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Washington Redskins: How Daniel Snyder found his man in Mike Shanahan
Redskins owner Dan Snyder and his new head coach, Mike Shanahan, walk into a press conference at Redskins Park on Jan. 6, 2010. (John McDonnell/The Washington Post)
By
Mike Wise
September 10, 2011
On a Sunday evening nearly two years ago, Daniel Snyder hit his nadir with
the Washington Redskins. Trudging down the stairwell of one of his private planes in the hangar of the Dulles Jet Center, burgundy-and-gold striped necktie askew, he mouthed an expletive passengers behind him could clearly hear. In that moment, hours after the Redskins had
lost to the lowly Lions — the worst team in pro football — in Detroit, Snyder resembled less of an NFL owner than an exasperated day trader.
“He was as stressed out and lost as I’d ever seen him,” said an associate of Snyder, who recounted the scene.” It was the bottom for all of us, but it was mostly the bottom for him.”
On the way to missing the playoffs for the eighth time in his 11 seasons as Redskins owner, Snyder retreated to the pilot’s lounge inside the hangar with two of his closest advisers at the time, Dave Donovan, the team’s chief operating officer, and Karl Swanson, Snyder’s senior vice president of public relations. Vinny Cerrato, the executive vice president of personnel and Snyder’s right-hand man, joined them after he had taken the team plane home with the players and their beleaguered coach, Jim Zorn.
While watching NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” game between the Arizona Cardinals and Indianapolis Colts, the four men drank glasses of Sassicaia, a bold Tuscan red that is a Snyder favorite, those who were present said. They added that Snyder eventually graduated to Crown Royal.
Finally, Snyder turned to the others. “Let’s go get Mike Shanahan,” he said.
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