Bruce Allen charts a new course for the Redskins

Bruce Allen opened the press conference at Redskins Park at 12:30 this afternoon with a quick statement about the firing of Jim Zorn and then opened it up to questions.

Allen said he met with the Redskins assistant coaches and told them that their fates will be determined by the next head coach of the team. Clearly, Allen has decided to allow the next head coach, almost certainly Mike Shanahan, to fire the coaches and assemble his new staff. It’s another way for Allen to demonstrate that the head coach will be a person of power within the organization, a marked change from the last two years.

Allen said the head coaching job in the NFL  is the most demanding position in professional sports, but he refused to discuss candidates for the head coaching job, promising only to be “aggressive” in finding someone who will lead the players to new heights. He declined to set a timetable for hiring a new head coach. When prompted repeatedly to admit that Mike Shanahan is the next head coach of the Redskins, Allen refused to be drawn in. Asked what he wanted in a new head coach, Allen said: “I want someone who embraces the Redskins history” as the next head coach of the Redskins.

On the subject of the previous head coach of the Redskins: “He was professional when we talked,” Allen said of the conversation he had with Jim Zorn when Zorn was fired as head coach of the Redskins.

Summing up his view of the current state of the franchise, Allen said, “Last place two years in a row is not Redskins football.”

“The organization is unsatisfied with the results and we do live in a results-based business.”

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http://dcprosportsreport.com/2010/01/04/bruce-allen-charts-a-new-course-for-the-redskins.html