The only NFL coach to win three Super Bowls with three different quarterbacks. Hall of Fame inductee. The maestro behind so many of the happiest Burgundy & Gold memories. We know the magic Joe Gibbs helped create in Washington, but what took place to get him here in the first place? Spotify: bit.ly/HailTalesSpotify Apple Podcast: bit.ly/HailTalesApple
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Head coach, Coach of the Year in the NFL, Joe
Gibbs and Washington Wretchkin.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Joe Gibbs you might know him, and man, I'm gonna
tell you, I love to win Hall of Famer.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
I could have.
Speaker 4 (00:11):
Shut my eyes called to play him. Could have been
eight yards.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
The only coach to win three Super Bowls with three
different starting quarterbacks. Joe Kiss the NFL Coach of the
Year and his second chas the maestro behind some of
the greatest moments in franchise history.
Speaker 5 (00:29):
Touchdown Washington Redskins.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
What Joe Gibbs did when he got to Washington is
well known, but what did it take to get him
to join the Burgundy and Gold in the first place.
This is Hailtails Stories from Washington Football History, Episode three,
The Hiring of Joe Gibbs. It's the nineteen eighty season
(01:09):
San Diego, California. The Chargers have established themselves as one
of the best teams in football. Their offense is a force,
top five in the league in total points, leading the
NFL in passing yards, first in yards per game.
Speaker 6 (01:27):
My name is Dan Fouts.
Speaker 7 (01:29):
I played for the San Diego Chargers for fifteen years
and during that time, I was fortunate that Joe Gibbs
as my offensive coordinator.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Future Hall of Famer Fouts is on fire in nineteen
eighty The air Coriel offense, which put heavy emphasis on
the passing game, is working big time. Chargers offensive coordinator.
Joe Gibbs really helps it flourish.
Speaker 5 (01:54):
Joe was.
Speaker 7 (01:57):
Really a very detailed oriented coordinator, but he liked to
have fun too, and that was really the theme that
Coriel tried to establish with our team, that we would
work hard, we would pay attention to the details, but
we'd also have fun. And once the offense was established,
(02:23):
it just grew and grew exponentially, and Joe was a
big part of that.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
In San Diego, Bouts could see that his OC was
a unique kind of talent.
Speaker 6 (02:34):
I think the biggest thing about Joe is that, almost
to a fault, he was stubborn as far as which
plays he wanted to run in when he wanted to
run them, especially in crunch time. There are many times
where I would get frustrated with it because the plays
(02:57):
seemed like he had a different idea than I had.
But his idea was always better than mine and always
more successful.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
During his two seasons, with the Chargers, Gibbs helped San
Diego win twenty four games. He was a great coach,
a great leader, and all that had the Chargers players
suspecting he wouldn't be around for much longer.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
What happened.
Speaker 6 (03:20):
I mean, Joe was so successful with us that we
knew that he would become a head coach at some point.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Though others may have seen it clear as day, Gibbs
himself had his doubts.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
I got all the way up to forty years old,
interviewed at two colleges, had a chance to interview there.
Both of them went in a different direction. So I
really had about forty years old. I said, this may
not happen. I just may pass me by.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Okay, So that's what's happening in San Diego. Now, let's
take a trip across the country to the nation's capital,
where it could be said that football happenings are not
quite as sunny at that time. For the same stint,
Joe Gibbs is in San Diego. General manager Bobby Bethard
and head coach Jack Party are working together in Washington.
Speaker 8 (04:16):
Bethard and Jack Party sort of clashed. They were of
a different mind.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Lenn Shapiro, who wrote for the Washington Post from nineteen
sixty nine to twenty ten.
Speaker 8 (04:27):
Party was sort of old school, a George Allen guy.
Also one of the guys that Alan brought in when
he was over the hill to play linebacker, and he
was over the hill and did play linebacker and retired
after the seventy two season. Became a coach, but Bethard
was not gonna it wasn't gonna work with with Party
(04:48):
and the Redskins, and Bethard fired him.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
That same nineteen eighty season. The Chargers are flying high.
