Jay Gruden fired by Redskins after 0-5 start to sixth season
WASHINGTON – Jay Gruden was fired as head coach of the Washington Redskins on Monday after an 0-5 start to the sixth season of a tenure that featured only one playoff appearance.
The Redskins have gone 35-49-1 overall under Gruden, whose brother, Jon, coaches the Oakland Raiders.
The team said offensive line coach Bill Callahan would replace Gruden on an interim basis. Callahan has been coach of the Raiders in the NFL and of Nebraska in college football.
Owner Daniel Snyder and team president Bruce Allen informed Gruden he was out early Monday morning, a day after a 33-7 loss to the New England Patriots.
In the statement announcing the moves, the Redskins said: “Through the first five games of the 2019 season, the team has clearly not performed up to expectations, and we all share in that responsibility. Moving forward we are committed to doing all that we can collectively as an organization to turn things around and give our Redskins fans and alumni a team they can be proud of in 2019 and beyond.”
After the home loss to New England, Gruden was asked if he knew where he stood with the Redskins.
“Nobody’s told me anything, and I don’t have a concern. I’ll just wait and see,” Gruden said. “(If) my key works on Monday, keep working.”
Gruden initially was hired by Washington in the hopes that he could help Robert Griffin III develop into a star quarterback, but that partnership quickly soured.
Despite never before being a head coach in the NFL, and despite never winning more than nine games in a season, Gruden managed to stick around longer than anyone else who’s held that job for the Redskins during Snyder’s unsuccessful two-decade stint as team owner.
Gruden’s teams finished with winning records just twice – 9-7 in 2015, then 8-7-1 in 2016 – and he took the Redskins to one playoff game, a loss. The team went 7-9 in each of the past two seasons, leading to speculation about whether he would be back.
Those questions about his job status reached a crescendo with the terrible start to this season, which has been a mess on and off the field for a franchise that won three Super Bowls under previous owner Jack Kent Cooke but has been in disarray throughout Snyder’s stewardship, including the last 10 years with right-hand man Allen running things as general manager and now president.
This season alone has seen star left tackle Trent Williams hold out, a shuffle at quarterback after Dwayne Haskins was taken No. 15 overall in the draft and increasingly large contingents of visiting fans attending games at the team’s home stadium.