When I read this morning about the behavior of assistant coaches Jim Washburn (defensive line) and Howard Mudd (offensive line) on Andy Reid's coaching staff, I was aghast. The former, fired today, was openly disrespectful of then-defensive coordinator Juan Castillo, apparently calling him Juanita in front of his player. The latter, apparently, hung out only with the former.
What kind of nuthouse was Andy Reid running? Washburn should have been held accountable the first time. And then terminated. And Mudd should have been talked to about meshing with the coaching staff. I don't care if he came out of a retirement and was a legendary assistant in Indianapolis. If you decided to un-retire, you come back and help form part of a team. If not, don't come back.
As for Washburn, and Reid's tolerance of him, well, the wheels started to fall off the defensive bus when coordinator Jim Johnson passed away. Then coordinator Sean McDermott struggled, and then Reid waffled on who would succeed him, apparently striking out on his former linebackers coach, Steve Spagnuolo, who helped the Giants win a Super Bowl while serving as defensive coordinator before struggling as the head coach in St. Louis. But Spagnuolo went to New Orleands, and Reid was without moves. So, fearing, apparently, risking Castillo to Tennessee (to whom he was speaking about their offensive coordinator position, has he had been the Eagles' offensive line coach for about 15 years), he promoted him to defensive coordinator, prompting a memorable headline from the Philadelphia Daily News ("WFT?" exclaimed the headline). And that prompted bringing in Washburn, providing veteran ballast for Castillo's defensive ship, and Mudd to replace Castillo.
Now, coaching positions turn over, but why did Reid tolerate Washburn for so long? Was it because he was out of moves? Because either Joe Banner or Jeffrey Lurie compelled him to do so? Or because he thought that the dissension helped make the team better? And how could a disrespectful coach make the team better?
If the Eagles only had completed as many passes as Jeffrey Lurie has given Andy Reid, they'd be playoff bound.
But the players shouldn't rest easy, either. For while the Birds need a new head coach, they also need some players who are leaders. That seems to have been a problem for the past couple of years, too.
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Sportsprof: You post far too infrequently for this fan. Consider this Comment made on IvyHoopsOnline in response to article discussing thin Brown roster:How About This Transfer From Harvard?
December 22, 2012 at 9:24 pm
Harvard has released an academic booster from its team if Brown wants to go through an expansion draft to fill out the Bear roster.
How about this guy’s stats? During his senior year in high school, he averaged 1.7 points per game, 0.4 assists (as a point guard), supplemented with 0.2 steals. For the full season, he racked up 46 points — not his high game of the year, that’s his complete total for the entire campaign.
Better yet, his junior year, when Amaker was recruiting this player, he was on the junior varsity. That’s right, during the same recruiting season Amaker was chasing and successfully wooing current freshman star Siyani Chambers and next year’s sensation Zena Edosomwan, the busy coach made time to find, observe, recruit, then get admitted and enrolled at Harvard a point guard who was at the time playing on his high school junior varsity squad.
Naturally, once Harvard classes began this fall, Amaker released him from the roster. The charade had come to an end with a profitable outcome for both parties; Amaker had his team AI goosed up for appearance’s sake and the kid received a thick letter from the admissions department of the world’s most famous university.
It’s a new era up in Cambridge.
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