The Jack Party led Burgundy and Gold go six and ten,
which would actually end up being the team's only digit
losing season between nineteen sixty four and nineteen ninety two.
Speaker 9 (05:04):
Jack Party was a great coach, but very loyal to
his players. But my dad understood something's got a change here.
We got to get younger. This is a very old team.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Bobby Betherd's son Jeff, who's been an NFL scout for
a number of years, his dad felt it was time
to go in a different direction. And the general manager
knows exactly we wants to be his next head coach.
Speaker 9 (05:28):
Dad had a great conviction about Joe Gibbs's mind as
a more up to date offense and love the balance
of the passing and running attack.
Speaker 5 (05:40):
It was either Joe Gibbs or nothing.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Team owner Jack Kent Cook wasn't quite on the same
page as Washington football journalist Mike Richmond recalls.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Well, the first time that.
Speaker 5 (05:52):
Bethard mentioned it to him, Cook said, who.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
In the hell is Joe Gibbs.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Bobby Bethard had a key and I for talent, though,
and he saw that Joe Gibbs was special. He was
a competitor.
Speaker 5 (06:05):
People you say, asked me, what was Joe Gibbs? Like?
I said, the only thing I know about Joe Gibbs.
Speaker 10 (06:10):
If you're going to play him in anything racquetball or
tennis or football, have you better bring your lunch because
it's going.
Speaker 5 (06:17):
To take a long time.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
He was smart and focused.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
He was known for his preparation, tremendous preparation for games,
halftime adjustments, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Joe Gibbs was committed to being the best.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
You know, Joe was a workaholic.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
He did in my work and despite any inkling of doubt,
gives himself might have had being a head coach was
in his future. January eleventh, nineteen eighty one, the AFC
Championship game. The Chargers lose to the Raiders. It's after
the game and Joe Gibbs is with his family.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
I have Pat and I think that the boys and
we were headed home and there was a Pece the
place that we loved, and we had pulled off there
and grabbed a pizza and I get a phone call
and it was from Bobby Bethard and it's one of
(07:13):
the greatest phone calls, you know, anyone could ever get.
And he said, Hey, would you like to interview with
mister Cook to have a chance to be the head coach?
And he said, can you meet me in La tonight?
I said absolutely. So I took Pat and the boys
(07:39):
home and I hit the road for La and I
met Bobby up there at the hotel and he said, okay.
He said, tomorrow morning, we got a flight and we're
going to fly to New York to meet mister Cook,
and so he wants to interview you there.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
I said great. I remember went to bed. There was.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
A fire alarm in the middle of the night. The
emptied everybody out of the street.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
I didn't care.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
I was so wound up about things, and so Bobby
and I flew to New York the next day, and
that's where I had a chance to meet mister Cook
for the first time. And I still remember Bobby always
dressed casual, never had a tie. Well, I'm going in
(08:32):
for this interview, and I told him, I said, hey,
get a tie. What are you doing? I said, you're
going to cost me a chance to get this job.
And I think he ran around in the gift store
in this hotel and the Waldorf and he gets a tie.
And so we go up to whatever floor it was
(08:54):
to meet with mister Cook.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
So that's kind of how all that took place.
Speaker 4 (08:59):
And that night in that interview was something I'll never forget.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
There were so many different parts to it.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
I think what had happened. I think mister Cook, being
as sharp as he was, had somebody write an article
and he kind of leaked my name out and they
wrote this article on me, and I think he wanted
(09:29):
to see what the city would say, here's a guy
it's never had a head coaching job. And so mister
Cook was really smart that way.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
A first ever NFL head coaching interview, no doubt comes
with some nerves, but Jack Kent Cook had a way
of turning it up a notch.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
Mister Cook, about fifteen minutes into this conversation with him,
I always remember this, he goes, Joe, he said, that's
my building right there, and he pointed to the Chrysler.
