Washingtonpost.com:

Opening Statement
Thank you Mr. Snyder. I sort of apologize for all the attention I've received the last few days. I'll be glad when tomorrow gets here, and I can get back to just trying to be a ball coach for the Washington Redskins. But I want to thank Dan Snyder for hiring me. I realize I'm one of the luckiest guys in the country to have an opportunity to coach the Washington Redskins, to coach in this city, biggest stadium in the NFL. They sell all their tickets, best fans. We're going to turn FedEx Field into the loudest stadium hopefully in the country, and for me to have that opportunity I really feel fortunate.

There's a lot of people that certainly I've admired many years in the coaching profession. Some people are always asking me who coaches you like or try to emulate, guys you think are the best. Certainly the one that was here in the '80s and early '90s., Joe Gibbs, has certainly always been one of my favorites. I'm going to try, I don't know if I can come close to what he did, certainly what he achieved here in his 12 years was remarkable. Our styles hopefully are somewhat similar.

I'm going to try to coach the offense, call the plays the way he did. Hopefully we'll get an excellent defensive coordinator in here that can handle that side. Our special teams I believe will in good hands. And our setup, from the owner to general manager to head coach will be similar. I'm in complete agreement with the way Dan Snyder wants to run this team. We're going to have a general manager that's going to handle his part. Hopefully I can handle the coaching part, and if there's ever a disagreement, Mr. Snyder will make the call. And that's the kind of setup I'm really looking forward to working in.

So it's a team effort, and hopefully I can do my part to bring some championships, division, NFC, and then hopefully the big one to the Washington Redskins. Certainly that's sort of why I left college, the challenge to see if sort of my style of coaching can work in the NFL. We all believe we're going to be successful in whatever we do, and I believe that I and our coaches and our team will be successful. But we've got to go do it. Everybody sort of talks about it at their opening press conference. I don't want to talk too big right now. But certainly we'll have some goals here. Our goals each year will be first of all the division championship, the playoffs, the NFC, and hopefully have a team that's capable of winning the world championship, Super Bowl, the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

Second of all, hopefully when my time is finished as head coach here, that my departure will be similar to Joe Gibbs. Not many coaches ever walk out on their own terms, and maybe that's one reason I admire Joe Gibbs so much, that he walked away when he felt like his time was finished. And third goal I have here, and I've already told Dan Snyder that first gameball I'm going to give him is when we play the Dallas Cowboys this coming season. We should, and you can't make any guarantees, but we'll be ready to play the Dallas Cowboys. I have learned that that's a game our fans really want to win. All I can say is I'll try my best to do my part along with everybody else to beat those Dallas Cowboys this coming season.

Other than that, I'm looking forward to it. I'll tell you it was warm out here today. I was telling Mr. Snyder that sunshine follows the Gators, and maybe sunshine will start following the Redskins, and we're going to have some good fortune. But I'm really excited about this opportunity. I know we've got a lot of good players on the team. I know it's a team that's very capable of having a big year next year. How big we've got to find out. We've got a lot of pieces to the puzzle we've got to put in place, but that's the fun part of it, that's the challenge, seeing if we can get that done. I know it's tough league, not going to be easy, but I'm looking forward to having a go at it and doing my part along with Mr. Snyder, the general manager and everyone in the Redskins' organization. I just want to say how wonderfully everyone has made me feel since I've been here today. All the people who work here at Redskins Park have been super. I feel good here already. I can't wait to get things going in the next few days.

Q: What made you choose the Redskins over the other NFL coaching jobs available?
A: I really believe I'm here today because Dan Snyder convinced me this was the best opportunity. Basically he said, "Steve, you want a challenge? You want to coach at the highest level? You want to coach in a big ballpark? You want to coach where we've got the best fans in the country? I'm giving you that challenge right now." Basically he convinced me he wanted me to be his coach. And I told him he's a good recruiter, because after we talked last week I called him back that night and said, "If you still want me, I'm coming to the Redskins." He said, "We will have ourselves a deal at the right time." So, we got it worked out and probably Dan Snyder is one of the biggest reasons I'm here. Well, he is the biggest reason because he offered me the job. But the area, the stadium, the fans, it's all here. It's all here to be successful. We'll try our best to get it done.

