At 2 pm est Mike Shanahan was presented by Bruce Allen as the new Head Coach of the Washington Redskins. Oddly enough Daniel Snyder was not on the stage as the announcement was made. Also possibly showing a new era is upon the Redskins the 3 Lombardi trophies were absent from the stage.
Shanahan starts off by thanking Snyder, Allen, his agent, and his wife for the opportunity to coach the Redskins. He then goes into his memories of coaching against the Redskins at the Hall of Fame game when John Elway was inducted and the crowd being 80 percent Skins fans.
We now go to questions.
Mike Shanahan
He was asked about putting together his staff and he said it would take some time and it would be a thorough process.
Next he is asked about Jason Campbell and said he liked him and he is beginning the evaluation process of all the players.
Shanahan next discussed what he did for the last year and made the joke that his wife was probably happiest he was going to get back to work.
Next he was asked about his relationship and when he first spoke to Snyder this season. Then it was thrown to Bruce Allen about why he wanted to bring in Shanahan. Allen says they called Shanahan Sunday night to discuss the job.
Next Shanahan was asked about Clinton Portis and Coach Shanahan said he didn’t know and still had to go through tape. But the interesting thing from his answer was veterans would need to prove themselves and show a great work ethic to stay around and play. All the reports lately about Portis and his comments this should be interesting.
Now to the big question to Shanahan who has the final say in moves. Coach Shanahan admits it will be a joint decision between Bruce Allen and himself. They want to work as a team.
The next question was about his son Kyle as the new offensive coordinator and Mike is very happy to have him here. Kyle has grown as a coach and thanks Allen and Jon Gruden for giving Kyle the chance in Tampa Bay.
Under Shanahan he will run a very disciplined team and all player problems will be handled in house and not in the media.
A few questions later Mike Shanahan was asked if the new people in place, he and Bruce Allen, are like Joe Gibbs and Bobby Bethard and he says it is. Two people who may not see eye to eye but worked together to put the best team on the field.
Should redskins be braced for a rebuilding year? Mike Shanahan does not like the word rebuilding, but he is not sure how long it will take. But they will get better everyday to turn this into a winner.
In his year off he watched a lot of football and really enjoyed it. It was a new experience for him to just enjoy watching.
That ends the presser and it seems like every question about the roster was answered with he needs to review tape and go over to decide what to do. It seems like a new era maybe on the way Skins Fans.