I wonder if chills of excitement — excitement tinged, perhaps, with just a bit of fear — went down Adam Peters’ spine when he walked into the Washington Commanders headquarters in Ashburn for his introductory press conference Tuesday.
After all, he probably heard all the horror stories from San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, from the days that Kyle and his father Mike were trying to survive Dan Snyder’s “House of Pain.”
You don’t live through what the Shanahans lived through in Washington — the owner, conspiring with the young delusional star quarterback, to undermine the all-star coaching staff — without sharing it with your friends and coworkers years later, in the good times in San Francisco, when you can laugh at the dysfunctional days in Washington.
New owner Josh Harris has replaced the departed Snyder, but if Peters is as smart as he seems to be, the irony of his taking the general manager’s job for a football team that was a nightmare for Kyle Shanahan couldn’t have been lost on him.
This is another reason why Peters, the assistant general manager with the 49ers, where he spent seven years, was probably the best choice for Washington. Likely none of the other candidates that Harris’ star-studded search committee came up with knew better than Peters what this organization has been through for more than 20 years.
That’s no small thing.
Too many outsiders have taken jobs in Ashburn without truly understanding the suffering this fan base has endured.
But it’s Peters’ job now, and a big part of his task ahead is convincing Washington fans to believe again.
“It’s having an aligned vision, having collaboration, having inclusion with everybody, everybody pulling in the same direction,” Peters, 44, said. “That’s how we did it in San Francisco and that’s what allows you to get through, not just, the good times are easy, but that’s what allows you to get through the tough times as well.”
It’s a wonderful thing when you can build an organization when everyone is on the same page. And it’s not a complicated page — just one question that everyone, from the owner to the general manager to the coach-still-to-be-hired, needs to ask themselves every day — “What’s the best thing for the franchise?”
The coach is the next step.
“We’re looking for the best leader for this team, for the Washington Commanders,” Peters said. “And so, we have set criteria that we’re going to have it be aligned in that vision. And it’s not going to be in a box. It’s not going to be offense, it’s not going to be defense. It’s going to be the best leader for this organization.”
“I think (the most important factor) in any head coach, in any leader, is leadership,” Peters said. “Leadership, great communication, being able to be honest, direct and upfront, have all those qualities, and they’re all intertwined. But those are the main qualities. You have to be very smart. You have to be very driven. There’s so many different qualities that make up a great head coach and a great leader, but really it’s just about being a great person, a great human being that people will follow.”
I’m sure Harris’ search committee, given their success in finding the candidate who was on everyone’s list (ESPN reported Peters turned down general manager interviews with the Titans and Cardinals last year and both the Raiders and Chargers had requested interviews this year) will search the globe looking for the right coach.
Former NFL general manager Randy Mueller wrote in The Athletic that the Peters hiring was a “no-brainer” and Harris agreed.
“It was a pretty easy decision from my point of view,” the owner said Tuesday. Yet Sports Illustrated reported that one of Harris’ search team consultants, former Vikings general manager Rick Spielman, was on the phone “from 7:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. checking every box on the five guys he’d identified.”
This Herculean phone effort sounds awfully familiar.
“Over the next 3½ months, (Ted) Leonsis said he spoke to 78 people in professional sports and beyond, seeking to learn where he had erred and how he should reconstruct the Wizards into a modern sports organization.” That’s from a 2019 article in the Washington Post.
Then Leonsis hired Tommy Sheppard in the room next door to be his general manager.
The Commanders coaching search is no secret either but is more complicated. Do they go with a coordinator with no head coaching experience (Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, among others); a coordinator with some head coaching experience (Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, among others) or take a big swing for a respected big name with a resume to match — a Mike Vrabel or Jim Harbaugh?
You see, I think Peters already knows who he wants to be his coach. I think he’s known it for a while in those daydreams when he envisioned himself as the top guy in a football operation.
Harris has a bigger vision.
“You know, both of us are, in essence come from the model that we’re stewards for the city, and that we’re on a mission to deliver success to Washington,” he said. “And so obviously, hiring a coach that is on the mission with us, that is all in … ultimately a partner where the three of us can be aligned and work for the city on behalf of the city to win.”
Hopefully, owner, general manager and the coach-still-to-be-hired all end up on that same page. Because, again, every day, the question for all the decision-makers should be, “What’s the best thing for the franchise?”
• You can hear Thom Loverro on The Kevin Sheehan Show podcast.
• Thom Loverro can be reached at tloverro@washingtontimes.com.
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