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Washington Redskins Fire Head Coach Jay Gruden After 6 Disappointing Seasons in DC
Introduction
Around 8:00 pm on Sunday night on the 6th of October, 2019 Jay Gruden received a text message from the Washington Redskins owner, Daniel Snyder, asking him to meet at the franchise’s facility for a meeting the following Monday, October 7, 2019. When Jay Gruden arrived that early morning, he was officially fired as head coach of the Washington Redskins.
Gruden was in Washington DC with the Redskins as their head coach for the last 6 NFL seasons. They have been some really disappointing years as the Redskins have not won a playoff game since 1990, and under Gruden’s tenure Washington made the NFL playoffs once in 2015 immediately losing to the Green Bay Packers in that postseason wild card game. I believe that the Redskins have never won the NFC East while Jay Gruden has been their head coach.
The other teams in the NFC East have been very competitive such as the New York Giants, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the Dallas Cowboys. In fact, both New York and Philly have won a Super Bowl recently, and the Dallas Cowboys were a 3 Super Bowl winning sports dynasty in the 1990’s.
Previously to becoming the head coach of the Redskins, Gruden was the offensive coordinator of the Cincinnati Bengals from 2011 to 2013. Before that he was the head coach and general manager of the Florida Tuskers. For those of you that don’t know who the Florida Tuskers are, they a team in the UFL or United Football League which is a small American Professional football league that no one ever hears about.
Even though he had very little say in terms of building a team, making roster moves, as well as who to play when to play them and other various decisions a head coach usually makes for his football organization in the National Football League. The owner of the Redskins, Snyder, is an extremely hands on owner that likes to control every aspect of the team’s operations. Gruden went 35-49-1 as the team’s head coach which usually won’t cut it in the NFL especially after 6 seasons of disappointment.
Gruden’s Career NFL Coaching Statistics
| Simple Rating System | Playoffs | Challenges | ||||||||||||||||
| Year | Age | Tm | Lg | G | W | L | T | W-L% | SRS | OSRS | DSRS | G plyf | W plyf | L plyf | W-L% | Rank | Num | Won |
| 2014 | 47 | Washington Redskins | NFL | 16 | 4 | 12 | 0 | 0.25 | -8.7 | -4 | -4.7 | 4 | 8 | 1 | ||||
| 2015 | 48 | Washington Redskins | NFL | 16 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 0.563 | -1.9 | -0.2 | -1.8 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| 2016 | 49 | Washington Redskins | NFL | 16 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0.531 | 2 | 3.3 | -1.3 | 3 | 5 | 3 | ||||
| 2017 | 50 | Washington Redskins | NFL | 16 | 7 | 9 | 0 | 0.438 | -1.3 | 0.5 | -1.8 | 3 | 5 | 3 | ||||
| 2018 | 51 | Washington Redskins | NFL | 16 | 7 | 9 | 0 | 0.438 | -4.9 | -5.6 | 0.6 | 3 | 3 | 2 | ||||
| 2019 | 52 | Washington Redskins | NFL | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -12.1 | -4.7 | -7.4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | ||||
| 6 Years | 85 | 35 | 49 | 1 | 0.418 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 27 | 12 |
Team’s Ranks While Coaching in the NFL
| Overall | Offense | Rushing Off | Passing Off | Defense | Rushing Def | Passing Def | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Year | Tm | Role | Tms | WL% | T/G | Pts± | Yds± | Yds | Pts | GvA | Att | Yds | TD | Y/A | FL | Att | Yds | TD | Int | NY/A | Yds | Pts | TkA | Att | Yds | TD | Y/A | FR | Att | Yds | TD | Int | nY/A |
| 2011 | CIN | OC | 32 | 10 | 17 | 13 | 13 | 20 | 18 | 9 | 10 | 19 | 21 | 27 | 10 | 20 | 20 | 13 | 12 | 17 | 7 | 9 | 22 | 14 | 10 | 20 | 8 | 4 | 18 | 9 | 9 | 26 | 4 |
