Joe Gibbs resigned as coach and team president of the Washington Redskins on Tuesday, three days after his team's playoff loss concluded a season marked by the killing of safety Sean Taylor.

 

The Redskins said in a statement that Gibbs will remain part of the Redskins family and serve as a special adviser to owner Dan Snyder. Gibbs was to discuss his decision at a 3 p.m. news conference at Redskins Park.

 

The Redskins will begin a search for a new coach immediately. Among the certain candidates are two former head coaches on Gibbs' staff, Gregg Williams and Al Saunders.

 

Gibbs went 31-36, including 1-2 in the playoffs, after emerging from NFL retirement and his NASCAR career to sign a five-year, $27.5 million contract in 2004. He had always maintained that he intended to fulfill the contract, but the 67-year-old coach wavered from that stance Monday when asked if he would return for the final year of his deal.

 

Gibbs' resignation brings an apparent end to a Hall of Fame coaching career in which he twice raised the Redskins from mediocrity into a playoff team, although he failed in his goal of bringing the team back to the Super Bowl during his second stint in Washington. Gibbs won three NFL titles during his first tenure from 1981-92; the second time around he took the team to the postseason in two of his four seasons.

 

It also follows one of the best coaching performances of his career, his leadership helping the Redskins focus after Taylor's death on Nov. 27. Washington won its final four regular season games after Taylor's funeral, going from 5-7 to 9-7 to claim the final playoff berth in the NFC.

 

The emotional run ended Saturday, when the Redskins lost 35-14 at Seattle in the wild-card playoffs.

 

"It was the toughest [season] for me," Gibbs said Monday. "When you go through a season like that, for a while it's kind of hard to re-grasp reality."

 

Gibbs has also endured a personal crisis for a year. One of his grandsons, Taylor, was diagnosed with leukemia last January at the age of 2. Gibbs frequently talks lovingly about his "grandbabies," and he made an overnight trip to North Carolina on Sunday to be with his family, interrupting the postseason routine of meetings that usually follow the final game of the season.

 

Still, for much of the season, Gibbs seemed intent on returning to coach. Players and coaches said publicly and privately over the last week that they would be shocked if he didn't stay on to finish the job. Last month, he said he would be open to discussing a contract extension so that he would not return next season as a lame-duck coach.

 

At a news conference Monday, Gibbs spoke about plans for next season -- the team's approach to free agency, offseason workouts and the possibility of an open quarterback competition at training camp -- as if he were going to remain on the sidelines. However, he hedged when asked if he would definitely be back, saying it would hinge on his meeting Monday night with Snyder.

 

"Everybody's situation will be taken into context here -- including mine, and my future here and all that," Gibbs said Monday.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3186165

Just when he was breaking through, he calls it quits.

 

Didn't quite turn out the way they hoped, but I think that's more a talent issue than a Joe Gibbs issue.

 

Good luck with the racecars, Joe.

Most people that are not fans of the Redskins would assume that this is a sad day in Redskins Nation again. However, as a Redskins fan, I am very happy that Joe Gibbs is retiring. I feel this way not because I think he did a subpar job, but actually the exact opposite of that. When Joe Gibbs took the team over in 2004, this team was flopping in the water from the dagger of lack of fundementals that the "ole ball coach" left with them. Spurrier (I threw up a bit in my mouth when I say his name) left this team in chaos and absolute football hell. This team had no franchise face because he was so bound and determined to be that face himself. There was no quarterback because he felt he could go out there and play "a little pitch and catch" with any arm. I cringe at the thought of Wuerffel, Matthews, and Ramsey playing NFL QB still. But after Spurrier was run out of town Dan Snyder brought THE Redskins Messiah back and gave him the reins of the team. Joe Gibbs basically said at the introduction press conference that he was not brought in to win games, but that he was brought in to change the attitude around Redskins Park. He said that winning games would be the by-product of the attitude change and not the focus. It took him one year to change the attitude of the team and get rid of the trash that the previous coach had left behind but he was moving in the right direction with bringing not only good players but good leaders as well. He assembled one of the leagues most talented coaching staffs and most importantly he brought in a franchise quaterback. While history, which will only see the W-L record, probably wont be too kind to Gibbs this time, he changed this team just the way he wanted to. Just look back on the way that this team played after the death of the best player on team a few weeks ago. They played inspired football when most teams would have folded. Gibbs channeled that sorrow in his players to the football field and got those guys to leave every bit of themselves on the field every game. For that, I commend Coach Gibbs. He has righted a ship that was lost in a Maelstrom in the worst way. Coach, may the wind always be at your back and may you never lose faith. Thanks for all the memories and good luck.

Gibbs got this franchise on the right track for certain. It used to be chaos and hell to be a Skins fan.

 

I think Williams will get the HC job which will be great I think.

Goodbye Joe.

 

Good luck with those Toyota Camry's.

Goodbye Joe.

 

Good luck with those Toyota Camry's.

 

Oh yeah, lest I forget - GO DENNY!