Jim Williams: Mike Golic’s plan to fix the Skins
By: Jim Williams
Examiner Sports Columnist
10/24/09 2:18 AM EDT
Mike Golic is part of the nation’s most popular sports talk show - along with partner Mike Greenberg. They are starting their 10th year together doing “Mike & Mike in the Morning,” which is heard on more than 350 radio stations nationally, as well as locally on ESPN 980AM. It is seen daily on ESPN2.
The duo will be doing their next Monday show from the ESPN Zone in Washington, where they will be talking in-depth about the Monday Night Football game between the Redskins and the Eagles.
I spoke to Golic about the Redskins and his expanded network duties:
JW » OK, I am putting you in charge of the Redskins. How do you fix this mess?
Golic » “Well, the first thing you do is bring in Jim Zorn and tell him you know this just did not work out and we have to go another way. Everyone knows that he is not going to be retained, so fire him now. Let me say that I am normally not in favor of firing a coach mid-season. But this is such a different situation that management simply has to let him go. They need to pick someone, maybe Jerry Gray, and make him the interim coach.”
JW » Fine, Zorn is gone. Now what?
Golic » “Then after the season, you bring in a Mike Shanahan, a Bill Cowher, or a guy I work with like a Jon Gruden. These are guys with Super Bowl rings; they know how to build a winner. In Miami they brought in Bill Parcells and said ‘fix it.’ The Redskins are one of the premier franchises in sports and fans in other cities only wish they would have an owner like Dan Snyder, who clearly wants to win but needs to let someone who knows football run the show. He has a real chance with the quality of big-time coaches out there to hire the right man and put things back on the right track. But it has to be done now. Believe me, every one of these top-flight coaches wants control and will likely bring in a GM, but they will rebuild the franchise into a winner — the key is control.”
Golic will spend Sunday in Washington, watching all the games with his ESPN colleagues as they prepare for the many network pregame shows.
“Being on site and spending the day with so many talented analysts just watching the games talking football and eating together — not too much — there really is not a better way to spend a day getting ready for Monday,” he said.
Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer. Check out his blog, Watch this! on washingtonexaminer.com.
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