Let’s help the Redskins find a new coach

The Redskins are already looking for a new head coach after having Jay Gruden come in at 5 in the morning and firing him. They’re not going to hire anyone until January, but we’re happy to help them in the meantime.

Let’s break down the candidates into categories.

A Sean McVay assistant or someone who knows him

Take your pick: Rams assistant offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch; Rams passing game coordinator/QB coach Shane Waldron; Rams run game coordinator Aaron Kromer; James Madison offensive coordinator Shane Montgomery, who was McVay’s college coach; my wife’s coworker who dated McVay in high school... they’re all options.

But it won’t be one of them, since they just fired a guy who knows Sean McVay.

Josh McDaniels

After he left the Colts at the altar, which was the best result for the Colts, he should never get another interview let alone a head coaching job again. But this is WASTEAM we’re talking about, they gave Bruce Allen the keys back. But McDaniels is going to want too much power for Bruce Allen to live with.

“Hot coordinators” who don’t know Sean McVay

Eric Bieniemy, Matt Eberflus, Dan Campbell, Kris Richard, Robert Saleh, John DeFilippo… several assistant coaches are going to parlay a successful season into head coaching jobs. Based on Dan Snyder’s hiring history, none of them will be in Washington.

Snyder has alternated neophyte head coaches with top notch experienced Football Men: he inherited Norv Turner, who was in his first head coaching job, and replaced him with Marty Schottenheimer, who had been a head coach for 15 years. Schottenheimer was replaced by Steve Spurrier, who while an experienced college head coach had no NFL coaching experience at all. Spurrier was replaced by Joe Gibbs, who was replaced by Jim Zorn, who was replaced by Mike Shannahan, who was replaced by Jay Gruden. So it would seem that Snyder will go with a veteran coach.

Former head coaches who aren’t getting or shouldn’t get another head coaching offer

Jim Caldwell, Chuck Pagano, Todd Bowles, Rex Ryan, Marvin Lewis, Jack del Rio, Gus Bradley… again, it doesn’t matter who. They and others are all unimpressive and won’t move the needle for the Redskins. With Dan Snyder running things there’s next to no chance any coach willing to work for him can move the needle to begin with, but if anyone can it’s none of these guys.

Jim Harbaugh

Michigan plays Ohio State at 12pm on November 30th, and at about 4pm on November 30th Jim Harbaugh should start looking for a new job. There are worse fits for him than the Redskins. Harbaugh has had success turning a bad NFL team around, he’s had success with Redskins QB Alex Smith, he’d be a big name hire, and in three years he’d burn out so Bruce Allen won’t have to worry much about a power struggle.

But would Harbaugh take the job? Would Snyder even consider him?

Super Bowl winners

The Redskins are in a bad spot. They’re one of the worst teams in the league on and off the field. They’ve been in this situation before, and they know what to do: hire someone with instant credibility. As shown earlier, Dan Snyder doesn’t just go out and hire experienced head coaches, he hires hardened Football Men with inarguable resumes. Hiring Marty Schottenheimer was like the present day equivalent of hiring Andy Reid. Joe Gibbs and Mike Shanahan both won Super Bowls. They all brought instant cachet with them. Sure, Gibbs and Shanahan left with their reputations tarnished, but they arrived with buzz that many other coaches can’t carry with them.

Luckily for them there are some coaches out there that the media would fall over themselves praising the Redskins for hiring.

The idea that they could trade for Mike Tomlin has been floated out there, but has anyone asked Mike Tomlin if he even wants the job? This season is and will be a disaster for the Steelers, but no one is going to hold Tomlin responsible for his first and second string QB getting hurt and the front office thinking the best use of next year’s first round draft pick is to trade it rather than try to find their next franchise QB. He should have no problem getting a new job when he’s done with the Steelers, and there’s no reason he should want the Redskins job.

There are however other coaches with Super Bowl wins who have had problems getting head coaching jobs. If the Redskins called, they’d listen.

The Redskins should hire Mike McCarthy. Or Tom Coughlin.