Romanowski interviews as strength coach (1 Viewer)

[ChrisCooleyFan]

Romanowski interviews as strength coach

New Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan has a reputation for doing things at times against the grain. This week he's taking another interesting shot.

The Redskins have brought in former NFL bad boy Bill Romanowski for an interview to be the team's next strength and conditioning coach, FOXSports.com has learned.

While the former 16-year veteran clearly knows his stuff when it comes to strength training, he's also a potential lightning rod due to his prior involvement in the infamous BALCO scandal. as well as his public admission in 2005 on "60 Minutes" that he used steroids and human growth hormone during his playing career.

Although he's a controversial figure, hiring his former Broncos linebacker may not be the worst idea purely from a coaching standpoint. With Romanowski's rampant use of supplements and highly-publicized training regimen, he lasted several years longer than others at the same age and position.

The intense Romanowski had a memorable NFL career, playing for four teams from 1988-2003. The two-time Pro Bowler once suited up in 243 consecutive games (an NFL record for linebackers) and is the only LB to start in five Super Bowls – winning twice with the 49ers in 1988-89, twice with the Broncos in 1997-98, and losing with the Raiders in 2002.

He also gained notoriety for a series of altercations and fines throughout his career, which including being ejected and fined for kicking Cardinals RB Larry Centers' head in 1995, fined $20,000 in 1997 for a jaw-breaking helmet-to-helmet hit on QB Kerry Collins, a '97 spitting incident with WR J.J. Stokes and fined in 1999 for a brawl with Tony Gonzalez.

In 2003, Romanowski was sued by then-Raiders teammate Marcus Williams after a practice incident in which Romanowski ripped off Williams' helmet and punched him, injuring the tight end's eye socket so severely that he was forced to retire. Williams' ensuing lawsuit sought $3.4 million in damages and charged "roid rage," but because the claim was impossible to prove Williams was awarded only $340,000.

 

[Sweet Love]

I think he would be a perfect fit for strength training coach...dude gets pumped up, heard on Sirius during the week that he has his own brands of legal supplements and finally, there is a reason why the FBI hires ex-criminals to go after alleged ones...he would know in a second if someone was juicing.

 

[Da Guru]

Romo would be great at that job. Say what you will but the guy was one of the most intense, hardest working players ever to play the game.

 

[grapeape]

Hate to say it, because I hated the guy on the field, but he probably would be perfect for that job.

 

[Michael Fox Fan]

He's gotta be cutting edge in terms of knowing which supplements to take, how to break the rules without getting caught, etc.

 

[Wadsworth]

Yea, no. The guy has a long record of breaking rules on and off the field. There are plenty of qualified people out there, hiring a proven loose cannon is more of a risk than I'd want to take if I was running an NFL team. Hiring Romanowski for STR/CON coach is like hiring Mike Vick to run Peta.

 

[tbglog]

Yea, and if they are slacking in the weight room he can spit in their faces. Good Hire!

 

[SSOG]

Yea, no. The guy has a long record of breaking rules on and off the field. There are plenty of qualified people out there, hiring a proven loose cannon is more of a risk than I'd want to take if I was running an NFL team. Hiring Romanowski for STR/CON coach is like hiring Mike Vick to run Peta.

When Bowlen fired Shanahan last offseason and was looking for candidates to replace him, Romo lobbied very seriously for Bowlen to give him an interview. He put together a 30+ page powerpoint presentation on why he was best suited for the job. While the move was obviously ludicrous and would never happen, Romo said a lot that made it clear that he'd given the idea some serious thought. He talked about several areas where he'd do things differently than NFL teams currently do, including changing the way the college scouting department was structured, hiring a full-time nutritionist, and having someone on his staff whose job was to look after the emotional well-being of his players. While the idea of him being a head coach with no previous coaching experience is absurd, a lot of the ideas he mentioned seemed to have merit and are worth considering.I've long held that there are only two ways to be the best- you either do what everyone else is doing, only you do it better... or else you be the only person doing what you do. The second way is a lot easier than the first. I think that NFL franchises should always be a lot more proactive in identifying inefficiencies in the market and finding new and creative ways to gain an advantage. In that respect, I think that Romo might wind up being a phenomenal home-run hire. Heck, if the guy Denver wound up hiring had adopted one of Romo's ideas and had a full-time staff member devoted to watching the emotional well-being of Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall, the team certainly might be in much better shape right now.

 

[fatness]

Romanowski says the report isn't true.