Jay Gruden fired by 05 Redskins

ASHBURN, Va. — Owner Dan Snyder and President Bruce Allen summoned coach Jay Gruden to the Washington Redskins’ facility before dawn Monday to tell him he was being fired.

“It was a brief conversation,” Allen said.

Now comes a longer conversation about the status of the floundering franchise that has won just two playoff games in Snyder’s two decades of ownership and zero during Allen’s tenure. Gruden is out after an 05 start to his sixth season and is the latest in a long line of Redskins coaches to take the fall for significant organizational shortcomings.

“To make a decision like this is difficult, but it was necessary,” Allen said during a 13minute news conference. “Our 05 start is not just disappointing. We had much different expectations for the beginning of the season. We owe it to our fans, … the organization, the players, the coaches and their families to do everything we can to win.”

The Redskins haven’t won much lately, going 35491 overall under Gruden with one playoff appearance in the 2015 season. A popular coach among players and a smart offensive mind, Gruden struggled in preparing his teams: Washington went 15 in season openers and lost a winandgetin game in Week 17 in 2016 against the New York Giants, who had nothing to play for.

Despite never before being a head coach in the NFL, and despite never winning more than nine games in a season, Gruden managed to stick around longer than anyone else who’s held that job during Snyder’s unsuccessful stint as owner.

None of the six coaches hired since Snyder bought the team has a winning record, including Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs and twotime Super Bowl champion Mike Shanahan. Offensiveline coach Bill Callahan becomes the seventh after he was selected to replace Gruden on an interim basis.

Callahan has coached the Raiders in the NFL and Nebraska in college football.

This season alone has seen star left tackle Trent Williams hold out; a shuffle at quarterback after Dwayne Haskins was taken No. 15 overall in the draft; a series of injuries up and down the roster; and, perhaps most upsetting to team leadership, increasingly large contingents of visiting fans attending games at Washington’s home stadium.

“All we can do is try to improve our product,” Allen said. “These games, we weren’t close in. We’ve lost five games, and we didn’t lose them in the last second. We lost these games decisively. And we have to change that.”

Gruden