Mike Shanahan is a free man.
With a song in his heart and a spring in his step, the Washington Redskins coach looked like the happiest man in town. Losing 350 pounds of excess weight will have that effect.
After nine months and nine rounds with defensive diva Albert Haynesworth, Shanahan spoke for the first time since suspending his troublesome player Tuesday. And the coach was one happy person.
Normally, Shanahan borders on stoic. He says little and seems annoyed when he has to say anything to the media.
Not this time. For a whole five minutes — endless jabbering for Shanahan — the coach explained why he finally gave up on trying to convert Haynesworth into a disciple.
“It was just time to go in another direction,” Shanahan said. “We did it in the best interest of our football team, and now we go on.”
Shanahan’s relief was infectious. Players seemed happy for some finality to a feud that started when Haynesworth didn’t report for March workouts, spring camps and June minicamp before showing up to training camp out of shape. Seemingly every couple weeks there was a flash point of controversy.
It was tiresome, the darkest of clouds over Redskins Park. Teammates didn’t dislike Haynesworth or blame him for the 5-7 record, but they were glad to be free of the lingering controversy.
“It’s great for everybody,” defensive end Phillip Daniels said. “For you guys, for players, for the coaches. We can move on.”
Shanahan even joked, a rare sight this season as one Haynesworth problem after another often left the coach looking like someone slipped prune juice into the holiday punch. The coach once promised to repeat his conversation with Haynesworth, but “since [Haynesworth] wouldn’t talk to me, I couldn’t share that conversation.”
That’s as close as Shanahan gets to a rim shot.
Oddly, Shanahan said he had a good relationship with Haynesworth. Gee, sure hate to see who’s on the coach’s list of enemies. It’s like saying Harry Reid and Sarah Palin are close friends.
Shanahan didn’t second-guess how he handled Haynesworth even though outsiders could see the divorce coming. All coaches try to turn around troubled players. It’s what they do, especially ones with hefty price tags.
“You really don’t know what’s going to happen,” Shanahan said. “I’m very happy with how we handled it.”
Shanahan wouldn’t comment on whether Haynesworth will return in 2011. Haynesworth will contest the suspension, but that’s about money. He’ll never play again for Washington.
At best, the Redskins will trade Haynesworth before the April 28-30 draft, but other teams know Washington will eventually cut him, so why surrender even a seventh-round pick? If Shanahan really wants revenge for the repeated headaches, he’ll send Haynesworth to Buffalo for a seventh-rounder, where the lineman can play for a bad team in bad weather.
Meanwhile, Shanahan is happier than a wrongly convicted man walking out the prison gates with a full pardon in his hands. After all, Haynesworth is no longer Shanahan’s problem.
Examiner columnist Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more at TheRickSniderReport.com and Twitter @Snide_Remarks or e-mail [email protected].
