Haslett joins Redskins as new defensive coordinator

[Nick]

Haslett headed to Washington as Redskins defensive coordinator
By Jim Thomas
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
01.12.2010 7:46 pm

Jim Haslett is headed to Washington as the Redskins’ defensive coordinator under new coach Mike Shanahan, league sources told the Post-Dispatch on Tuesday evening.

After three seasons in St. Louis, including the last 12 games of 2008 as the Rams’ interim head coach, Haslett spent this past season as head coach of the Florida Tuskers of the fledgling United Football League. The Tuskers went unbeaten in the regular season, but were upset by the Las Vegas Locomotives in the UFL title game.

Haslett met with Washington team officials earlier this week. Haslett became the front runner for the job once Mike Zimmer agreed to stay in Cincinnati as Bengals defensive coordinator.

It was unclear Tuesday evening when the Redskins would officially announce the hiring. Haslett did not respond to phone messages Tuesday.

[Rambunctious]

Re: Haslett joins Redskins as new defensive coordinator

So can I officially start another "The one that got away thread?" ;)

Seriously though I wish him well except against us.

I liked Haslett and don't think he was given a fair shake at Coaching this team.

[01d 0rd3r]

Re: Haslett joins Redskins as new defensive coordinator

I like haslett hope he does well in washington, should be interesting to watch how the franchise rebuilds itself in comparison to us.

[Nick_Weasel]

Re: Haslett joins Redskins as new defensive coordinator

Personally I'm glad Haslett is gone and I'm thanking my lucky stars that he's not our coach. As far as I could tell the only positive attribute that anybody seemed to comment on was that he was "fiery." Every time our D got torched for a long play, you'd see a "fiery" Haslett on the sideline yelling. Not sure why he's a D-coordinator, considering the defenses of NO and STL weren't exactly scary when he was there. I say that kind of tongue-in-cheek though, as clearly those who make such decisions know a lot more about it than I do.

I live in the DC area and I do admit I'll enjoy watching him all fired up for the Redskins every Sunday.

[general counsel]

Re: Haslett joins Redskins as new defensive coordinator

The saints defense during his tenure as head coach was excellent. It was their offense that was his problem (primarily due to the inconsistency of aaron brooks). He is an excellent defense coach and with talent, he will do great. The rams defense under haslett essentially had no talent, and thus, it was lousy. Talent, not coaching, is the most important consideration in the success of the team. Coaching helps, but note for example how the defense was lousy this year despite spags, because the talent is lousy. See also the bobby april example.

ramming speed to all

general counsel

[Nick_Weasel]

Re: Haslett joins Redskins as new defensive coordinator

The saints defense during his tenure as head coach was excellent. It was their offense that was his problem (primarily due to the inconsistency of aaron brooks). He is an excellent defense coach and with talent, he will do great. The rams defense under haslett essentially had no talent, and thus, it was lousy. Talent, not coaching, is the most important consideration in the success of the team. Coaching helps, but note for example how the defense was lousy this year despite spags, because the talent is lousy. See also the bobby april example.

ramming speed to all

general counsel

Excellent?

Here is their defensive ranking (by points allowed) each year he was HC:
2000 - 10th
2001 - 27th
2002 - 26th
2003 - 14th
2004 - 27th
2005 - 28th

Conversely, here was their offensive (also by points allowed) ranking for those years:
2000 - 10th
2001 - 13th
2002 - 3rd
2003 - 14th
2004 - 14th
2005 - 31st

Their offense was ranked better than or the same as their defense every single year he was there (EDIT: except 2005, when their defense was ranked 28th and their offense 31st - whoops). I think it's pretty hard to make a case that offense was their problem.

[Slug]

Re: Haslett joins Redskins as new defensive coordinator

I'm taking a wait-n-see on this one. Word is he's going to try to install a 3-4, or at least a hybrid that subs in a 3-4 look for certain situations. Unfortunately I don't think we have the personnel to run something like that. we've pretty consistently fielded a top 10 defense in D.C. Not sure I like the idea of someone completely tipping the cart, ya know? He did have some good defense in Pittsburgh though. So we'll see. In any case I'm sure it will be interesting.

[general counsel]

Re: Haslett joins Redskins as new defensive coordinator

Those stats are compelling and they are certainly not consistent with my memory of our experience against them, but i cant argue with the numbers. Thanks for the clarification.

ramming speed to all

general counsel

[dave626]

Re: Haslett joins Redskins as new defensive coordinator

Lets see if Fakhir Brown makes his way to Washington.

[laram0]

Re: Haslett joins Redskins as new defensive coordinator

I agree that Haslett wasn't given a fair shake with us. Afterall remember who he worked under...Linehan and his 53 TE's.

[Yodude]

Re: Haslett joins Redskins as new defensive coordinator

Every time our D got torched for a long play

Right, and since he left, our defense hasn't gotten torched once.:|

If ever a coach was set up to for failure, it was Haslett. He took over someone else's mess, with someone else's bad players, and a totally inept front office that had no clue on drafting and evaluating talent. Anyone that can't see that and would hold him responsible for our record that year knows NOTHING about the game of pro football, and might as well just refrain from commenting on the subject.

[PeoriaRam]

Re: Haslett joins Redskins as new defensive coordinator

The saints defense during his tenure as head coach was excellent. It was their offense that was his problem (primarily due to the inconsistency of aaron brooks). He is an excellent defense coach and with talent, he will do great. The rams defense under haslett essentially had no talent, and thus, it was lousy. Talent, not coaching, is the most important consideration in the success of the team. Coaching helps, but note for example how the defense was lousy this year despite spags, because the talent is lousy. See also the bobby april example.

ramming speed to all

general counsel

We had talent, unfortunately it was raw and undeveloped. Haslett didn't work to develop it, and there you have a couple lost developmental years in our defense.

Hopefully Washington isn't planning a youth movement on defense for their own sake.

[Nick_Weasel]

Re: Haslett joins Redskins as new defensive coordinator

Right, and since he left, our defense hasn't gotten torched once.:|

If ever a coach was set up to for failure, it was Haslett. He took over someone else's mess, with someone else's bad players, and a totally inept front office that had no clue on drafting and evaluating talent. Anyone that can't see that and would hold him responsible for our record that year knows NOTHING about the game of pro football, and might as well just refrain from commenting on the subject.

I haven't seen anybody here holding him responsible for our record. In any case, his track record for the entire decade was pretty bad. If you look at his numbers as HC of the Saints, they were in the bottom half of the league almost every year defensively, and their best year was his first year, indicating that whatever influence he had over defensive personnel didn't seem to work out.

That being said, it's very hard for an outsider like either of us to evaluate DC performance, which is why I qualified my entire post. You seem more comfortable making far bolder statements. That is fine I suppose, but on what basis are you so confident in yourself that you can state that anybody who disagrees with you knows nothing about pro football?

[Flippin' Ram]

Re: Haslett joins Redskins as new defensive coordinator

Best of luck for Haslett, you will always be remembered by me for defeating the Cowgirls in 2008, 34-14