Here I am with this tablet talking about you know,
(10:11):
Mickey Mouse stuff, probably to him, and this man owns
the building sitting next to us.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
I never felt so intimidated in all my life.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
The other thingure happened in that conversation. So he was
reading that article that they had written on me. Okay,
so he's reading this article and somewhere in there somebody
had put genius on offense in this article. And so
he's reading this paper and all of a sudden he
goes like this. He dropped the paper and he goes,
(10:42):
there's only been two in history, and neither.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
One of them were in football.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
And he put the paper back up and he kept
reading this article. And so I had no idea if
he was serious about me.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
I really didn't.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
And somewhere in there that conversation, after about thirty minutes,
he said, he said, now this is what we're going
to do. He went like that, and I went, oh,
my gosh, he may give me this job.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
And so.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
I also remember at the end of that conversation. I
can remember he said, Okay, here's what we're going to do.
I want to know, do you what do you want
me to do? And I said, mister cook, I got
eight names on this list right here of assistant coaches,
(11:41):
and some of them have real good jobs in the NFL.
I don't know how many of these will get and
I swear to you he went, just like this, We'll
get every single one of them.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Bobby Bethard would go on to crush that task and
made sure Gibbs got his guys.
Speaker 5 (12:01):
When I went to the Senior Bowl that year, Bobby
approached me.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Dan Henning, then the quarterbacks coach in Miami. Him and
Gibbs go way back. Henning is in the big.
Speaker 10 (12:16):
Thing about It was the friendship between Joe and I
and we didn't even talk money.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Don bro running backs coach and later offensive coordinator, comes
on board.
Speaker 5 (12:26):
I just said confidence and Dan it was a he
was a no brain, no really.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Back in the boardroom, the contract is signed, Gibbs becomes
Washington's new head coach.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
I remember the financial part of it. She said, I'm
gonna give you a three year contract. I don't even
I didn't even remember what he said O money.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
I didn't care.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
And from that point, I honestly don't think I slept
for two days. I was so wound up, and I
was going to the Senior Bowl to talk to those coaches,
and so I was on such a high that, you know,
is one of the greatest feelings.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
And I can remember too with Pat, the thing that
meant a lot to me.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
Pat was always there, always the one when we moved.
She was always behind me, supporting me and all those
different moves to colleges and everythink, chasing all this stuff.
She was the mainstay for our family, taking care of
the boys. And I was calling her right before I interviewed.
(13:41):
I called her and she goes, there's something weird going on.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
I said, what. She goes, there's a guy parked out
front of our house.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
It was a newspaper person that had gone up to
the door and asked her, and she goes, I'm not
talking to anybody. She shut the door and he's sitting
in the car out in front of our house. There
were things like that going on and so it was
one of the greatest thrills. Like I said, I don't
(14:11):
know whether I was really that happy or that scared
about what I was getting ready to do.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Washington players were eager to get started with Gibbs. Former
kicker Mark Moseley recalls.
Speaker 11 (14:28):
We immediately knew that we had an opportunity to do
something that we had never done here in Washington since
we've been there. And actually even when coach Allen was here,
it was mostly defense. Our offense was just secondary. But
now we knew that the offense was over the lead
and we were going to have to really really get
(14:49):
busy and get ready for something exciting.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
An offensive coach with Gibbs a specific mentality, quarterback Jose
Eisman was chomping at the bit to get this new
era started.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
I was excited because Joe Gibbs came from the San
Diego Chargers and they threw the ball all over the place.
I'm thinking, man, this is a quarterback stream coach. Gibbs
is bringing the system from San Diego here. Don Coriel's
system throwed around all over the place, and I was
very excited.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
That excitement about the football that could be played under
Gibbs is seriously tested. As the nineteen eighty one season
gets under way, Washington loses its first five games.
Speaker 10 (15:30):
I used to sit with Joe on the plane and
he turned to being in the middle of the flight
and he says, you know, I'm maybe the first coach
to be fired and never having won the game as
a head coach in the NFL.
Speaker 8 (15:39):
And there was a very famous meeting at Jack kin
Cook's estate out in Middleburg, Virginia, about thirty miles from
the facility, where Gibbs and Bethan were both summoned, and
both were summoned thinking both thinking zero to five, we're
(16:00):
out of here. You know he's going to because it's
Jack ken Cook, who had sort of a mercurial reputation
to begin with. But to his great credit, Cook brought
them out there, told him he was very disappointed in
the start. What could he do to help them out?
