Macruz19

Joe Gibbs resigns as coach of Washington Redskins
Associated Press


WASHINGTON -- Joe Gibbs resigned as coach and team president of the Washington Redskins on Tuesday.

The Redskins said in a statement that Gibbs will remain part of the Redskins family and serve as a special adviser to owner Dan Snyder. Gibbs was to discuss his decision at a 3 p.m. news conference at Redskins Park.

The Redskins will begin a search for a new coach immediately. Among the certain candidates are two former head coaches on Gibbs' staff, Gregg Williams and Al Saunders.

Gibbs went 31-36, including 1-2 in the playoffs, after emerging from NFL retirement and his NASCAR career to sign a five-year, $27.5 million contract in 2004. He had always maintained that he intended to fulfill the contract, but the 67-year-old coach wavered from that stance Monday when asked if he would return for the final year of his deal.

Gibbs' resignation brings an apparent end to a Hall of Fame career in which he twice raised the Redskins from mediocrity into a playoff team, although he failed in his goal of bringing the team back to the Super Bowl during his second stint in Washington. Gibbs won three NFL titles during his first tenure from 1981-92; the second time around he took the team to the postseason in two of his four seasons.

Gibbs' resignation comes after one of the best coaching performances of his career, his leadership helping the Redskins focus after the death of safety Sean Taylor on Nov. 27. Washington won its final four regular season games after Taylor's funeral, going from 5-7 to 9-7 to claim the final playoff berth in the NFC.

The emotional run ended Saturday, when the Redskins lost 35-14 at Seattle in the wild-card playoffs.

"It was the toughest (season) for me," Gibbs said Monday. "When you go through a season like that, for a while it's kind of hard to re-grasp reality."

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press



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jupitersolo

Whiskers

That sucks for the Skins....

Macruz19

I knew it was coming.... sooner or later.

wstevens

Goodbye to the greatest coach in the history of any sport, at any level.

Macruz19

I remember the 91 redskins with Mary Rypien, Art Monk, Gary Clark, and Ernest Byner... that was the first year I watched football when I was in 5th grade. They went on to the SB and killed the Bills. That was my first team growing up....

JediMindTricks

good luck to him.

it was coming...this was definitely an extremely trying season for him.

Scottman111

Yep, I was kind of expecting it as well.

to a great coach.

mrsteve

iTrader: (1)

What isn't mentioned in the article is the other personal struggles Gibbs and his family went through this year.

His 3-year old grandchild nearly died of Lukemia this year and with all the hours he puts in at FedEx field and Redskins Park every day of the week he's missing out on precious family time.

The local buzz is Gregg Williams will be offered the Head Coach spot.

jupitersolo

That's just a bit of a quick news blurb. But the media are assholes when it comes to the Washington Redskins or anything Snyder does. Like that punkass Les Pasquarelli wrote on ESPN.com;http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/column...len&id=3186628 saying he is too old to understand the players. ALL OF THE PLAYERS LOVE HIM, most want him back as coach next year. Some have said they may not be here w/o him. Les is a fag.

Gibbs did more than coach this team, he basically rebuilt the management as well. He leaves this team much better than when he got her.

wstevens

Both Don Banks and Len Pasquarelli will never say anything good about Snyder or the Redskins.

mrsteve

iTrader: (1)

SportsTalk 980 FTW!

They suck at the collective Redskins' teet.