W.P.: Dan Snyder says he fired Vinny Cerrato for letting him hire Jim Zorn(M.E.T.)

[skinsarel33t]

Don't forget our team colors are "Red and Black"

[BleedBNG]

• Not keeping Herzog
  
  If you mean not bringing him back for Red Zebra... OK... but to be fair, he had nothing to do with his firing. WJFK (flagship at that time) did that in 2004 and hired LM instead. I would guess after 2 years Snyder decided NOT to do to Larry what WJFK did to Frank.
  
  
• The training camp entrance fee mess
  
  Admit... a true slap in the face.
  
  
• The Haynesworth contract
  
  Vinny was the ''yes" man all the way thru, but it was this decision that was the icing on the cake:
  http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...t-haynesworth/
  
  Asked if bringing in Haynesworth was Cerrato’s decision mostly, Snyder responded: “It’s a fact.”
  
  

[DC9]

Pepper Rodgers

[Yeen80]

This was the piece on Snyder that took the cake

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/a...to-dan-snyder/

[AdmiralWaugh]

Look, what I'm about to say may be tantamount to heresy, but got to be real.

One: I know for a fact that Vinny and Zorn were not buddies. That's nonsense. On the other hand, Vinny and Shanahan are buddies from their days together in San Fran, so there.

The real heresy here that never gets laid out is that a large portion of the responsibility for the Zorn pick rests with Gibbs. He left the team in a horrible situation. He did not inform anyone that he was walking away until the middle of January. Of course by then all the "big time" coaches had already been hired by the teams that needed a head coach, and all the "big time" coordinators had been signed to follow those head coaches. That is why the team was left with "second tier" candidates. Remember the cast of characters: Fassel, Jim Schwartz, Spagnulo, Ron Meeks, etc. The cupboard was bare.

I applaunded the Zorn pick, but then I thought he could be the team's Jeff Fisher -- a young up and comer. I was wrong.

That being said, had we known at the end of the season that Gibbs needed to be replaced, the team would have been in a dramatically different situation.

[zoony]

Look, what I'm about to say may be tantamount to heresy, but got to be real.

One: I know for a fact that Vinny and Zorn were not buddies. That's nonsense. On the other hand, Vinny and Shanahan are buddies from their days together in San Fran, so there.

The real heresy here that never gets laid out is that a large portion of the responsibility for the Zorn pick rests with Gibbs. He left the team in a horrible situation. He did not inform anyone that he was walking away until the middle of January. Of course by then all the "big time" coaches had already been hired by the teams that needed a head coach, and all the "big time" coordinators had been signed to follow those head coaches. That is why the team was left with "second tier" candidates. Remember the cast of characters: Fassel, Jim Schwartz, Spagnulo, Ron Meeks, etc. The cupboard was bare.

I applaunded the Zorn pick, but then I thought he could be the team's Jeff Fisher -- a young up and comer. I was wrong.

That being said, had we known at the end of the season that Gibbs needed to be replaced, the team would have been in a dramatically different situation.

Interesting perspective.

I think the real damage from Gibbs II was his aging roster though. I guess I don't understand why Zorn went from QB Coach to Head Coach. Has that ever happened before? I mean, at a minimum, you'd like for a guy to have coordinator experience

But, at the end of the day, Zorn was a Vinny pick. A strong and competent GM just wouldn't make that call, despite the lack of high quality candidates out there at the time.

I'd be interested to hear your take on Gregg Williams and why he was passed over. I mean, if you just need to buy time until a better crop of candidates exists, why not give GW a shot?

---------- Post added January-29th-2013 at 07:30 PM ----------

Yep, blame Vinny but not his employer. Sounds about right for Snyder.

I'm no Snyder apologist, far from it, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with hiring someone to do a job, empowering them to make decisions, and then holding them accountable for the results.

Vinny C had his shot. At the time I thought it was a good decision, simply because we never really knew how much responsibility he had versus Spurrier and Gibbs.

His promotion to executive Vice President made him Johnny on the spot. He no longer had to share responsibility and decision making on building the Redskins. He failed miserably. Snyder fired him. That's okay, that's how things work.

[darrelgreenie]

I know its happened before. WCO systems.
Andy Reid went QB coach directly to HC.

I'm still surprised about the vitriol directed at Zorn as if everything that happened was his fault.
He inherited a poorly managed aging team, with an aging OL that fell apart and become terrible quickly, 1 good WR, a malcontent/insubordinate RB that started out hot and flamed out, coaching staff he didn't pick and a draft that was basically a wash-out. He produced the same record as Mike Shanahan prior to Robert Griffin.
All the while being undermined by his owner and GM.

---------- Post added January-29th-2013 at 07:40 PM ----------

Blaming Zorn is any easy for Snyder/Vinny to blame shift.

[2cents]

I know its happened before. WCO systems.
Andy Reid went QB coach directly to HC.