What did they need? What was you know, what what
(16:23):
was missing? Stay the course. I like what you're doing.
I think you're on the right track. Anything I can
do to help I'll do. If you need players, you know,
we can make whatever you want. The money was not
an object.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
That wasn't the only course, changing history, defining conversation that
Gives had after the fifth straight loss.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
I get word that I'm going to get bench basic.
I thought I was going to get cut or traded,
and the position was important to me. I'd started since
seventy eight. So seventy eight, seventy nine, eighty John retires.
We wind up in a six and ten season. Eighty one.
Joe comes in. We start zero to five. He wants
his people. I'm not his. He inherited me, so I
(17:06):
wasn't his. So I drove to his house. I drove
to his house after we lost to San Francisco after
the game. Now keep in mind, Coach Gibbs, was it is.
You can't even use the term work aholock. He was
beyond that. Whatever that description is, He's beyond it. Slept
at Redskin Park three nights a week. I mean, the
(17:26):
man was at the end of the week, he was exhausted.
So here I come strolling up to the house after
we lose on Sunday, and I knock on the door,
and he opens the door and he looks at me like,
what in Heaven's name.
Speaker 12 (17:36):
Are you doing here?
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Said coach, we need to talk. We sat down and
we visited, and I said, Coach, I get the sense
that you know I'm your quarterback, but I'm really not.
It's like you really don't want me to be the quarterback.
Any time you're in anybody can relate to this. That's
in a meeting when it's going on, and you get
the sense that the person in charge is talking to
people and it's not you, even though I was the
(17:58):
starting quarterback. He said, Joe, look, you got restaurants, TV shows,
radio shows, you got all this stuff going on in Washington.
So I want a person that's just going to be
a quarterback. I'll get rid everything to prove to you
that I want to be your quarterback. I'll get rid everything,
but give me a chance before we do that. And
from that day the next eleven games we went eight
and three, twelve and one, sixteen and three, eleven and five.
Speaker 9 (18:21):
I believe, and.
Speaker 13 (18:22):
Joe realized that he couldn't take that San Diego offense
and make it work here.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Ben linebacker coach and co defensive coordinator Larry Pecatello.
Speaker 13 (18:32):
So he deserves more credit for this than he ever
will get or ever got. And that was the fact
that he said stop right now we're going back to roots,
basic fundamentals. We let go a lot of guys that
we kept because they had promise, but they didn't have
any production. And we brought in a bunch of guys
(18:54):
that we let go that we really like, tough guys
more or less going to be special teamers, guys that
you developed from the bottom up, not from the top down.
But it was good chemistry. It was good chemistry. All
of a sudden, you know, those guys melt melded in
with what we had and we went eight and three.
Speaker 5 (19:15):
Running the football.
Speaker 13 (19:16):
We had John Riggins, you know, we weren't using him
like we should we we should have before that, and
we started using John wearing him out, and and that
was the onset.
Speaker 5 (19:28):
You know.
Speaker 13 (19:28):
We started using two tight ends a lot of people
weren't familiar with that concept, and running the ball very effectively.
As a result, we had time of possession. We were
very efficient in our offense, and it blended right well
with the defense, you know, And that that's how we
(19:49):
took off.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
I just fell into the right place.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
It was Bobby being the general manager and then him
having Charlie Cashley work for him.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Mister Cook, the town I actually believe that.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
The Redskins and now the Commanders. I think it's the
greatest sports franchise in the world.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
I had one of.
Speaker 12 (20:26):
The world's greatest thirty jobs, and I want to say
thanks to all of you for that. I have a
Redskin family that I'll always be a part of. I
think I'm one of the most blessed guys.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
In the world.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
This episode was narrated, produced, and researched by me Hannah Liechtenstein,
senior copywriter for The Washington Commanders. It was produced and
edited by Jason Johnson. Executive producers are Rail and Team
and Kevin Klein. Graphics designed by Roman Schumann and Rakim Smith.
Social media by Maggie Anteulis and Rebecca Solzbach. Alumni relations
(21:09):
help comes from Tim Highttower and Caroline Deco. Thank you
to our guests for their contributions and thank you for listening.
