When Josh Harris took over ownership of the Commanders, many pundits immediately questioned the job status of head coach Ron Rivera. It seemed unlikely that the new ownership group would remove their head coach weeks before the season, but some have questioned if the organization could look elsewhere after the 2023 campaign.
[RELATED: NFL Approves Josh Harris As Commanders Owner]
For what it’s worth, Harris gave Rivera a vote of confidence earlier this week while speaking with reporters. The Commanders owner commended the coach’s leadership and experience, but he also acknowledged that wins will dictate Rivera’s job security.
“I’ve really enjoyed getting to know Coach Rivera,” Harris said (via Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post). “He’s a good man. He’s done a great job getting the team to where it is relative to where it was when he got that. We’ve said, ‘We’re getting up to speed. We want to hear how you think, we want to learn how you make decisions.’ And it’s going really well. Everyone who coaches an NFL team or an NBA team, and us as owners, … we all realize that ultimately we have to deliver wins on the field, so you don’t really need to say anything. It’s just out there. But so far, so good.”
Following an underwhelming end to his nine-year stint with the Panthers, Rivera caught on with Washington in 2020. He’s spent the past three seasons with the organization, although only one of those campaigns has resulted in a .500 record. In total, Rivera holds a 22-27-1 record during his time as Washington’s head coach.
Harris will surely be looking for the Commanders organization to return to the postseason, and anything short could put Rivera’s job in jeopardy. The same could likely be said of general manager Martin Mayhew, although he might have a longer leash since he was brought in prior to the 2021 season.
This isn’t the first time that Rivera has dealt with a change in ownership. David Tepper took over ownership of the Panthers prior to the 2018 campaign. Rivera ended up lasting more than one season in Carolina, but he was fired before the 2019 campaign concluded.
Rivera actually lasted the longest among the recent head coaches who experienced ownership changes (h/t to HogsHaven.com). Nathaniel Hackett, of course, didn’t even last a full season as the Broncos head coach after Rob Walton took over ownership last August. The Pegulas and Doug Marrone broke up less than three months after the Bills changed hands, while the Haslam’s let Pat Shurmur finish the 2012 season with the Browns before moving on. Mike Mularkey got a full year with the Jaguars when Shahid Khan took over, but he was unsurprisingly fired following a two-win campaign.
Well as long as five wins are enough Rivera should be fine
Remember last year when the redskins thought they were the 49ers equal?
Remember last year when the 49ers thought they had an elite QB, then traded him to go with the last pick of the draft? This season could go very badly if that kid’s lucky streak ends.
I didn’t think that this assignment would go well for Rivera (I didn’t think that most coaches would do well, in fairness). I was hoping to see him go to a more established team. It’s gone about as I thought that it would.
However, there is one area where he does excel, and that it building culture. Fans really take that for granted in MASSIVE measure, and they do not consider how long lasting good culture is and how effective it can be. The best example is the Steelers. Mike Tomlin has never had a losing season, even in “bad” years, and he deserves a lot of credit for that. But the Steelers’ culture predates him. Despite harsh years in the later Knoll era, there has always been an identity there that motivates players.
Teams who don’t have that-Cleveland, Arizona, Washington-are the ones that seem to perpetually be at the bottom in the league. The Seahawks are another example where the culture and team identity is so strong (despite the post LoB hiccup) that it becomes part of the effectiveness. The Steelers are a great example because of how long term their team identity was built, which is why it’s so ingrained. Tomlin’s strength was building on and carrying on that legacy. If you can do that, by making new additions feel a part of winning unit, it affects their play on the field and commitment to their production. We’re seeing that now in Detroit under Dan Campbell-a team changing its identity as it grows.
It’s hard to get that to last. A coach can build that identity during his tenure, but it has to be around a while to be passed on to new players and become sustainable like in Pittsburgh. When short term culture turns into long term team identity, that’s how you get those perennially successful teams. Winning is the best way to do it, of course, but that winning has to be done in tandem with the environment building. Otherwise, the positives disappear quickly and don’t last. Rivera started to do that in Carolina before getting canned, and the Panthers as a result lost out on whatever positives they gained from their winning days. The problem in Washington is how deep the dysfunction has been for so long, and that the major cause of it was still influencing the team. Luckily for Rivera, the most damaging part, Bruce Allen, was out the door. I doubt that Rivera turns Washington into a powerhouse so quickly, all that said. But if Rivera can continue to try and build that team identity now, without the old regime’s influence, he can set up the next coach well with a positive locker room to build on.