Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 3, 1994 TAG: 9402030089
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: ASHBURN LENGTH: Long
And that isn't where the Washington Redskins hope the similarities between Joe Gibbs and Norv Turner end.
Like Gibbs, Turner will call his own offensive plays. Each became the 'Skins head coach within a few months of his 41st birthday. Gibbs, in 12 seasons, guided the Redskins to three Super Bowl titles.
Turner knows something about Super Bowls, too. Less than 72 hours after his Dallas offense cooked Buffalo in a second straight Super victory, Turner was introduced Wednesday as the Redskins' 19th head coach.
The Redskin Park announcement went live into the half-hour noon news block - all of it - on local stations in the nation's capital. There were so many lights and cameras, you'd have thought Jack Kent Cooke had hired Jeff Gillooly.
Cooke tried to make it clear he hadn't hired Gibbs - but perhaps another Gibbs.
The Redskins' 81-year-old owner extolled the ex-coach he keeps clamped to a contract without pay despite Gibbs' retirement 11 months ago. Then, he explained why he gave Turner a five-year contract for about $500,000 annually.
"He is not a replica of Joe Gibbs," Cooke said of his franchise's third head coach in one year. "What he is is a professional, dedicated, intelligent, young football brain that I have run across. He's articulate. He knows what he wants and he's going to get what he wants. And that's exactly what I want and every one of the loyal Redskins fans wants."
What they want first is for Turner to make them forget last season's abysmal 4-12 record, the Redskins' worst season in three decades and defensive wizard Richie Petitbon's only season as a head coach.
Cooke didn't exactly discover Turner. If Gibbs - when hired in 1981 - was a stunning choice, Turner wasn't just the obvious and only candidate. He was the current "hot" coach in the NFL, just as Mike Holmgren was as the San Francisco 49ers' offensive coordinator two years ago when he was hired to guide the Green Bay Packers' return to the playoff picture.
While Turner will bring the Cowboys' offensive philosophy to RFK Stadium, he won't be followed by Emmitt Smith, Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin or other Dallas Pro Bowlers he's coached.
He inherits an aged team that's already about $7 million over the salary cap that will begin in 1994. The Redskins don't have the Cowboys' talent or speed or bulk up front.
Washington doesn't have a receiving tight end like Jay Novacek or a blocking fullback like Daryl Johnston - unless '93 rookie H-back Frank Wycheck becomes that player.
Turner may have been a college quarterback at Oregon and tutored Aikman toward stardom, but he isn't a coach who necessarily features the man behind center. For the rebuilding Redskins, fraught with quarterback uncertainty, that's good news.
Turner said he learned power football coaching under his mentor, John Robinson, at Southern Cal and with the Los Angeles Rams. He isn't much on razzle-dazzle. In Dallas, Irvin and Alvin Harper didn't go deep often. They turned slants into big gains.
Redskins offensive tackle Jim Lachey, recovered from knee surgery that ended his '93 season before it began, said he began watching the Cowboys with more intrigue through the playoffs, once it was obvious Turner would be Petitbon's successor.
"What I saw," Lachey said Wednesday, "was a very efficient offense. I didn't see a lot of complexity. I saw a few set plays, the kind of plays that banked on the kind of talent they had."
Is it any surprise that the second question Turner was asked after Cooke's introduction was "Who's the starting quarterback?"
Turner begged off, with several answers that could be boiled into the coaching generic, "I have to see the films." He did say having the option to draft a quarterback high "is a positive" and he likes the concept of "starting from square one and watching a guy grow" as Aikman has in Dallas.
That could open the door for discarded Cary Conklin as the Redskins' quarterback. Mark Rypien doesn't figure to return unless he takes a cut from his $3 million salary.
Turner will meet with top draft prospects Heath Shuler and Trent Dilfer, see which one's potential meshes with the Redskins' philosophy and then make a decision on his strong draft-day suggestion to general manager Charley Casserly.
"What we did in Dallas," Turner said, "is found out what people did best and gave them a chance to do it."
While Turner was trying to keep anyone from putting his name and "genius" into the same sentence, other burgundy-dyed franchise veterans were trying to come to grips with Washington turning to its hated rival in desperate days.
"I'm trying to think what George [Allen] would have done," Casserly said when asked what his late boss - who fueled the Dallas-Washington rivalry like no one else could - would have done if told the Redskins had picked the Cowboys' brains.
"No. 1, George probably is rolling over in his grave," he figured. "No. 2, he probably would have done it, to hurt Dallas."
And there is at least one Redskins tradition in which Turner won't follow in Gibbs' footsteps.
"I don't make guarantees," Turner said. "On the Cowboys, Coach [Jimmy] Johnson made all the guarantees. But one guarantee I will make is that I will not sleep at Redskin Park."
by CNB