said, those two coaches also work for Fassel. So that's a win-win.
"Those are hires I think Mooch would be very comfortable with," said one of his former assistants. "That makes perfect sense. And I know Steve wants to get back into coaching, because this is the last year of his Detroit contract (Mariucci was fired with two years left on his deal with Detroit, earning $11 million from the team in the process). That makes perfect sense."
One NFL GM, after studying the consecutive hires of Zorn and Blache said: "It all points to Mariucci. It's like you're starting a Washington branch of the West Coast family. Look at the coordinators. Then you've got Vinny who could put it together. That's viable. That's something I think you could sell.
"He's a likeable guy, he's had success, been to the playoffs, you can trace him back to Bill Walsh. I think you could sell that package to the fans and everybody's comfortable. That's what I think he's trying to pull off."
Another former player of Mariucci's, who also has ties to the Redskins, said: "Mooch can talk the talk. He knows how the sell this. He could interview his (backside) off."
One of Mariucci's former assistants who goes all the way back to their college coaching days, said: "Steve's personality, the out-going manner, the way he interacts with people, that would be a perfect fit for Snyder."
A league source who has interacted significantly with Snyder and Mariucci said: "I know he would be very attracted to Steve. Steve's got that big smile, he loves to (BS). He's the kind of guy Snyder could put his arm around and buddy around with."
Two of Mariucci's former players also pointed out the similarities between the teams he had in San Fran and this Redskins team. Both have lots of veteran leadership and have a playoff pedigree, and, like Gibbs, he puts a lot of trust in his players. With the 49ers he ran a "Dirty Dozen" of 12 player representatives that met with him weekly and had a significant say in setting up routines, practices, chemistry issues, etc. Sounds an awful lot like Gibbs's Leadership Counsel right there (look at that Skins, I'm doing some homework for you. You can add this the whole "continuity" vibe should you unveil Mooch as coach someday).
Then, let's think about the word the Redskins made clear again yesterday in their press release about no coach until after the Super Bowl. Well, sure they can, and likely will, interview some coaches involved in the game, but Mariucci is contractually obligated to work that game as well - he's out in Arizona working for the NFL Network right now - so there's another connection.
Hey, this could be a wasted exercise for all of us. All these weeks chained to my keyboard and Blackberry surely warped me in many ways. Fassel is certainly a guy they are behind, and who knows if they pull a trump card like Pete Carroll or Bill Cowher out at the last second, but I highly, highly, highly doubt that.
So, what do you guys think?
PS - Forgot to include this in the original post. After Gibbs retired the other teams conducting coaching searches - three at the time - held strategy meetings to see how Snyder's involvement might impact their lists of candidates, timetables, etc. At least one of those three other teams conducted lengthy internal meetings to that end and came away with an organizational belief that Snyder would try to land a "big fish" - I.e. Cowher or Carroll, but that those guys weren't budging for the Washington job and had too many concerns about personnel, etc. So ruling them out this team concluded that Snyder would either hire Gregg Williams or Steve Mariucci. Maybe those guys knew what they were talking about.
PPS - Best episode of The Wire ever last night. McNaulty off the deep end entirely. Prop Joe is gone. Omar back with a vengeance. Killing off Joe (and Hungry Man to a lesser degree) - especially with Cheese of all people giving Prop up and Marlo the new undisputed king of slinging - is like killing off any semblance of the old-school "code" in the game. Any shred of ethics on the corners is gone. That show is beyond real. I already miss it and there's like 4 episodes left. Every scene is epic.
blog.washingtonpost.com/redskinsinsider/2008/01/something_to_chew_on.html?nav=rss_blog
It's long but a good read
Something To Chew On
The Redskins say it will be at a least a week until he tells us who the new head coach is and I know that's way too long for you all to spend dissecting the coaching career of Jim Fassel slone. How about we take a moment to examine someone whose names has not been publicly linked to the job yet.
Ready?
You sure?
Steve Mariucci.
Remember four years ago owner Daniel Snyder danced with a lot of coaches but all the while the Joe Gibbs recruitment was guarded with great secrecy? What if it's happening again? How would that go over?
