Thank You Earnest Byner

Redskins fans remember

An other shoe has fallen at Redskins Park, running backs coach Earnest Byner is no longer with the team, an unfortunate by product of the stumbly and drawn out way in which the Redskins went about hiring a new coach.

Earnest has been replaced by Stump Mitchell, head coach Jim Zorn's former coaching colleague in Seattle, Stump coached running backs there including two pretty good ones, Shaun Alexander and Maurice Morris.

This fan has no problem with the notion that a head coach should have his own people, his own choice of coaches, which is of course one reason why I think this was a botched search process, Jim had minimal input on his coaches, most of them were in place and as such team management is giving Jim wide latitude in rounding out his roster, Titans running game coordinator Sherman Smith is expected to come over tomorrow to become the offensive candidate for Jim Zorn whom Sherman refers to twice in this piece as quote Z-man unquote.

Jason La Canfora goes into more detail as usual at Redskins Insider than in the print piece and it is disappointing what the Redskins put Earnest through before firing him.

After the 2005 playoff run most of Joe Gibbs' assistants got three year contracts, except for Earnest who for some reason got a two year deal. Why? I have no idea. His relationship with Joe Gibbs goes back to 1989 and I cannot imagine Joe would not have wanted to take care of him.

So after this past season Earnest's deal was up. He went and interviewed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for their running backs coach position but pulled out before the Buccaneers made a decision, Redskins management was in the process of giving him a one year deal to stay with the team and Earnest wanted to stay in Washington.

Meanwhile Jim Zorn openly wanted Stump Mitchell and there was talk of what essentially would amount to the Redskins and Seahawks trading running backs coaches.

When Earnest got back from Florida to sign his contract with the Redskins the team told him things had changed, fast forward and Stump is in, Earnest is out and it is 14 February, there are no open coaching spots left.

Thanks a lot Dan Snyder for more crappy management, you just screwed one of the greatest Redskins tailbacks ever right out of town and blocked him from getting a job.

Curly R has written about Earnest Byner's playing days as recently as last November, Earnest picked himself up after his dismissal from the Browns in 1989 and took the Redskins to the Super Bowl. Later he would come back and coach Clinton Portis during his team record season in 2005, he was Ladell Betts' position coach in 2006 when Clinton was hurt and the passing game was just awful, in nine starts plus other action Ladell racked up six 100 yard games including five in a row at the end of the season, ending up with 1154 yards, a pleasant surprise in an otherwise disappointing season.

Earnest Byner deserves a much more in depth profile piece on Curly R, and he will get it. Thank you Earnest, Redskins fans will not forget you.



Earnest Byner cutting through a hole the size of a Mack truck in Super Bowl 26 from here.