| 2012 | CIN | OC | 32 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 22 | 12 | 17 | 17 | 18 | 18 | 20 | 17 | 19 | 17 | 7 | 18 | 19 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 15 | 12 | 18 | 11 | 3 | 18 | 7 | 4 | 16 | 6 |
| 2013 | CIN | OC | 32 | 6 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 6 | 25 | 8 | 18 | 13 | 28 | 16 | 12 | 8 | 3 | 24 | 9 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 15 | 11 | 28 | 5 | 11 | 5 | 2 |
| 2014 | WAS | HC | 32 | 27 | 30 | 29 | 17 | 13 | 26 | 29 | 21 | 19 | 9 | 14 | 25 | 18 | 11 | 27 | 26 | 10 | 20 | 29 | 25 | 14 | 12 | 14 | 13 | 6 | 2 | 24 | 32 | 28 | 30 |
| 2015 | WAS | HC | 32 | 12 | 10 | 14 | 23 | 17 | 10 | 15 | 14 | 20 | 20 | 30 | 22 | 20 | 11 | 13 | 9 | 6 | 28 | 17 | 8 | 11 | 26 | 10 | 31 | 1 | 17 | 25 | 22 | 21 | 26 |
| 2016 | WAS | HC | 32 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 9 | 3 | 12 | 15 | 27 | 21 | 6 | 9 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 14 | 14 | 2 | 28 | 19 | 17 | 19 | 24 | 28 | 27 | 19 | 22 | 25 | 11 | 15 | 23 |
| 2017 | WAS | HC | 32 | 19 | 23 | 17 | 22 | 16 | 16 | 26 | 24 | 27 | 21 | 30 | 30 | 18 | 12 | 9 | 16 | 12 | 21 | 27 | 12 | 29 | 32 | 18 | 29 | 19 | 12 | 9 | 15 | 9 | 15 |
| 2018 | WAS | HC | 32 | 17 | 8 | 25 | 28 | 28 | 29 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 18 | 1 | 26 | 28 | 28 | 22 | 29 | 17 | 15 | 10 | 15 | 17 | 10 | 18 | 7 | 13 | 15 | 16 | 9 | 16 |
| 2019 | WAS | HC | 32 | 29 | 24 | 31 | 30 | 28 | 30 | 27 | 31 | 27 | 24 | 22 | 13 | 11 | 26 | 15 | 30 | 28 | 28 | 30 | 14 | 29 | 29 | 11 | 22 | 21 | 15 | 23 | 31 | 6 | 24 |
| 9 yrs | 53 | 50 | 47 | 49 | 49 | 48 | 43 | 45 | 39 | 50 | 34 | 52 | 51 | 56 | 58 | 44 | 57 | 48 | 48 | 62 | 51 | 45 | 57 | 43 | 72 | 53 | 54 | 51 | 56 | 52 | |||
| 6 yrs | WAS | HC | 41 | 45 | 33 | 36 | 48 | 39 | 39 | 35 | 35 | 51 | 39 | 49 | 51 | 56 | 48 | 42 | 58 | 29 | 32 | 58 | 42 | 30 | 56 | 30 | 65 | 61 | 40 | 37 | 57 | 33 | |
| 3 yrs | CIN | OC | 77 | 60 | 75 | 74 | 49 | 66 | 50 | 67 | 46 | 49 | 25 | 58 | 50 | 56 | 79 | 47 | 56 | 86 | 80 | 69 | 68 | 75 | 59 | 68 | 84 | 36 | 81 | 78 | 54 | 91 |
Media Statements
"Through the first five games of the 2019 season, the team has clearly not performed up to expectations, and we all share in that responsibility," says the Washington Redskins organization. "Moving forward we are committed to doing all that we can collectively as an organization to turn things around and give our Redskins fans and alumni a team they can be proud of in 2019 and beyond."
"To make a decision like this is difficult but it was necessary. Our 0-5 start is not just disappointing, we had much different expectations for this beginning of the season," the Redskins team president, Bruce Allen, explained. "We owe it to our fans, our millions of fans not just here in the great nation's capital but across the world, the players, the coaches and their families to do everything we can to win."
“I’m not bitter,” Gruden exclaimed.
“This is a production-based business, and I didn’t get it done,” he added.
Allen said, “Under Bill’s leadership and the programs he’s going to put in and the discipline and execution, we believe we’re giving it the best opportunity to beat the Miami Dolphins and for the rest of the year.”
“I want to make sure that everybody knows that I actually did work,” Gruden stated.
Bill Callahan said, “I willingly took the spot.”
“We’re all involved in this,” he remarked at one point. “I don’t ever want to hide from our record.”
“You know, I don’t necessarily agree with the premise that it’s never,” he explained.
“You know, the culture is actually damn good,” he stated.
“Because I am,” says Allen.
“I just wish I could have had all of our offensive players,” he declared. “We never got to flex our offensive muscle.”
Sources:
“Winless Redskins fire coach Jay Gruden”, John Keim, espn.com, October 7, 2019.
“Redskins fire Coach Jay Gruden, who says he isn’t bitter: ‘I didn’t get it done’”, Les Carpenter, washingtonpost.com, October 7, 2019.
“Jay Gruden”, pro-football-reference.com, October 7, 2019.