Josh Harris spoke to the media at 1 p.m. Monday, hours after dismissing Ron Rivera, and touched on quite a few subjects around the Commanders – perhaps, most importantly, the timeline for hiring the next regime.
“It will be thorough but rapid, and my desire is to have the head of football operations in place and to listen to that person in terms of coaching staff,” Harris said, giving Commanders fans everywhere a great fantasy football team name for 2024. “Ideally you have head of front office in place before you hire a coach, but that’s fluid. I want to get the best talent here and hold them accountable…the ultimate goal is to win championships.”
It likely will be two separate people, as Harris said he sees head of football operations and head coach being two roles that are ‘80-hour a week jobs.’ And, while the latter half of thorough but rapid is the hope Commanders fans have for a return to prominence, Harris knows that all the positive momentum in the world means nothing if you don’t pick drivers that can navigate the road correctly.
"This was not a fun season for the ownership group. We're right there with the fans, and if we can write the script, it would be a quick turnaround,” Harris said. “But, I find when you do things quickly, you do things to set yourself back. It's about making the right decision."
He thinks his team can do that, and thinks the Commanders are an ‘attractive destination’ for the right candidates.
"I think there's a lot of ingredients here for success; a lot of draft capital, a lot of cap space,” Harris said. “We think we're an attractive destination for the next generation of leadership, and this is the most important job I have as managing partner. It's important that I get this right."
And as for why Ron Rivera was basically a dead man walking for six months?
"I went out of my way to give him the season to perform,” Harris said. “I think that changing coaches in the middle of the season isn't tremendously productive. I had committed to the city and to Ron that we would give this season, and that's what we did."
Take a listen above to Harris’ full press conference as well as BMitch & Finlay’s reactions, which include this solid take from producer Jeff Walker on Harris’ reasoning for the way things went in terms of firing Rivera and setting up a committee to search for the new regime:
“It shows how selfless he is. Most owners come in and want to show they’re in charge, and take control. Harris knows he needs a team to find the right guy.”
And, this from BMitch:
“He told his truth and was done with it. You can’t really question much of what he said. Harris is going to hire his guy and let him go to work."