Bruce Allen's Press Conference (And Post-Press Conference Press Conference)
Posted by Matt Terl on December 17, 2009 – 6:05 pmhttp://p.castfire.com/oYeso/video/214505/redskins_2009-12-17-163827.flv
In case you haven’t seen it anywhere else, that’s today’s press conference introducing Bruce Allen as the new general manager of the Washington Redskins. It was a solid press conference, as such things go — Allen is a charismatic, confident speaker who made a point to address the media members by name as much as possible — and in the end, it boiled down (as such things usually do) to a few specific points.
Here they are, backed up with quotes just like we all learned back in freshman English.
1) Allen represents a tie to the history of the Redskins.
“It’s exciting because of the history, the tradition, the comfort about coming home,” Allen said. “Everybody who knows me, and hopefully you will get to know me better, knows that the principles of football in my mind are simple, it’s a team. It’s 53 men, the entire staff, everybody in the building going in the same direction for one common goal, and that’s to win.”
2) Owner Daniel Snyder realized a change was necessary, and saw the replacement of Vinny Cerrato as essential to that change.
“Obviously this has been a very difficult season,” Snyder said, “one where we have disappointed everyone-the fans, ourselves. We understand that. It’s been difficult. When it gets to the point where you’re looking at what we need to do for the future, you look at change. And that’s what I decided to do.”
3) The three remaining games are even more important to the current players and coaches than you might have thought.
“I’m here to learn what’s been going on,” Allen said. “It gives me an opportunity that you usually don’t get to see players play under the lights of Monday night and Sunday night against the [New York Giants] and the Dallas Cowboys. I’ll get to see how the coaches interact and see how we run as an operation so there are no surprises for the offseason. And it gives me a wonderful opportunity to evaluate everything I’m watching.”
4) No, really.
“The great opportunity here by coming in at this point of the season,” Allen said at another point, “is to build a plan and get a head start on 2010, identify what can help us win in 2010 and beyond with never losing sight of the upcoming games. I am going to work hard. I have made some draft mistakes, I have made some free agent mistakes, but as a team, our teams did pretty well.”
5) Enough with the Jon Gruden stuff. Seriously.
“Well, we don’t have an opening at that position,” said Allen. “And I have a close relationship with hundreds of coaches in this league, but Jim Zorn is our coach. I met him two hours before meeting you here, so give us some time to see how our relationship develops.”
6) Bruce Allen is not a huge fan of putting up Christmas lights.
“I’m very happy at the timing of this,” he said, “because I don’t have to put up the Christmas lights. I don’t have to go Christmas shopping. I have an excuse. I’m working.”
Following Allen’s press conference — during which he addressed the assembled press — he did a one-on-one interview with each TV station, then did a group session with the print reporters. This second session differed from the first one in two ways: 1) it wasn’t recorded on video, and 2) the writers were standing, not sitting. Brian Murphy of ExtremeSkins was diligent enough to transcribe the whole thing, and kind enough to allow me to repost it here.
On if he’s had the chance to talk with friends and family members about his new role:
“You know, it’s not just alumni with some of these people. They’re not just Redskins alumni, they’re my extended family. I have gotten some of their responses, and ironically, my phone broke. But I can’t wait to have the conversations with them because they’ve reached out to my family members already and there’s some excitement.”
On what his dad would be thinking right now:
“The future is now. Beat the Giants.”
On how Allen sees his role over the next three weeks:
“I see my observing. You know, seeing how things transpire. You all cover the team, and usually a coach comes in – whether it’s an assistant coach, head coach or a front office person – and it’s February. You don’t get to see ‘this is how we do it.’ Well, I’m going to learn how we do it. I’m going to learn what we do here. My ideas and things I’ve done … there might be some better ideas how to make sure we’re doing something that’s going to help this team be more productive. S I think it’s a great opportunity to get a head start on 2010.”
On his preference, as far as which offense his teams generally run:
“I believe it’s the coaches who generally make that type of decision. So the head coach will make the decision what type of offense he is going to run, as well as implementing offense, defense and special teams.”
On what he looks for in a head coach:
“You answered your own question – it’s the leader of the team. He’s the leader of the organization throughout sports. The Dodgers were better when they got a better manager. Period.”
On how soon he plans on getting his ‘finger prints’ on this franchise:
“My finger prints are Redskins finger prints. I’m not looking for any other identity other than being a Redskin. I’m going to take this season as it comes. I do like the fact that we do have a game coming up Monday night – a home game for the Redskins wearing the burgundy and gold – it’s going to be special. I’m already looking forward to the game. I hope we celebrate afterwards.”
On how much time he plans on spending with Jim Zorn:
“We’ll spend a great deal of time. That’s what we were meeting about earlier, we were scheduling.”
On whether he got a good vibe from his initial conversation with Zorn:
“Yeah.”
On whether this is a dream job for him:
“You know, everything I’ve done since I graduated college, I’ve focused on that task at hand. So when I was with the Buccaneers last year, I wasn’t dreaming of a different job. Dreaming of getting a first down or a touchdown, maybe, but not that. It’s really all come together in this week. The feelings while telling my mom, telling my brother, telling my kids and seeing their eyes light up and understanding the message made it special.”
On his relationship with Daniel Snyder prior to this:
“It was professional. I met him when he got the team. I believe it was at a league meeting. I’ve had conversations with him over the years about the Redskins, and we talked about the tradition and how proud he is of it.”
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