So, Jim Fassel got screwed by Daniel Snyder. He shouldn't be surprised, and he should consider himself lucky.
Not getting hired to work for that jerk probably saves Fassel a lot of aggravation. Gentleman Jim has been on the outside looking in since the Giants fired him in 2003, and this may have been his last best shot at getting another NFL head-coaching job, but in the end my guess is Fassel will wind up happy Snyder left him at the altar.
To review, weeks ago it seemed Snyder had settled on Fassel, even going so far as to give Fassel input into the coordinators he hired -- including Jim Zorn, who ended up with the job Fassel thought was his.
Pete Prisco of CBS Sportsline does a much better job shredding Snyder than I ever could. So, here is some of what Prisco had to say.
But football-wise, he should be shredded.
He is the knee-jerk, react owner who spends lavishly and most of the time it's foolishly. Look at his track record. Take a look at his coaches. How'd that Steve Spurrier work out? How about bringing back Joe Gibbs? Wasn't exactly worth it, was it? Snyder's free agency and trade scoreboard is littered with failure.
Paging Adam Archuleta. Paging Antwaan Randle El. Paging Brandon Lloyd.
The problem is Snyder thinks he knows football just because he collected football cards years ago and wore Redskins colors to school. But he doesn't.
Here's more from Prisco.
Talk about troubles. How can you expect a new head coach to take two guys the owner hired onto his staff as his closest confidants? Doesn't Snyder watch mob shows? Even if they weren't rats, they'd both be perceived as such.
Zorn has never been a head coach. Heck, he's never been a coordinator. But he's probably open to Snyder's meddling. It is one of 32 jobs of its kind, which does mean something, even when the owner is calling you to the office two and three times a day.
When Gibbs was around, Snyder idolized him. He was a fan. He wasn't going to interfere with the legend. But with Gibbs gone, Snyder is back to his old ways, ways that his previous coaches hated.
Zorn might turn out to be a heck of a coach. I loved the way he played the game. He was daring and he might be that way as a coach. That's always a good thing.
But the perception with his players will be that he is Danny's Boy. That's never a good thing. It could make for some real problems.
Pro Football Talk adds to the theory that the hiring of Zorn instead of Fassel is all about getting a yes man as Washington's head coach, someone simply grateful to have the job.
As the theory goes, Zorn was deemed to be the least likely of the candidates to challenge Cerrato's authority as the new Executive V.P. of Football Operations.
I do hope Fassel gets another opportunity as a head coach one day, though I think maybe his time has come and gone. Working for Snyder, though, simply can't be worth the trouble.