Snyder met with Shanahan at Redskins Park Monday morning to deliver the news. The coach pulled into the parking lot at the Ashburn training facility around 9 a.m. after being stuck briefly in a line of vehicles with media members who d been kept outside the front gate until then. Snyder had arrived at the facility earlier.
Shanahan spoke to reporters for just less than five minutes in the media briefing room soon after his firing was announced. He did not take questions but thanked the team s fans Snyder his players and media members.
Speculation on the Redskins next head coach.
He called the Redskins a great organization and said This is the best. When you take a look at what the franchise has done you take a look at the opportunities that are given to you as a head football coach and your staff you can t feel better.
Shanahan said he believes he leaves the team in better shape than it was in when he arrived. He cited the expiration of the two year $36 million salary cap penalty imposed by the NFL with the consent of the players union last year for the manner in which the team structured players contracts during the sport s season without a salary cap in 2010.
The thing I feel good about going into this year we don t have those problems financially Shanahan said. And you don t have to worry about us not doing things the right way relative to overspending. I think from now on the problems with the cap are over with. The penalties are over with. So with $25 million $30 million in available salary cap space to go forward I believe we re in at least a situation that we re better off today than we were four years ago.
Boswell Will fans start to tune out
Shanahan said the cap reduction prevented the Redskins from adding some of the players they d targeted to obtain particularly on defense. He said he was proud that the team captured the division crown last season with the salary cap penalty in effect.
So when you take a look at that a lot has been done Shanahan said. But any time you take a look at some of the cap situations that we went through it s always tough to have depth. And that s what I thought really hurt us this year was depth on our special teams depth on our defense. We didn t have the speed that we had a year ago.
The Redskins part ways with Shanahan after four years in which he had a regular season record of 24 40. He and the Redskins also suffered a playoff defeat last season to the Seattle Seahawks. They lost their final game 20 6 to the New York Giants in East Rutherford N.J. on Sunday dropping their 2013 record to 3 13.
Jenkins Firing won t solve team s problems.
Shanahan led the Redskins to an NFC East title last season but the team slipped to last place this season losing its final eight games. Shanahan s relationships with Snyder and quarterback Robert Griffin III came under intense scrutiny.
Shanahan had one season remaining on a five year contract estimated to be worth about $7 million per season.
The Redskins launch a search for their eighth head coach (including an interim coach Terry Robiskie in the 2000 season) since Snyder purchased the team in 1999 from the Jack Kent Cooke estate. Snyder s coaches have been Norv Turner (who was 49 59 1 in Washington) Terry Robiskie (1 2) Marty Schottenheimer (8 8) Steve Spurrier (12 20) Joe Gibbs (30 34 in his second stint) Jim Zorn (12 20) and Shanahan (24 40).
We are going to take a smart step by step approach to finding the right coach to return the Redskins to where we believe we should be General Manager Bruce Allen said in a written statement. We will analyze accurately and honestly all of the decisions that were made over the past year.
Shanahan acknowledged his accountability for the team s woes this season.
I thought we ve done a lot of good things he said. But at the end of the day you ve got to win. We weren t able to do that and for whatever reason I m responsible for that and disappointed we couldn t get that done.
Speculation about Shanahan s successor has focused on Baylor University s Art Briles who coached quarterback Robert Griffin III in college Super Bowl winning coaches Jon Gruden and Bill Cowher former Redskins assistant coach and Pro Football Hall of Fame guard Russ Grimm former Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith and current NFL offensive coordinators Ken Whisenhunt of San Diego Greg Roman of San Francisco Jay Gruden of Cincinnati and Darrell Bevell of Seattle.
But Shanahan s departure raises even deeper questions for a once proud franchise that has had only six winning seasons over the past two decades. His hiring in January 2010 was greeted with expectations that he would bring stability and professionalism to a franchise that for years has often lacked both. Four years later however the organization is in disarray and the roster is in need of a major overhaul. His coaching tenure included one late season surge to an NFC East title a year ago but also three losing seasons and increasingly frayed relationships with Snyder and Griffin.
In addition to what are expected to be significant personnel changes the Redskins also could restructure their front office this offseason. Shanahan had final say over football decisions and General Manager Bruce Allen an ally of Snyder who is expected to remain is considered more of a contract negotiator and salary cap manager than talent evaluator. The Redskins could hire an executive under Allen to make decisions on personnel unless they add a coach with enough clout to have final say over all player related matters.
Shanahan finished four seasons of a five year contract that pays him an estimated $7 million per season.It is believed he will receive the remainder of the money owed to him under his contract.
The Redskins might also be on the hook for an estimated $6 million in additional money to fired members of Shanahan s coaching staff because of contracts for some coaches that run beyond this season. It remains to be seen if any members of the staff will be retained.
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