Commanders Reacts Survey – Josh Harris, Bob Myers, Rick Spielman and the plans for executive & coaching search

Poll questions!!

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NFL. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Washington Commanders fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in regular email surveys.

The questions

Question 1

We begin our survey with the usual weekly question that asks if you are confident in the direction of the team. Now that the Ron Rivera era is over and Josh Harris has told the fan base his plans for moving forward over the coming weeks, how are you feeling?

Question 2

In our second question today, we simply ask whether or not you are happy with the steps taken and announced by Josh Harris and his ownership group since Sunday.

Here’s some of what Harris had to say on Monday:

As you probably heard, I’m going to be leading that search both for head of football operations as well as head coach. And I’m going to be assisted by my partners, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Mitch Rales, and David Blitzer, as well as a couple very well-known sports executives: Bob Myers, who I’ve known for many years and have a tremendous amount of respect for and Rick Spielman, who obviously is a 30-year football executive, executive of the year [as part of his] 10 years with the Vikings.

Obviously Bob Myers built one of the amazing sports teams of the last decade in the Golden State Warriors. They were tough to compete with, so I got to know him. Bob Myers is a winner. Like, who wouldn’t want him on your team trying to help your franchise? He knows how to identify talent. He knows how to build winning franchises, winning cultures. I mean, he is obviously not a football person. He’s not been around football, but he’s an amazing sports executive, and I’m really happy to have him helping. He’ll be around as an advisor to me. He’s not going to be involved with X’s and O’s, but he’ll be involved through the search process and beyond as it relates to the Washington Commanders helping us build an amazing franchise and amazing culture and a winning culture.

Rick Spielman brings a wealth of football knowledge, the ins and outs of football. He was Executive of the Year with the Vikings, [and worked] with many other teams. {He] brings that knowledge of football that you need when you’re interviewing candidates. And so, he’s going to be helping us through the search process.

And even though this season was hard for me and hard for us, it was hard — it’s hard to win [just] four games — from my point of view, we are coming out of this poised for a great future. [The team has] a lot of draft capital, a lot of cap space, and I’m lucky enough to be supported by an amazing ownership group. Obviously, we think we’re an attractive destination for the next generation of leadership.

This is probably amongst the most important jobs I have as a managing partner, and it’s important that I do this personally and get this right and that we bring in the right leadership.

We’re looking for the best people to build an elite franchise that’s going to consistently compete and win championships. So that’s…our goal in terms of the structure.

Harris also discussed the time frame he is working with:

I’m going to run a thorough but rapid process. Obviously we need the next leadership here because we’ve got a lot of work to do. We have the draft; we have the offseason; we have a lot of draft capital that we need to get prepared for, [and], ultimately, free agency [and] the Combine.

On the other hand, this is a really important decision, so it’s going to be a rapid but thorough process. Ideally, you would have the head of the front office in place before you ultimately select a coach because obviously that’s important, but, again, we’re not in full control of the timeframe because what we’re ultimately trying to do is end up with the best people, and the best people generally have alternatives.

My desire is to have the head of the football operations in place and then to listen very hard to what that person wants to do in terms of the coaching staff. In other words, I think those two things have to work together.

If we could write the script, it would be a quick turnaround, but, on the other hand, you have to make long-term decisions and do things…one person at a time, one athlete at a time. So, sometimes, that takes longer, right? My view is that we want it to be as quick as we can, but the ultimate goal is to be an elite team that’s competing for championships.

I find that when you do things quickly, sometimes you set yourself back. So, my orientation is to make the right decisions and let the timeframe take its own course. Obviously, I want a winning franchise quickly, but, for me, it’s about making the right decisions.

Comments & Results

Of course, we invite you to answer the survey questions below, but also feel free to expand on your answers and provide nuance in the comments section. I rely on those comments when discussing the results of the survey when they are posted in a separate article the next few days.

POLL QUESTIONS