The down-trodden history of the Washington Redskins head coaching job was no secret to Ron Rivera when he was considering the position. He was aware that of the last six full-time coaches that were hired under team owner Dan Snyder, all six of them left the position with a losing record.
That didn’t stop him from taking the job though, and it could be because one of those coaches, longtime Washington favorite Joe Gibbs, encouraged him to take the job.
According to ESPN’s John Keim, Gibbs was one of the first people to tell Snyder to try and hire Rivera after the season came to a close, which is subtly ironic seeing as it was Washington’s late-November victory over the Carolina Panthers that ended Rivera’s tenure in Charlotte. Rivera reportedly met with Gibbs soon after being contacted by Snyder, and the Super Bowl-winning coach was said to be a “tremendous influence” on the hire.
Six days after he was fired, Rivera spoke with Snyder for 40 minutes on the phone, and then the next day for 20 more minutes. They met in person shortly thereafter. After that meeting, Rivera met with Gibbs. Bauer said the Hall of Fame coach gave Rivera this message: Snyder is passionate and will do what you ask, but you must be upfront with him and keep him in the loop.
This resulted in a rather encouraging message that Snyder stated during his opening remarks of Rivera’s introductory press conference on Thursday. After wishing the crowd a Happy Thanksgiving, oddly, Snyder stated that in order for the Redskins to move forward and be successful, they’re “going to have one voice and one voice alone and that’s the coach’s.”
It has not been that way in the past, obviously. Snyder, who is not a “football-guy” but owns the team, has had his say in many personnel decisions, and he is reportedly the reason why the team drafted rookie QB Dwayne Haskins in the first round the 2019 NFL Draft. Going forward, however, it appears that Snyder is willing to take a step back and let Rivera run the show.
We’re going to choose to believe it when we see it.
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