With the lack of news these days, I thought it'd be fun, thanks to a comment by 8vechkin, to go back over our posts the last several years and see what Redskins fans said AT THE TIME when big news happened. First up is the Jim Zorn hiring.
Ken and I at the time were writing for a unknown blog called Ahern Inquirer. When we joined Hogs Haven in January of 2009, SB Nation imported our posts over. Here's my article from that day announcing the Zorn hire. To be honest, I don't even remember writing that article, but wow, did I hit that one out of the park?? I predicted players running wild, Snyder playing puppeteer, and the over/under Zorn at 2.5 years.
Ken never did a post probably because he was still reeling from his verbal guarantee to me that Spurrier's offense would translate great in the NFL. I dug up Skin Patrol, the original blogger for Hogs Haven's post, "I don't care what Fassel says, Jim Zorn looks ok to me." Will had that Zorn love, but I probably would have to if I had done a Q&A with Football Outsiders guru Doug Farrar, who is from Seattle, and had affirmed the hiring:
Farrar: I think it's a great fit, Zorn's a guy who's primed and ready for this promotion, and the Redskins will benefit from his presence.
OK, so to the actual comments already. I would say 75% of Redskins fans were behind it, but also included in their defense was "Well, he's better than Fassel." Sadly, even that wasn't true. The problem with that logic, which I also did, is that you're comparing rotten apples to rotten apples. Here are some of my favorite comments:
This
Feels much like when the Eagles hired Andy Reid. But that organization has its head screwed on straight. Snyder & Co. are not there. But better than hiring a re-tread. Hope Zorn can manage all his new responsibilities. by CptChaosSidekick
The Redskins Insider post has a TON of comments, here are a few:
"Jim Zorn has won as many superbowls as head coach as Andy Reid"
'WOW is all I can say. From QB coach to a head coach. I don't like it but it beats the hell out of Fassel."
"Jim zorn is not a branch from the Bill Walsh tree...more like a twig."
Even more interesting is ProFootballTalk's story that Cerrato pushed Zorn through:
"For as long as he has been in D.C., Vinny has been second fiddle to the coach," one league source said. "This time, he gets promoted and hires an inexperienced coach who will not make waves. . . . Mooch and Fassel would have threatened Vinny because of their past success and experience. The fact that Vinny was promoted before the head coach hire was a veiled sign that Vinny would be making the call. In the end, it was own insecurity that made for the hire of Zorn."