Hear me out for a few paragraphs now, then let me know what you think,. Maybe I'm crazy. But connecting the dots, talking to various people with ties to Mariucci and the West Coast Offense family tree, other unrelated NFL execs, top agents, former players of Mariucci's ... this is a theory at least worth chewing over with my RI peeps.
I got Mariucci's agent, Gary O'Hagan, on the phone ever so briefly yesterday and after he peppered me with rapid-fire questions about the Redskins' coaching search I tried to pin him down on whether there had been contact between the Redskins and Mariucci and all he'd say is: "No comment." Mark Maske, our NFL reporter, ran into Mariucci in the media center for the Super Bowl in Phoenix, asked the former coach of the 49ers and Lions if he had talked to the Redskins regarding their opening: Mariucci seemed a little taken aback and said: "I'm working for the NFL Network right now, and that's all I'm doing."
Wonder if the "right now" part of that sentence turns out to be the key?
The Redskins are not commenting on any part of their coaching search. So I have no firm confirmation of contact, though one former Mariucci associate told me that Mariucci has been calling some of his former coaches recently, and that the Redskins are definitely possibility, with Oakland perhaps as well (assuming the Raiders work out whatever is going on with current coach Lane Kiffin. (Steve is a San Fran guy - via Iron Mountain, Michigan- and one of his former assistants told me Mariucci's wife would prefer to stay in a warmer locale.
So let's peel back this onion, shall we?
It certainly is unusual - though hardly unprecedented - that Snyder would hire his coordinators before his head coach. And league sources said that Jim Zorn was Jim Fassel's top choice as OC, and that he was very comfortable with Greg Blache running his defense as well. That all adds up. Snyder told Fassel on Wednesday night that while he was delaying a decision until after the Super Bowl that Fassel remained a top candidate. I buy all of that and no doubt whatsoever Fassel is in this thing and has a good chance of getting it. But Snyder also could have gone ahead and hired him this week, even though he was unable to get his top choice defensive coordinator, Rex Ryan.
Now, the Redskins have let it be known they have interest in coaches involved in the Super Bowl, with league sources saying Giants DC Steve Spagnuolo is of particular interest. But it would take some serious covert ops/tampering for any team to be talking to Spagnuolo now, especially to the degree to put together a staff around him. And would any coach take his first job walking into a virtually set staff of which he has no ties? Same goes for Ron Meeks, the Indianapolis DC who will have his second interview with the team this week. And again, they could have already made that hire, but instead we're having second interviews with Fassel.
Several league sources said they doubted a defensive coach would get this job now after Blache being promoted, and with the Redskins prizing the development of QB Jason Campbell, whom they have invested so much in, during this process (one of the primary reasons Fassel is an attractive candidate).
Okay, so let's see, Jim Zorn, West Coast Offense coach, directly from the Mike Holmgren tree. Well, what do you know, so is Mariucci. Very strong ties there. Perhaps he would not have been Mariucci's top choice as OC, but they come from the same system, Holmgren is their mentor (Zorn spent the last six seasons as Holmgren's QB coach). They run essentially the same system. Zorn has no previous experience as an NFL OC, but with an offensive minded head coach and another hire or two, your set. Also, Zorn will be working heavily with Campbell, and Mariucci goes back to Brett Favre in the developing QBs department.
What about Blache, you say?
Well, Blache is another West Coast guy, worked with Mariucci under Holmgren in Green Bay for a few years. In 2004, when Blache was leaving Chicago after 5 years as the Bears DC, Mariucci tired very hard to get him on his staff with the Lions. The Redskins ended up beating him out for that hire, but there was major interest from Mariucci, multiple league sources said.
Want another connection? Executive vice president Vinny Cerrato. Cerrato worked with Mariucci in SF and as the Redskins put in a press release about Cerrato's promotion last week, he is very influential in this process. Cerrato "loves" Mariucci, two NFL sources said. (Mariucci may have some concerns about Washington's current personnel structure, according to two of his former assistants, but no job is perfect and in the end money talks).
