Coach is a hit in Washington, missed in Seattle

By GREGG BELL | The Associated Press • Published November 23, 2008

Comments (0)

SEATTLE — Mike Holmgren looked at Jim Zorn, then looked at the Slip-n-Slide Zorn had brought onto the Seahawks practice field for the first time a few years ago.

Of course, the Seahawks coach asked his quarterbacks coach: Why is star quarterback Matt Hasselbeck using a summer kids toy and a garden hose on my field?

“Well Matt, when he decides to slide, he’s really is just a train wreck. So we have to get him used to it,” Zorn told Holmgren.

Zorn brought then-Mariners player John Olerud over to show Hasselbeck proper sliding techniques at the end of his scrambles.

Then Zorn turned on the hose, and Seahawks training camp turned into summer day camp.

“They had a ball over there. The players had fun doing it,” Holmgren said this week. “I applauded his creativity in trying to think about how to improve the position.”

Now, in Washington, they are applauding Zorn’s creativity in improving one of the NFL’s signature franchises.

Zorn is in his first season as the unique, kid-at-heart coach of the Redskins after seven years as the Seahawks’ alternative quarterbacks coach. The polar opposite on the sidelines of Joe Gibbs, his straight-faced and Hall of Fame predecessor, the engaging

Zorn is on track to become the first Redskins coach since George Allen in 1971 to have a winning record in his debut season.

Sunday, the Seahawks’ original, scrambling quarterback with high-rise, flat-top hair will return with Washington (6-4) to play the Seahawks (2-8), who could use a life preserver more than his Slip-n-Slide. Zorn still owns a house in suburban Mercer Island, Wash.

“It’ll be different,” Zorn said of coming home as the enemy.

It already is.

Being in charge in Washington has already changed him: He no longer uses the water toy prop.

“You know what? I had a Slip-n-Slide out there this year, and my quarterback caught a cleat because he couldn’t lift his feet up,” Zorn said of Redskins starter Jason Campbell, laughing. “I turned the water off and walked away, started another drill. Oh my gosh.”

Next page >>