Q: How much pressure to you feel considering the size of your contract?
A: Well, the size of my contract has been too big for the last 10 years anyway. I just sort of k now the money's a lot bigger than it used to be everywhere. Coaches are making more. Players are making more. And certainly I feel very fortunate. I will certainly try to give to the charities in this area and be involved. I believe in life if you're fortunate enough to make a little extra, you should share it. I can assure you I will be doing that in the near future.

Q: Why did you feel this year was the right time to come the Redskins?
A: We talked a little bit last year. Didn't obviously get as serious as maybe this year. But it just didn't seem the right time to leave Florida. We had a good team coming back. I don't know. It just didn't seem like the right time to leave. Whereas this year, it seemed like late in the season, all of our seasons started running together. Everything was the same. . . . It seemed like we were 9-1 going into this game, we'd win nine or 10, sometimes a little bit more. But if ever I was going to have an opportunity or take a shot coaching in the big leagues, in the NFL, this was the time to go. So fortunately Dan felt like he needed to make a change, and they couldn't get together. I want to say Marty Schottenheimer is a friend of mine. I respect him tremendously, and I think he did an excellent job here. It didn't work out, but that's history. And we're ready to move on.

Q: Why will your style of offense be successful in the NFL?
A: I think we just got to go play. Sometimes everybody thinks all I do is throw the ball all over the ballpark, and we do throw it all over the ballpark, but we also run the ball. LaVar Arrington was in today. I saw him through the offices here. And I said, "LaVar, were you on that Penn State Citrus Bowl team back in '96?" And he said, "Yeah coach, I was a freshman. Didn't play much that year, but I played quite a bit in that game." And that was the year they didn't have much of a run defense. Joe Paterno's defense wasn't very stout. Anyway, Fred Taylor, our running back, carried the ball 41 times against Penn State. So Stephen Davis, I want Stephen to know he's a big part of our offense. Why will it be successful? Only time will tell. I'm not trying to say anything's guaranteed in life, but I'm looking forward to opportunity to see if it will be.

Q: How many teams did you talk to other than the Redskins?
A: Let me tell you what. When I talk to whoever, we first of all say whatever talks are in here are in here and don't go into it later. That's the way I believe it should be done. The team you end up with, that's the one you talk about. So I'm here to talk about the Redskins and our team, organization, fans, everyone here.

Q: Have you had a chance to evaluate the personnel here, and what do you think makes for a dynamic offense?
A: I really haven't evaluated our players all that much here yet. I do believe we've got an excellent group of players, a team that's very, very capable. Now, I know we've got a lot of unrestricted free agents at some positions. I don't who the quarterback is going to be right now. I don't know who some of our wide receivers are going to be. We do know Stephen Davis and Champ Bailey and a bunch of other guys will be here. But again I'm not familiar with all the personnel right now.

Q: Why was now the right time to leave Florida?
A: I guess as a head coach I've been in Florida 15 of my 18 years, three with the Bandits, 12 with the University of Florida and three up at Duke University, so it was an opportunity maybe to get away a little bit from you guys, the same sportswriters all the time. Really, it was an NFL opportunity to come to the Washington Redskins, work for Dan Snyder was proabably the big thing.

Q: Any plans to name assistants?
A: We're going to announce all of them at the same time, but I certainly plan to bring five or six of my guys. And hopefully keep two or three guys from this staff, and hopefully get a defensive coordinator who has done it in the NFL, a guy with experience. And we'll get all those things lined up, and we'll give them to you then. That's the plan.

Q: What in your mind is the most important ingredient you look for in a quarterback?
A: The most important ingredient for any quarterback to play is courage. You've got to be tough. You've got to stand in there and take a few hits and make decisions and so forth. But our style of offense, it's not a lot different than other people's. You've got to mix the run and the pass, make good decisions. A quarterback's got to make good decisions. One thing we do that's probably a lot different than from what I've been watching is our quarterbacks audible. We check off. We change the play. There's a good defense for every play, and there's a good offensive play sometimes for every defense. You try to get the best plays you can against each defense. So decision-making is probably a big part also.

