Former Washington Redskins Head Coach Joe Gibbs named as NASCAR Hall of Fame Inductee
Former Washington Redskins head coach Joe Gibbs has been named as an inductee to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Gibbs has a rather interesting history with the Redskins. He first came to the Redskins in 1981, coaching the team until 1992. In his 11 seasons as a Redskins head coach, Gibbs was responsible for bringing all three Superbowl titles that the team currently holds. They won the Superbowl in 1982, 1987, and 1991 while taking the team to eight playoff appearances in the 11 seasons he coached. It is certainly a milestone for the Gibbs and the Redskins organization. But after one last try of bringing another Superbowl champion to Washington, Gibbs retired from coaching in 1993.
Gibbs, later on, created a NASCAR racing team known as Joe Gibbs Racing. He continues to lead his racing team, with the likes of drivers such as Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, and others. Since 1992, Gibbs Racing has won eight NASCAR Championships with several different drivers. But in between, Gibbs took a break from racing.
When current Redskins owner Dan Snyder took over the team, he has already dealt with four head coach firings in four years. It was time to get serious about the team and somehow Snyder was able to pull Gibbs out of retirement and bring him back as the Redskins head coach. Gibbs coached the Redskins from 2004 till 2007. Unfortunately, the time away from football certainly affected him as a coach. He was not able to bring any Superbowls in those seasons, but took the team to the playoffs twice.
Gibbs continues his dream as an owner of a NASCAR racing team. However, Gibbs still has a heavy influence on the Redskins organization. After all, he brought three Superbowls to the team. Newly hired Redskins' head coach Ron Rivera was seen spoking to Gibbs just a day before being officially hired.
Rivera had also stated that he had spoken to Gibbs multiple times and he was one of many reasons why he decided to join the Redskins over other organizations.