Snyder's ineptness rears its ugly head again with coaching hire

Is Zorn really a better choice than Gregg Williams, the in-house candidate who was the odds-on favorite to get the job, only to be rebuffed when he didn't play kissy-face with the owner? No, but Zorn is probably a better yes-man.

It appeared the job was Williams' to lose when Gibbs retired, but Williams never seemed to win over the owner. The theory around the league is that it's because he wasn't open to those moments when Snyder wanted to play coach.

Snyder cast him aside, even though players and others thought him to be the right guy for the job.

Williams didn't bow down, which is a mistake when you work for Snyder. Many league insiders refer to Vinny Cerrato, the executive vice president of football operations, as "Snyder's boy." At times in his stint with the Redskins, Cerrato wondered if he would even have a job, but always was wise to stay close to the owner. Now he's the football decision-maker. He's a yes-man. Maybe his name should be Vinny "Cerrat-never-say-no."

Cerrato is actually now second in command in making football decisions to the ultimate decision-maker, Snyder. I mean Mr. Snyder. Oops.

It's clear that Snyder went for a coach who would listen to him. He picked Zorn. That's after several others backed away, including New York Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, who was told by confidants around the league to pass. Why did Spags and others pass? They didn't want to inherit two coordinators, Zorn on offense and Greg Blache on defense, already hired by Snyder.

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.

Snyder is smarter than all this. I always look at the Redskins' business side to see just how smart he truly is in that area. It's a cash machine. He should tend to that and hire some smart football people, not men who have "Yes, Mr. Snyder" in their automatic reply settings because it's used so much.

Money and power mean a lot, Mr. Snyder. But they will never buy somebody football sense. We've been reminded of that once again by Snyder's actions of the past month.

Oh, Danny Boy. Not again.