Redskins Hire Bruce Allen

It was only a matter of time before someone scooped Bruce Allen up from the unemployment line. It’s a nice sentimental hire for the Redskins too, kind of like re-hiring Joe Gibbs back in 2004. It seems that Allen’s title will be VP of Football Operations, same as the recently “resigned” Vinny Cerrato.

The hire fuels speculation that Gruden will reunite with Allen with the Redskins, with many believing second-year coach Jim Zorn will be fired at the end of the season. Gruden has downplayed talk of a return to the sideline, signing a multiyear deal Nov. 16 to remain as an analyst with ESPN’s Monday Night Football.

Gruden and his agent are nothing if not shrewd. There is likely no penalty for Gruden to walk away from ESPN after his 2009 obligations to Monday Night Football are fulfilled. According to Profootballtalk.com, ESPN has stated that they expect Gruden to remain with them for several years, but you wouldn’t expect them to say anything different when they had just extended him a couple months ago. Also according to PFT, Gruden is not Dan Snyder’s choice to coach the Redskins. Mike Shanahan is.

So even though Allen and Shanahan have no history of collaboration and despite more obvious ties between Allen and former Bucs and Raiders coach Jon Gruden, the source predicts very confidently that coach Jim Zorn eventually will quit or be fired — and that Shanahan will get the job.

It would be just like Snyder to do something like this, and I can’t imagine why Bruce Allen would agree to it. If he’s hiring Allen to manage all of his football operations, why wouldn’t he allow Allen to choose the head coach to go along with his vision? Not that Gruden would be a slam dunk, but it seems foolish to give someone control of your football team and then not give him the freedom to hire the most important person. Could Shanahan and Allen even exist on the same team? Shanahan always seemed like he was the one pulling the strings in Denver even though they technically had a general manager. And what about the Rooney Rule that requires teams to interview minority candidates for all top level positions, not just head coaches? Can Snyder really try to dodge it twice in a matter of weeks? No fine is going to make an impression on him. The league would have to penalize him with draft picks. Big ones. The whole deal is just weird. It’s going to be interesting to see how it plays out in the next couple weeks.

And, this rumor is so unsubstantiated that it doesn’t deserve its own post, but there is talk that Bill Cowher visited the Glazers a couple weeks ago and that the Bucs are on Cowher’s short list of teams he would consider coaching. It is also rumored that the Panthers are off the table even if John Fox is gone. Again, unsubstantiated and almost certainly exaggerated, but that’s what I heard.

I was all set to move on to another hot Volunteer chick, but since Jael herself came by and posted a comment, I just had to post one more. It’s a great shot, but the superimposed Power T makes it look cheap. Can’t she just wear official UT gear? Like, say, earrings? And nothing else? Would that be so much to ask?