Joe Gibbs hasn't been the coach of the Washington Redskins since 2007, but he remains a vital team representation. So much so that Ron Rivera reached out to him before accepting the job.
“I took it upon myself to reach out to Coach [Joe] Gibbs, who was tremendous,” Rivera told Larry Michael, the Voice of the Redskins via NBC Sports. “He gave me at least 25-30 minutes on the phone, and we talked and we talked.”
Joe Gibbs was one of the most successful coaches in NFL history and made the Redskins one of the more respected teams in the league. Gibbs led the Redskins to three Super Bowl victories in his first tenure. Since he retired in 2007 the team hasn't won a playoff game.
When Rivera talked to Gibbs, the Hall of Fame coach made it very clear that Dan Snyder was committed to turning around the team, and that was something that stuck out to him.
“Probably the biggest thing, more than anything else, is Mr. Snyder wants to win,” Rivera said. “He wants to win, he's going to do what he can to support you.”
After Ron Rivera accepted the job, he met in person with Joe Gibbs and the two spent an afternoon together talking about the job and even plays.
“We spent a good afternoon going over a lot of stuff. Coach gave me so much insight, it was amazing,” Rivera said. “To be able to go into his home and spend time with him, that was cool…Probably one of the coolest things that happened was he started drawing plays up. We started talking about how he did it and how he looked at things.”
Rivera might have still accepted the job without talking to Gibbs, but there is no doubt the conversation didn't hurt a deal getting done.
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