I'm still surprised about the vitriol directed at Zorn as if everything that happened was his fault.
He inherited a poorly managed aging team, with an aging OL that fell apart and become terrible quickly, 1 good WR, a malcontent/insubordinate RB that started out hot and flamed out, coaching staff he didn't pick and a draft that was basically a wash-out. He produced the same record as Mike Shanahan prior to Robert Griffin.
All the while being undermined by his owner and GM.

---------- Post added January-29th-2013 at 07:40 PM ----------

Blaming Zorn is any easy for Snyder/Vinny to blame shift.

Well Shanny actually fixed the mess that Vinny/Zorn left....hard to blame a bad record on him. No one, and I mean NO ONE could have have done a whole lot better with what was on that team in 2010.

[HeluCopter29]

I don't understand people who are balking at this.

He fired Vinny because he knew it was time to get serious and Vinny wasn't getting it done. Jim Zorn, for me, really sums up Redskins football for the past 20 years.

So balk about this if you will. But to me, there was NO decision worse then Zorn. And Vinny deserved to be fired for it.

[Jumbo]

I agree with the Admiral across the board, and Zorn, while obviously meriting serious criticism on various issues, also gets unfairly crapped on here---but fairness is one of those qualities often missed in any number of topics in this venue.

[darrelgreenie]

Well Shanny actually fixed the mess that Vinny/Zorn left....hard to blame a bad record on him. No one, and I mean NO ONE could have have done a whole lot better with what was on that team in 2010.

Okay. But their record is their record. The team Zorn had he didn't create he inherited. Zorn had virtually zero say in personnel. The team was talent bare. Zorn coached an entire season with literally the 2 worst OT in the NFL Levi Jones and Heyer the RBs were Quiton Ganther and my main man Rock Cartwright. It seems hypocritical to absolve Mike Shanahan for his pre-Griffin W/L record then turn around and damn Zorn who had the same record with less talent and no control over personnel.

Look, I'm glad Vinny got fired because its was like Danny firing himself.
But, I'm not gonna fall for the bait and switch here.
Danny can blame Vinny and Vinny can blame Zorn.
But Zorn didn't create the team he inherited it.
And when all is said and done, despite the odds being actively stacked against him he produced the exact same W/L as Mike Shanahan before Griffin.

[LD0506]

I agree with the Admiral across the board, and Zorn, while obviously meriting serious criticism on various issues, also gets unfairly crapped on here---but fairness is one of those qualities often missed in any number of topics in this venue.

Much the same way that TheDan gets dragged over the coals for any (or even no) reason at all but never seems to get any appreciation whatsoever for the things he has done right, and lately there have been a few.

[2cents]

Okay. But their record is their record. The team Zorn had he didn't create he inherited. Zorn had virtually zero say in personnel. The team was talent bare. Zorn coached an entire season with literally the 2 worst OT in the NFL Levi Jones and Heyer the RBs were Quiton Ganther and my main man Rock Cartwright. It seems hypocritical to absolve Mike Shanahan for his pre-Griffin W/L record then turn around and damn Zorn who had the same record with less talent and no control over personnel.

Look, I'm glad Vinny got fired because its was like Danny firing himself.
But, I'm not gonna fall for the bait and switch here.
Danny can blame Vinny and Vinny can blame Zorn.
But Zorn didn't create the team he inherited it.
And when all is said and done, despite the odds being actively stacked against him he produced the exact same W/L as Mike Shanahan before Griffin.

Shanny inherited a bad team too so I'm not sure what your point is. At least Shanny improved it. Zorn would have done absolutely nothing with Griffin. It is silly to look at both situations and say that they are the some because of the record. Shanny has improved the team in every aspect and Zorn made the team worse and worse after a 6-2 start. The went 6-18 after that. Downward trend with Zorn and upward trend with Shanny. It is so not even close. Sorry. Also, I don't like the insinuation that RGIII is the only reason we were better this year. Of course he helped, but the whole idea is to get better players and improve the team. That's what Shanny is doing....I thought that was the whole point of the game. Better players make a better team.

[AdmiralWaugh]

I'd be interested to hear your take on Gregg Williams and why he was passed over. I mean, if you just need to buy time until a better crop of candidates exists, why not give GW a shot?[COLOR="Gold"]

.

That's easy. Williams was, and is, a head case. Many knew it then; everyone knows it now. Williams assumed the job was his and didn't work for it. Pure hubris.

[Rex Tomb]

As for Zorn, while I respect admitting that hiring Zorn was a mistake, I don't think that excuses him with what happened with Zorn in his last year. No matter what you thought of him, he didn't deserve that crap. That's really the reason why Vinny should have been fired.

Longshot, so true! I remember being mad at the way they treated Jim Zorn. He may not have been a great head coach, but he really deserved better than what he got in his last year. The look of him on the sideline after they brought in the Bingo Announcer (Sherm Smith) to be the play caller, remember that? It was so sad to watch a nice guy (and he was truly a nice guy) who would say nothing against the organization (even after he was canned) marching up a down the sidelines with nothing to do but look official in a headset.

Man - those were some dark days... On to brighter ones.