The Oakland Raiders just fired their offensive coordinator Tom Walsh, but replaced him with John Shoop, currently the Raiders' tight end's coach, but formerly the offensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears.
Shoop was the target of a campaign and website called "Fire John Shoop" at http://www.firejohnshoop.com/ According to the website, Shoop was quoted as saying "I don't care if we had gotten shut out. I don't care if we wouldn't have gained a yard, I promise you … there's going to be the same plays in the future."
Wow.
The site continues...
"John Shoop is a fantastic Offensive Coordinator. By fantastic, I mean horrible. He couldn't move the football against a high school team.
John Shoop has wanted to coach football since he was in 7th grade. Like all boys his age he imagined his team losing game after game because his offense was about as daring as The Cowardly Lion. Just think of the comedy potential if John Shoop was the Detroit Lions Offensive Coordinator. And just think of how much better the Bears would be if that were the case. Depressing, isn't it?
John graduated from the University of the South (Sewanee) in 1991, where he played quarterback for 4 seasons. Sewanee athletic records are hard to come by, but I'd be surprised if Shoop ever completed a pass longer than 20 yards. Do you want to be the Bears next offensive coordinator? Become an athletic prospect at Sewanee or whatever they call themselves. Make sure to tell them that you know John Shoop.
Shoop learned a lot at Sewanee, saying, "Those are the lessons I learned at Sewanee. Work and care are the only two things you can control.” I'm not sure what that means, but it's clear that John is wrong. If the Bears care more than the other team, and work harder, then maybe Shoop is calling bad plays. It's also Shoop's fault if they don't care more than the other team and don't work hard.
After leaving Sewanee, Shoop spent 4 seasons working as a volunteer and graduate assistant for bad college teams (Dartmouth and Vanderbilt) before becoming the offensive quality control coach and later quarterbacks coach for a bad NFL team. Since January 22, 2001, Shoop has been the Offensive Coordinator of the Chicago Bears. I think the question here is, where is the Bears offensive quality control coach on this one? In fact, the quality control coach is Charlie Coiner, who is much more qualified than John Shoop, but this is firejohnshoop.com, not firejohnshoophirecharliecoiner.com. Sorry, Charlie."
The website also has a message board, which has a thread entitled "The Raiders must want to suck."
Also I found this quote on the website: "John Shoop is the worst Offensive Coordinator in the history of the NFL."
~ ~ Michael Wilbon, Washington Post. I can't find the actual quote, but it may be contained in a post article that was not web archived at the time.
Basically, the "crit" against Shoop is that he calls "run after the catch" pass plays but such that the catch may be for 3 yards on 3rd and 16 yards for a first down. To me, that's a much milder issue that the entire set of problems brought on by Tom Walsh. But still, the one person who really understands the modern passing game -- Cinncinati Bengals Offensive Coordinator Hue Jackson -- works for the Cinncinati Bengals as receivers coach, his prize student Chad Johnson breakiing club yardage records and putting in a Jerry-Rice-like performance.
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