I was on the fence about posting about the Zorn news, but our #1 commenter, cwu91 brought it up, so what kind of blogger would I be if didn’t share my opinion?
As I’ve mentioned before, I think Zorn should have received more consideration as the Hawks next coach. He’s got everything I’m looking for in Holmgren’s successor:
- Continuity with Hasselbeck (i.e., has his trust, bridge between old and new system)
- Leader of men
- Creativity
- Energy
It’s a bonus that he’s also a former Seahawk. Ruskell has clearly decided to focus on defense throughout the organization. Considering his consistently poor personnel decisions for offense and the fact that our defense is now better than our offense, we could really use a head coach with some offensive credentials.
This is not to say I’m unhappy with Mora Jr. as our next head coach, but I’m skeptical. With Zorn, I’d be hopeful.
The most surprising part of this story is not Zorn getting a head coaching gig, but that Daniel Synder was smart enough to make the call.
Since I’m here, I might as well also add that I’m concerned what the impact of Mora’s announcement will have. I understand the rationale, but how will the coaches behave? The next head coach is Jim Marshall’s secondary coach? What’s that dynamic like? What if Mora disagrees with a scheme Marshall installs? What about other defensive assistants? Are they going to be looking to Marshall or Mora? You almost need to make your assistant coaching calls this year as well in some cases.
I will close with this prediction:
Ruskell’s second greatest blunder (after the Hutch transition tag) will be choosing not to guarantee Zorn a position next year and letting him go to another team