I love Coach Zorn and have Great Expectations for the coming season, so don't interpret this as even a modest criticism of the coach, but I don't know if an "intriguing" is really all that preferable (at least in the meaning used below) a quality in coaches. George Halas circa 1962, for example, probably wasn't the most "intriguing" guy; he had coached 427 regular season games to that point and won 281 of them or, put differently, roughly 65.8% of the games he coached he won. He also had five (of his six) NFL Championships behind him. That he won eleven games the following year was hardly that much of a surprise and neither was he. As a coach, when it came to George Halas, what you saw is what you got: a perennially competitive bad ass who was as likely to win you a championship as not.
Jim Zorn intrigues precisely because you don't know what you're going to get. The point I'm trying to make is, as interesting and entertaining as it is to be a Redskins fan right now with all the newness and "intrigue," the end game is that one day I wake up and Jim Zorn is railing off 10-12 win seasons like they're free throws and we are a couple Lombardi (another unintriguing coach) Trophies richer as a franchise. If all goes well Coach Zorn ain't an enigma, he becomes a proven winner.
Hey but intrigue is good for print, so we've got that going for us. Hit up USA Today's Top Five Most Intriguing Coaches and you'd find our very own at numero tres:
3. Jim Zorn, Washington: Joe Gibbs is a Hall of Famer and a legend in Washington. But that really isn't a huge deal since Gibbs' magic wasn't as strong the second time around. But Zorn will be of great interest if only because he was hired as offensive coordinator and then out of the blue named coach. He had great zeal for the job and fans are enthused by his early performance. But he is a coaching unknown and that always makes for good theater.
Briefly:
Joe Gibbs is a Hall of Famer and a legend in Washington the galaxy. But that really isn't a huge deal since Gibbs' magic wasn't as strong the second time around. And that is a big deal.
But beyond that I can't say I disagree with the author. As there is no record on which to judge our head coach, his zeal and early performance (doing what, misa dunno) is all we have on which to hang our hats. And our coach does make for excellent theater, if not vocabulary mentoring.
Hey, praise jeebus, we have a football game this Sunday.
My hat is tipped to: I have no hyperlink for marketing intern from USA Today, but you rule, guy. Don't stop sending me emails.