Q: Any plans to involve Champ Bailey on offense?
A: There may be a spot to get Champ a play or two here and there. But it's awfully difficult to totally train on both sides. You'd have a tough time training your wide receivers the whole game, and Champ's over there training on defense all week, and then it's third and eight and you put him in there and throw the ball at him. Your offensive guys are going to say, "Coach, aren't we good enough?" It's difficult to play both sides. A reverse play, maybe a quick screen or something like that. One or two plays certainly could be a possibility.

Q: How do you respond to those who say you run up the score?
A: You've got to coach your way. You sort of got to coach the way you've been successful. So I will try to do that. Really after a lot of big wins, my favorite saying is that God smiled on the Gators today, and I say that a lot. I don't know try to rub it in on anybody. Sometimes in the offseason when you're speaking at all these Gator clubs, I've done about 250 Gator clubs in 12 years, you have to say something to make somebody laugh. And you tell them a little corny joke like, "The Citrus Bowl is the winter home of the Tennessee Vols." And everybody gets mad about it. I mean, Gator fans laugh, but when played [this season], one of the Tennessee guys got an airplane banner that said, "The Vols welcome the Gators to the Citrus Bowl." One of our guys got mad, and I said, "No, that's fine. We've thrown a little. They can throw it back. That's perfectly okay." When people jibe me, that's perfectly okay.

Q: What do you think the biggest difference between college and the NFL is?
A: The biggest difference? I probably don't have the answer to that right now. I think a lot of it involves keeping your players for a while, free agency and salary cap situations, it's a juggle there. That's probably one of the biggest differences right there. The players are better. Defense are faster. Almost everybody has got big, strong fast guys everywhere. But other than that, we put 11 guys out there, and offense tries to get them in position to move the ball, score touchdowns. Defense gets their 11 to stop them. That's football.

Q: Do you feel your reputation as a coach who yells is warranted?
A: I was watching ESPN the other day, and it showed me yelling at Alex Brown when he jumped offside for the third time in the game. That's why I was real upset at him on third and four. But he was a good player for us. So when the camera is on you all the time, it can show you yelling and screaming, almost any coach. They can pick you doing that. At times I've yelled at the quarterback to try to get his attention, to try to get him thinking. I might yell at him and tell him, "You're too good a player, too smart to be doing these dumb things." So I try to encourage at the same. But obviously as a coach who coaches the quarterbacks, if I'm going to yell at the left guard a little bit, I've got to yell at the quarterback a little bit. I've got to yell at everybody to let them know I'm in the game, this is important. We train and practice and do so much year-round just to play 16 games and hopefully the playoffs. And they're very important, and if you screw it up, you never get it back. So that's why we try to prepare, and everyone gets involved the best they can to be successful each week.

Q: Have you had a chance to speak with any of the players yet?
A: Talked to Bruce [Smith] and Darrell [Green] just a few minutes ago. Marco Coleman was in earlier also. And of course I talked to Sonny Jurgensen. He told me he could still play. I had a chance to meet a few of the players, and they're all upbeat, and I appreciate that.

Q: What did you learn as a USFL coach that will prepare you for the NFL?
A: Hopefully I've learned a little bit better how to coach. That was back in 1983, Washington Federals, beat them 30-23, rainy, rainy day. That was the only game I had coaches in RFK. I think all of us learn how to do our jobs better each year, each week. That zone blitz came into the defensive packages a year ago. You learn how to hopefully block that and have a good play on against that kind of stuff. We all try to learn as we go.

Q: What is your practice philosophy?
A: What I believe is the best is that you've got to bump heads a little bit. Don't tackle, fall on the legs, everybody stay up. We do our one-on-one running and so forth. Full-speed blocking, stay up, wrap up the ball carrier, keep him up. A lot of passing, avoid hard hits. I'm a big believer that you can practice the game without hurting your own teammates. There's a balance you try to shoot for where you're physically tough, but yet you're not hurting guys on your own team. I know some coaches say you've got to do the whole thing. You've got to practice and tackle and hit and do it just like a football game. And somebody once told me, "Soldiers, they don't' use live bullets when they're practicing." So we try not to hurt each other, but you do got to bump heads though. We're going to try to be fresh and ready on game day.


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