 Beathard out, Casserly in: In May 1989, the seated Bobby Beathard announced his departure, and Charley Casserly — a former high school teacher and coach who had joined the Redskins as an unpaid intern in 1977 — succeeded him as general manager. (John McDonnell/The Washington Post) |
"Every year there are going to be
three or four guys you disagree on," Gibbs said. "The scouts are on one side,
and they want to keep everybody who's a rookie and tell you how great they
are. Here's the coach who's finally starting to love some of the rookies from the
year before. If you have two people like we did — and it was me and Bobby
and then Mr. Cooke up here — these two are going to hit . . . Yes, we had some
knock-down, drag-outs . . ."This time the coach prevailed, and Casserly took over for Beathard on May 6, 1989.
In camp that year, Rypien won the quarterback job and started the first eight games, which naturally did not make Williams happy. Williams did replace Rypien for two games, but Williams was still angry. Rypien then came around, leading the Redskins to five straight wins to end the season with a 10-6 mark, though that was not good enough to make the playoffs. Williams was released at season's end.
Before leaving, Beathard had handled the draft and had done quite well. He sent a the team's 1989 second-round pick and its1990 first-round pick to Atlanta for running back Gerald Riggs and a later 1990 pick. Riggs had been the NFL's second most productive runner the previous five years (5,895 yards), but injuries limited him to 12 games and 834 yards in 1989.
Beathard also sent Mike Oliphant to Cleveland for running back Earnest Byner, which proved to be another steal for the Redskins.
In important respects, the decade was closing as it had begun. There had been a struggle between the head coach and the general manager. The team was again in a rebuilding process. The Redskins had missed the playoffs once more — and there would be more glory ahead.
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Other Pages in Chapter 4: 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171
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Table of Contents Introduction Chapter 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 Names, Numbers Trivia Quiz Index |
