If there’s anything to be learned from the Redskins’ hiring of Jay Gruden this week, it’s that Dan Snyder will never learn.
This was all common knowledge long before Snyder tabbed the Bengals’ offensive coordinator to be his eighth coach in just 14 seasons, of course. But Snyder’s near-pathological devotion to big names is now officially out of hand.
Only now it’s gotten so bad for Washington’s hapless owner — the job coaching his once-proud franchise has gotten so thankless and toxic — that Snyder has gone from Steve Spurrier, Joe Gibbs and Mike Shanahan to settling for the less-accomplished relatives of big names.
You can’t get Super Bowl-winning Jon Gruden, even though he continues to drop hints that he would like to coach again in the right situation? Hire his younger brother, then!
It was even more fitting that the one doing the actual hiring for Snyder, general manager Bruce Allen, fits that profile, too.
He’s got the recognizable last name — father George Allen was a Redskins coaching legend — but his accomplishments in the game hardly stack up to his dad’s or even the credentials of his brother (also named George), who is the former governor of Virginia.
Jay Gruden has interviewed in the past and had interviews lined up this offeseason, but no one thought any team would hire him as a head coach until Snyder came along this week, and it’s easy to see why.
Not only did Gruden prefer Andy Dalton to Colin Kaepernick in the 2011 NFL Draft, but the Bengals, four days before Gruden was hired, suffered yet another playoff failure rooted in offensive ineptitude.
Dalton threw two interceptions and Cincinnati turned the ball over four times in a 27-10 home loss to the underdog Chargers, which was totally in keeping with Gruden’s coaching performance in the postseason. In three playoff games with Gruden as offensive coordinator, Cincinnati managed two touchdowns — total — while averaging 8.7 points per game.
This is the guy who’s going to turn Robert Griffin III’s career around?
To be logical, Snyder’s reputation for meddling and impatience is so severe by now that no accomplished head coach is going anywhere near the Redskins’ job.
So Snyder’s options with this latest search were going to be limited, especially after Shanahan let it leak last month that Snyder was undermining him by getting too close with Griffin.
But there were plenty of respected, proven and qualified assistants out there more deserving than Jay Gruden, including one — defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer — on the Bengals’ staff with Gruden. Yet Snyder, as always, went with name over substance.
At least everyone will know what to do two or three years from now when Snyder needs to hire a head coach yet again:Â Start checking famous football family trees.