Be sure to subscribe to Hail Tales to never miss
an episode, and let us know your favorite Burgundy and
Gold moments. Maybe we'll touch on them in season two.
Head coach, Coach of the Year in the NFL, Joe
Gibbs and Washington Wretchkin.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Joe Gibbs you might know him, and man, I'm gonna
tell you, I love to win Hall of Famer.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
I could have.
Speaker 4 (00:11):
Shut my eyes called to play him. Could have been
eight yards.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
The only coach to win three Super Bowls with three
different starting quarterbacks. Joe Kiss the NFL Coach of the
Year and his second chas the maestro behind some of
the greatest moments in franchise history.
Speaker 5 (00:29):
Touchdown Washington Redskins.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
What Joe Gibbs did when he got to Washington is
well known, but what did it take to get him
to join the Burgundy and Gold in the first place.
This is Hailtails Stories from Washington Football History, Episode three,
The Hiring of Joe Gibbs. It's the nineteen eighty season
(01:09):
San Diego, California. The Chargers have established themselves as one
of the best teams in football. Their offense is a force,
top five in the league in total points, leading the
NFL in passing yards, first in yards per game.
Speaker 6 (01:27):
My name is Dan Fouts.
Speaker 7 (01:29):
I played for the San Diego Chargers for fifteen years
and during that time, I was fortunate that Joe Gibbs
as my offensive coordinator.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Future Hall of Famer Fouts is on fire in nineteen
eighty The air Coriel offense, which put heavy emphasis on
the passing game, is working big time. Chargers offensive coordinator.
Joe Gibbs really helps it flourish.
Speaker 5 (01:54):
Joe was.
Speaker 7 (01:57):
Really a very detailed oriented coordinator, but he liked to
have fun too, and that was really the theme that
Coriel tried to establish with our team, that we would
work hard, we would pay attention to the details, but
we'd also have fun. And once the offense was established,
(02:23):
it just grew and grew exponentially, and Joe was a
big part of that.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
In San Diego, Bouts could see that his OC was
a unique kind of talent.
Speaker 6 (02:34):
I think the biggest thing about Joe is that, almost
to a fault, he was stubborn as far as which
plays he wanted to run in when he wanted to
run them, especially in crunch time. There are many times
where I would get frustrated with it because the plays
(02:57):
seemed like he had a different idea than I had.
But his idea was always better than mine and always
more successful.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
During his two seasons, with the Chargers, Gibbs helped San
Diego win twenty four games. He was a great coach,
a great leader, and all that had the Chargers players
suspecting he wouldn't be around for much longer.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
What happened.
Speaker 6 (03:20):
I mean, Joe was so successful with us that we
knew that he would become a head coach at some point.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Though others may have seen it clear as day, Gibbs
himself had his doubts.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
I got all the way up to forty years old,
interviewed at two colleges, had a chance to interview there.
Both of them went in a different direction. So I
really had about forty years old. I said, this may
not happen. I just may pass me by.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Okay, So that's what's happening in San Diego. Now, let's
take a trip across the country to the nation's capital,
where it could be said that football happenings are not
quite as sunny at that time. For the same stint,
Joe Gibbs is in San Diego. General manager Bobby Bethard
and head coach Jack Party are working together in Washington.
Speaker 8 (04:16):
Bethard and Jack Party sort of clashed. They were of
a different mind.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Lenn Shapiro, who wrote for the Washington Post from nineteen
sixty nine to twenty ten.
Speaker 8 (04:27):
Party was sort of old school, a George Allen guy.
Also one of the guys that Alan brought in when
he was over the hill to play linebacker, and he
was over the hill and did play linebacker and retired
after the seventy two season. Became a coach, but Bethard
was not gonna it wasn't gonna work with with Party
(04:48):
and the Redskins, and Bethard fired him.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
That same nineteen eighty season. The Chargers are flying high.
The Jack Party led Burgundy and Gold go six and ten,
which would actually end up being the team's only digit
losing season between nineteen sixty four and nineteen ninety two.
Speaker 9 (05:04):
Jack Party was a great coach, but very loyal to
his players. But my dad understood something's got a change here.
