Commence Jim Zorn Bashing

Four days later and Jim Zorn is still head coach of the Washington Redskins. Since owner Dan Snyder announced the hire on Saturday night, we've had Zorn express his love for the maroon and black, a rejected Jim Fassel blame his bad fortune on the Ravens and bloggers (although he loves Snyder -- see above), and the realization that quarterback Jason Campbell will be learning his seventh offense in eight years.

Whatever, I'll admit the Zorn hire was out of nowhere, but after getting over the initial shock of it all, most of the reviews have been glowing. But the Sports Bog's Dan Steinberg unearths a few less-than-rosy takes on the new Redskins coach. The San Jose Mercury News' Tim Kawakami gets the ball rolling calling Zorn the "worst hire ever. Worse than Art Shell..."

Zorn had never been a coordinator until Snyder plucked him from the QB-coaching ranks to be the Redskins' coordinator a few weeks ago.

Worse: Nobody in the NFL had ever thought that Zorn should be considered as a coordinator–a coordinator!–until Snyder and his pal Vinny Cerrato came up with that idea....

Nobody thought that [Zorn was capable of being a coordinator]. Whatever nice things they're saying in Seattle, I can tell you, privately they were not saying those things about Zorn before he left.

I talked to Zorn when he was first getting into coaching on the Seahawks staff and I can tell you that, if first impressions mean anything–and they do–I walked away from that interview thinking, This guy shouldn't be anywhere near an NFL sideline.

I don't think it's necessary to be a coordinator before becoming a head coach -- and Kawakami writes as much -- but if his claim that nobody thought Zorn would be a capable coordinator on his way to a head-coaching gig is true, then, well, that's pretty indicting. But that's just one man's opinion.

Of course, Steinberg also links to Seattle columnist Art Thiel calling Snyder "one of the worst owners in pro sports," and FOXSports.com's Adam Schein writing that Zorn is the "single worst hire we've seen in NFL in years."

Eh, maybe. But doesn't the guy deserve a couple of years before we start burying him? Admittedly, he's coming into a tough situation, but if part-timer Steve Spurrier can win seven games with the Redskins in his first season then anything's possible, I think.