Mariucci has been under contract to the NFL Network, but all those deals have out-clauses to pursue coaching gigs. Also, in recent weeks the plane Snyder has used to conduct the coaching searches has been tracked multiple times to LAX, neat the NFL Network set, and then later to cities still involved in the playoffs, in some cases where the NFL Network was using a live set with Mariucci included.
The Redskins could have had lengthy conversations with him in recent weeks, and Cerrato would have been the perfect point man to set it all. He could have easily signed off on the decisions. And, like we said, those two coaches also work for Fassel. So that's a win-win.
"Those are hires I think Mooch would be very comfortable with," said one of his former assistants. "That makes perfect sense. And I know Steve wants to get back into coaching, because this is the last year of his Detroit contract (Mariucci was fired with two years left on his deal with Detroit, earning $11 million from the team in the process). That makes perfect sense."
One NFL GM, after studying the consecutive hires of Zorn and Blache said: "It all points to Mariucci. It's like you're starting a Washington branch of the West Coast family. Look at the coordinators. Then you've got Vinny who could put it together. That's viable. That's something I think you could sell.
"He's a likeable guy, he's had success, been to the playoffs, you can trace him back to Bill Walsh. I think you could sell that package to the fans and everybody's comfortable. That's what I think he's trying to pull off."
Another former player of Mariucci's, who also has ties to the Redskins, said: "Mooch can talk the talk. He knows how the sell this. He could interview his (backside) off."
One of Mariucci's former assistants who goes all the way back to their college coaching days, said: "Steve's personality, the out-going manner, the way he interacts with people, that would be a perfect fit for Snyder."
A league source who has interacted significantly with Snyder and Mariucci said: "I know he would be very attracted to Steve. Steve's got that big smile, he loves to (BS). He's the kind of guy Snyder could put his arm around and buddy around with."
Two of Mariucci's former players also pointed out the similarities between the teams he had in San Fran and this Redskins team. Both have lots of veteran leadership and have a playoff pedigree, and, like Gibbs, he puts a lot of trust in his players. With the 49ers he ran a "Dirty Dozen" of 12 player representatives that met with him weekly and had a significant say in setting up routines, practices, chemistry issues, etc. Sounds an awful lot like Gibbs's Leadership Counsel right there (look at that Skins, I'm doing some homework for you. You can add this the whole "continuity" vibe should you unveil Mooch as coach someday).
Then, let's think about the word the Redskins made clear again yesterday in their press release about no coach until after the Super Bowl. Well, sure they can, and likely will, interview some coaches involved in the game, but Mariucci is contractually obligated to work that game as well - he's out in Arizona working for the NFL Network right now - so there's another connection.
Hey, this could be a wasted exercise for all of us. All these weeks chained to my keyboard and Blackberry surely warped me in many ways. Fassel is certainly a guy they are behind, and who knows if they pull a trump card like Pete Carroll or Bill Cowher out at the last second, but I highly, highly, highly doubt that.
So, what do you guys think?
PS - Forgot to include this in the original post. After Gibbs retired the other teams conducting coaching searches - three at the time - held strategy meetings to see how Snyder's involvement might impact their lists of candidates, timetables, etc. At least one of those three other teams conducted lengthy internal meetings to that end and came away with an organizational belief that Snyder would try to land a "big fish" - I.e. Cowher or Carroll, but that those guys weren't budging for the Washington job and had too many concerns about personnel, etc. So ruling them out this team concluded that Snyder would either hire Gregg Williams or Steve Mariucci. Maybe those guys knew what they were talking about.
PPS - Best episode of The Wire ever last night. McNaulty off the deep end entirely. Prop Joe is gone. Omar back with a vengeance. Killing off Joe (and Hungry Man to a lesser degree) - especially with Cheese of all people giving Prop up and Marlo the new undisputed king of slinging - is like killing off any semblance of the old-school "code" in the game. Any shred of ethics on the corners is gone. That show is beyond real. I already miss it and there's like 4 episodes left. Every scene is epic.