We got to get younger. This is a very old team.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Bobby Betherd's son Jeff, who's been an NFL scout for
a number of years, his dad felt it was time
to go in a different direction. And the general manager
knows exactly we wants to be his next head coach.
Speaker 9 (05:28):
Dad had a great conviction about Joe Gibbs's mind as
a more up to date offense and love the balance
of the passing and running attack.
Speaker 5 (05:40):
It was either Joe Gibbs or nothing.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Team owner Jack Kent Cook wasn't quite on the same
page as Washington football journalist Mike Richmond recalls.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Well, the first time that.
Speaker 5 (05:52):
Bethard mentioned it to him, Cook said, who.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
In the hell is Joe Gibbs.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Bobby Bethard had a key and I for talent, though,
and he saw that Joe Gibbs was special. He was
a competitor.
Speaker 5 (06:05):
People you say, asked me, what was Joe Gibbs? Like?
I said, the only thing I know about Joe Gibbs.
Speaker 10 (06:10):
If you're going to play him in anything racquetball or
tennis or football, have you better bring your lunch because
it's going.
Speaker 5 (06:17):
To take a long time.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
He was smart and focused.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
He was known for his preparation, tremendous preparation for games,
halftime adjustments, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Joe Gibbs was committed to being the best.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
You know, Joe was a workaholic.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
He did in my work and despite any inkling of doubt,
gives himself might have had being a head coach was
in his future. January eleventh, nineteen eighty one, the AFC
Championship game. The Chargers lose to the Raiders. It's after
the game and Joe Gibbs is with his family.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
I have Pat and I think that the boys and
we were headed home and there was a Pece the
place that we loved, and we had pulled off there
and grabbed a pizza and I get a phone call
and it was from Bobby Bethard and it's one of
(07:13):
the greatest phone calls, you know, anyone could ever get.
And he said, Hey, would you like to interview with
mister Cook to have a chance to be the head coach?
And he said, can you meet me in La tonight?
I said absolutely. So I took Pat and the boys
(07:39):
home and I hit the road for La and I
met Bobby up there at the hotel and he said, okay.
He said, tomorrow morning, we got a flight and we're
going to fly to New York to meet mister Cook,
and so he wants to interview you there.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
I said great. I remember went to bed. There was.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
A fire alarm in the middle of the night. The
emptied everybody out of the street.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
I didn't care.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
I was so wound up about things, and so Bobby
and I flew to New York the next day, and
that's where I had a chance to meet mister Cook
for the first time. And I still remember Bobby always
dressed casual, never had a tie. Well, I'm going in
(08:32):
for this interview, and I told him, I said, hey,
get a tie. What are you doing? I said, you're
going to cost me a chance to get this job.
And I think he ran around in the gift store
in this hotel and the Waldorf and he gets a tie.
And so we go up to whatever floor it was
(08:54):
to meet with mister Cook.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
So that's kind of how all that took place.
Speaker 4 (08:59):
And that night in that interview was something I'll never forget.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
There were so many different parts to it.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
I think what had happened. I think mister Cook, being
as sharp as he was, had somebody write an article
and he kind of leaked my name out and they
wrote this article on me, and I think he wanted
(09:29):
to see what the city would say, here's a guy
it's never had a head coaching job. And so mister
Cook was really smart that way.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
A first ever NFL head coaching interview, no doubt comes
with some nerves, but Jack Kent Cook had a way
of turning it up a notch.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
Mister Cook, about fifteen minutes into this conversation with him,
I always remember this, he goes, Joe, he said, that's
my building right there, and he pointed to the Chrysler.
Here I am with this tablet talking about you know,
(10:11):
Mickey Mouse stuff, probably to him, and this man owns
the building sitting next to us.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
I never felt so intimidated in all my life.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
The other thingure happened in that conversation. So he was
reading that article that they had written on me. Okay,
so he's reading this article and somewhere in there somebody
had put genius on offense in this article. And so
he's reading this paper and all of a sudden he
goes like this. He dropped the paper and he goes,
(10:42):
there's only been two in history, and neither.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
One of them were in football.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
And he put the paper back up and he kept
reading this article. And so I had no idea if
he was serious about me.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
I really didn't.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
And somewhere in there that conversation, after about thirty minutes,
he said, he said, now this is what we're going
to do. He went like that, and I went, oh,
my gosh, he may give me this job.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
And so.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
I also remember at the end of that conversation. I
can remember he said, Okay, here's what we're going to do.
