[Note by Skin Patrol, 05/20/08 11:03 AM EDT ] Update per my amigo WCG at Windy City Gridiron. He has his own post up right now on the move, that probably deserves attention. Here's what he told me in an email:
He worked for Bobby DePaul who is well thought of around here. The Bears scouting department, homer status aside, is one of the best in the league. They get more from late round draft picks then a ton of of teams do with their 1st rounders. I know the Bears did not want to lose him, I've seen a few blurbs talking about the Bears trying to up his money, but you can't keep a guy from a promotion and DePaul wasn't going anywhere.
I can't recall if I told you this or not, but the Redskins released their pro personnel director Louis Riddick a couple weeks ago. Per the Insider his contract was up this summer, and the team did not intend to extend it, so bon voyage. This created a void in the football operations heirarchy that the team will apparently soon fill with Morocco Brown, formerly of the Chicago Bears.This marks Brown's second stint in Washington:
Brown did not play professionally but worked for the Indianapolis Colts after graduation and joined the Redskins as an intern in 2000...
Brown left an impression in Washington, however, and in a 2001 interview with WolfpackChicago.com (a Web site devoted to N.C. State grads in that area), he said that owner Daniel Snyder mentioned him by name during an organizational meeting following the firing of head coach Norv Turner during the 2000 season.
"The Redskins called a meeting and Mr. Snyder came to address the entire organization," Brown told WolfpackChicago.com. "They said there were two people doing an excellent job . . . Morocco and the janitor."
A lot of people talk about "chemistry" or distinguish certain draft strategies or emphasize the need for a General Manager, but really, and this is just one man thinking aloud here, winning is all about your custodial staff. You clean up the toilets, you clean up on the field. That's always been my attitude; it starts and ends with the janitor. (The janitor? One janitor for all of Redskins park? This man deserves more print, whoever he is.)
Or at least that's what Dan Snyder must hope when he says something like that. Yes, everyone in the entire organization sans the year old intern and the janitor deserve denigration. Followup question: Who was responsible for hiring all those people?
I don't know much about Mr. Brown though the word, at least from Jason at the Post, is mostly positive:
Brown had been assistant director of pro personnel for the Chicago Bears since 2001, earning a reputation as a bright prospect, league sources said, and was someone the franchise did not want to lose.
I've already contacted our Bears blogger to see if he has much insight, though I wouldn't blame him if he didn't. Honestly, I barely knew who Louis Riddick was before we released him, and could only grade him on the pro scouting I was aware of, both the good (London Fletcher) and the bad (Brandon Lloyd). I don't know enough about the Bears' pro personnel transaction history over the past seven years to really judge Brown's tenure in Chicago, though he was the assistant pro scout guy so temper praise/blame accordingly. They did sign Adam Archuleta while he was in Chicago. To their credit, they also cut him. (But they also signed Brandon Lloyd! But then they released him this week; musical chairs.)
Welcome to the Redskins Mr. Brown and best wishes to you and the team.
The Post article had a not-insigificant note at the bottom about increasingly overworked director of player personnel Scott Campbell:
The Redskins are unlikely to hire a new college scouting director following Campbell's promotion, with Campbell slated to continue traveling to college games and overseeing the college scouts. . . .
I suppose it is good that the team has so much faith in Scott Campbell that they'd permit him to do two jobs, much as we did with Cyborg Workaholic Team President slash Head Coach Joe Gibbs, or our apparent one man custodial staff responsible for every urinal deodorizer block for the Redskins. If Scott Campbell is just half the one man show that either Gibbs or Janitor X were, he's going to do just fine.