The young NASCAR fan today knows Joe Gibbs only as the team owner of one of the most successful racing organizations in the history of stock car racing. The icon’s biography, however, contains many more chapters.
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One of the more intriguing ones among Gibbs’ adventures is how he took his first step towards professional coaching in the National Football League and made a mark, too. Gibbs played football as a student at San Diego State University.
After graduating from college, he walked over to Don Coryell, who was the head coach at the university, and volunteered to work as a coach. Coryell put him in touch with his defensive coach, John Madden, and asked Gibbs to work on defense. That, however, did not last long.
“I started over with Madden. Then we had a spring game, and I wouldn’t give him the plays. He wanted the plays. I wouldn’t get into it because I was playing in the spring game,” Gibbs said in an interview with Kyle Petty last year.
“[The game] had all my buddies. He fired me after the game. I walked to Coryell the next day, and I said, ‘Coach. John fired me.’ And he goes, ‘Shoot, fella, why don’t you come over and work with me on offense?’ So, that’s how I got to offense,” added Gibbs.
Under Coryell, Gibbs absorbed technical passing concepts and a timing-based offense. He continued refining the ideas he learned and put them to great use when he got into the National Football League. Offense became his core identity, and helped him create one of the most notable dynasties in the history of the NFL.
How Gibbs got the chance to coach the Washington Redskins
In the interview, Petty asked Gibbs to talk about the chance he got to be the head coach of the Washington Redskins in 1980. After a loss that he encountered while with the San Diego Chargers, he received a call from Bobby Beathard, who was one of the most influential front office executives in the NFL and the general manager of the Redskins.
Gibbs was thrilled for the opportunity to be interviewed for such a coveted position. “We flew to New York, not Washington. Mr. Cooke [Jack Kent Cooke] is in the hotel there. I started interviewing with him, and he was so intimidating. About halfway through the interview, he said, ‘Hey, Joe. I own that building there,'” said Gibbs.
“And he [Cooke] pointed at the Chrysler Building. No way. No way. I’m talking to a guy who owns the Chrysler Building. I’m sitting here. I’m so intimidated. I didn’t sleep for two days. I was so excited, and then it dawned on me. All those people were counting on me. We got to win,” added Gibbs.
Little has to be said about what came after. Hiring Gibbs reshaped the entire organization and led to the Redskins winning three Super Bowls. Looking back at the adventure he has enjoyed all these years, the coach can’t help but be glad that he has gotten to live out so many of his dreams.