I want to know, do you what do you want
me to do? And I said, mister cook, I got
eight names on this list right here of assistant coaches,
(11:41):
and some of them have real good jobs in the NFL.
I don't know how many of these will get and
I swear to you he went, just like this, We'll
get every single one of them.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Bobby Bethard would go on to crush that task and
made sure Gibbs got his guys.
Speaker 5 (12:01):
When I went to the Senior Bowl that year, Bobby
approached me.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Dan Henning, then the quarterbacks coach in Miami. Him and
Gibbs go way back. Henning is in the big.
Speaker 10 (12:16):
Thing about It was the friendship between Joe and I
and we didn't even talk money.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Don bro running backs coach and later offensive coordinator, comes
on board.
Speaker 5 (12:26):
I just said confidence and Dan it was a he
was a no brain, no really.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Back in the boardroom, the contract is signed, Gibbs becomes
Washington's new head coach.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
I remember the financial part of it. She said, I'm
gonna give you a three year contract. I don't even
I didn't even remember what he said O money.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
I didn't care.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
And from that point, I honestly don't think I slept
for two days. I was so wound up, and I
was going to the Senior Bowl to talk to those coaches,
and so I was on such a high that, you know,
is one of the greatest feelings.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
And I can remember too with Pat, the thing that
meant a lot to me.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
Pat was always there, always the one when we moved.
She was always behind me, supporting me and all those
different moves to colleges and everythink, chasing all this stuff.
She was the mainstay for our family, taking care of
the boys. And I was calling her right before I interviewed.
(13:41):
I called her and she goes, there's something weird going on.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
I said, what. She goes, there's a guy parked out
front of our house.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
It was a newspaper person that had gone up to
the door and asked her, and she goes, I'm not
talking to anybody. She shut the door and he's sitting
in the car out in front of our house. There
were things like that going on and so it was
one of the greatest thrills. Like I said, I don't
(14:11):
know whether I was really that happy or that scared
about what I was getting ready to do.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Washington players were eager to get started with Gibbs. Former
kicker Mark Moseley recalls.
Speaker 11 (14:28):
We immediately knew that we had an opportunity to do
something that we had never done here in Washington since
we've been there. And actually even when coach Allen was here,
it was mostly defense. Our offense was just secondary. But
now we knew that the offense was over the lead
and we were going to have to really really get
(14:49):
busy and get ready for something exciting.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
An offensive coach with Gibbs a specific mentality, quarterback Jose
Eisman was chomping at the bit to get this new
era started.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
I was excited because Joe Gibbs came from the San
Diego Chargers and they threw the ball all over the place.
I'm thinking, man, this is a quarterback stream coach. Gibbs
is bringing the system from San Diego here. Don Coriel's
system throwed around all over the place, and I was
very excited.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
That excitement about the football that could be played under
Gibbs is seriously tested. As the nineteen eighty one season
gets under way, Washington loses its first five games.
Speaker 10 (15:30):
I used to sit with Joe on the plane and
he turned to being in the middle of the flight
and he says, you know, I'm maybe the first coach
to be fired and never having won the game as
a head coach in the NFL.
Speaker 8 (15:39):
And there was a very famous meeting at Jack kin
Cook's estate out in Middleburg, Virginia, about thirty miles from
the facility, where Gibbs and Bethan were both summoned, and
both were summoned thinking both thinking zero to five, we're
(16:00):
out of here. You know he's going to because it's
Jack ken Cook, who had sort of a mercurial reputation
to begin with. But to his great credit, Cook brought
them out there, told him he was very disappointed in
the start. What could he do to help them out?
What did they need? What was you know, what what
(16:23):
was missing? Stay the course. I like what you're doing.
