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The Washington Redskins head coaching position has been called the least attractive in all of the National Football League. Just don't tell that to the guy who currently holds that position, interim head coach Bill Callahan.
"This is a prestigious franchise and it deserves the very best," Callahan added
For the current Redskins head coach, the comments were off base.
"That strikes me hard," Callahan told Redskins Talk. "There are only 32 head jobs in the NFL. Yeah, we've fallen on some hard times, but who wouldn't want to take on a challenging situation and turn it around? There's a lot of reward in that. Our players play hard. Week in and week out, you see the great effort, great intensity, and focus. Who wouldn't want to be the head coach of an NFL franchise?"
"What does he base a comment like that off of? Those are the kind of things that upset me when people make irresponsible statements," Theismann added. "This franchise is brimming with young talent: The defensive line, the linebackers, the secondary, the offensive line, I think the wide receiver position, the quarterback position."
Callahan echoed some of that optimism Monday: "Champions sustain and they get through those moments and they break through and they find themselves. That’s where I see this team is going, where it’s headed and where it needs to get better at and it’s close, but close is not good enough in the National Football League."
When asked Monday if the Redskins job was something he would like to continue, the interim head coach was quick to say yes.
"Oh, absolutely," Callahan said. "Absolutely, absolutely, I would."
However, Callahan said he has not had any conversations with anybody on possibly continuing on as Redskins coach, calling it premature.
"I think that's a question for after the season," he said. "I think that's offseason business, for a different time and place."
Callahan said Monday one of his takeaways from his time as interim head coach was bringing back a work-ethic to the Redskins which he believed was lacking.
"Trying to bring back a work ethic into the program, that I thought was lacking. I thought that our players could have been better fundamentally. Still not there yet, but I saw our players get better, compete for four quarters," Callahan said.
"I saw our players have stamina through four quarters of play. I thought long and hard about improving the team and what aspects I would really focus on and a lot of that was the second half finish. And I thought we did that. I thought we competed better in the second half of our play."