If you’re hip to what’s going on in the Washington Redskins organization, you probably have a lot of questions and very few answers.
Who are the Redskins going to hire as the new head coach? What will happen with team president Bruce Allen? If Allen is relieved of his duties, who will take over football operations? Will the new coach bring in his own guys, or will current coordinators keep their jobs?
In times like this, it’s always dangerous to assume anything, but in order to figure out what’s likely to happen, a few assumptions must be made. To pose this question, we are going to assume the following things, both of which seem likely to happen: 1) Ron Rivera is hired as the Redskins head coach on Monday, and 2) Bruce Allen is relieved of his football operation duties and no longer has a say in personnel decisions. Okay, so here’s the question.
What is going to happen to offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell?
KOC is an up-and-coming offensive mind who has done a great job remaking the Redskins offense and developing rookie QB Dwayne Haskins this season. His name was floated as a potential candidate for the HC position early in the year, but nothing much came of it. What’s a more pertinent question now is whether or not he will stay in Washington as the OC.
It’s highly possible that Rivera would like to fill out his own coaching staff with people he’s worked with before. It’s also possible that team owner Dan Snyder says that KOC is to stay in place, where he is growing a budding offense that has some serious potential. There’s also a scenario where KOC chooses to skip town, following in a long line of young and bright offensive minds that the Redskins have allowed to slip through their fingers and find greener grass elsewhere.
At this point, one of those options doesn’t feel like it’s more likely than the other two, but what makes the most sense is for KOC to stay on as offensive coordinator and continue the growth that he’s sparked this season. Redskins fans will be on pins and needles waiting for the announcement of their new coach on Monday, but they should also pay attention to what happens with O’Connell. He’s proved to be just as important as anyone else on the Washington coaching staff.
[vertical-gallery id=27599]