I think you're on the right track. Anything I can
do to help I'll do. If you need players, you know,
we can make whatever you want. The money was not
an object.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
That wasn't the only course, changing history, defining conversation that
Gives had after the fifth straight loss.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
I get word that I'm going to get bench basic.
I thought I was going to get cut or traded,
and the position was important to me. I'd started since
seventy eight. So seventy eight, seventy nine, eighty John retires.
We wind up in a six and ten season. Eighty one.
Joe comes in. We start zero to five. He wants
his people. I'm not his. He inherited me, so I
(17:06):
wasn't his. So I drove to his house. I drove
to his house after we lost to San Francisco after
the game. Now keep in mind, Coach Gibbs, was it is.
You can't even use the term work aholock. He was
beyond that. Whatever that description is, He's beyond it. Slept
at Redskin Park three nights a week. I mean, the
(17:26):
man was at the end of the week, he was exhausted.
So here I come strolling up to the house after
we lose on Sunday, and I knock on the door,
and he opens the door and he looks at me like,
what in Heaven's name.
Speaker 12 (17:36):
Are you doing here?
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Said coach, we need to talk. We sat down and
we visited, and I said, Coach, I get the sense
that you know I'm your quarterback, but I'm really not.
It's like you really don't want me to be the quarterback.
Any time you're in anybody can relate to this. That's
in a meeting when it's going on, and you get
the sense that the person in charge is talking to
people and it's not you, even though I was the
(17:58):
starting quarterback. He said, Joe, look, you got restaurants, TV shows,
radio shows, you got all this stuff going on in Washington.
So I want a person that's just going to be
a quarterback. I'll get rid everything to prove to you
that I want to be your quarterback. I'll get rid everything,
but give me a chance before we do that. And
from that day the next eleven games we went eight
and three, twelve and one, sixteen and three, eleven and five.
Speaker 9 (18:21):
I believe, and.
Speaker 13 (18:22):
Joe realized that he couldn't take that San Diego offense
and make it work here.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Ben linebacker coach and co defensive coordinator Larry Pecatello.
Speaker 13 (18:32):
So he deserves more credit for this than he ever
will get or ever got. And that was the fact
that he said stop right now we're going back to roots,
basic fundamentals. We let go a lot of guys that
we kept because they had promise, but they didn't have
any production. And we brought in a bunch of guys
(18:54):
that we let go that we really like, tough guys
more or less going to be special teamers, guys that
you developed from the bottom up, not from the top down.
But it was good chemistry. It was good chemistry. All
of a sudden, you know, those guys melt melded in
with what we had and we went eight and three.
Speaker 5 (19:15):
Running the football.
Speaker 13 (19:16):
We had John Riggins, you know, we weren't using him
like we should we we should have before that, and
we started using John wearing him out, and and that
was the onset.
Speaker 5 (19:28):
You know.
Speaker 13 (19:28):
We started using two tight ends a lot of people
weren't familiar with that concept, and running the ball very effectively.
As a result, we had time of possession. We were
very efficient in our offense, and it blended right well
with the defense, you know, And that that's how we
(19:49):
took off.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
I just fell into the right place.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
It was Bobby being the general manager and then him
having Charlie Cashley work for him.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Mister Cook, the town I actually believe that.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
The Redskins and now the Commanders. I think it's the
greatest sports franchise in the world.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
I had one of.
Speaker 12 (20:26):
The world's greatest thirty jobs, and I want to say
thanks to all of you for that. I have a
Redskin family that I'll always be a part of. I
think I'm one of the most blessed guys.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
In the world.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
This episode was narrated, produced, and researched by me Hannah Liechtenstein,
senior copywriter for The Washington Commanders. It was produced and
edited by Jason Johnson. Executive producers are Rail and Team
and Kevin Klein. Graphics designed by Roman Schumann and Rakim Smith.
Social media by Maggie Anteulis and Rebecca Solzbach. Alumni relations
(21:09):
help comes from Tim Highttower and Caroline Deco. Thank you
to our guests for their contributions and thank you for listening.
Be sure to subscribe to Hail Tales to never miss
an episode, and let us know your favorite Burgundy and
Gold moments. Maybe we'll touch on them in season two.
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