Ron Rivera is the right man to lead Washington through crisis

The Washington Redskins are lucky to have Ron Rivera guide them through the aftermath of a major scandal.

On Thursday, details of a major scandal rocked the NFL world. Fifteen former Redskins employees, all females, alleged sexual harassment and verbal abuse against their former employers.

The abuses allegedly came at the hands of director of pro personnel Alex Santos, assistant director of pro personnel Richard Mann II, former president of business operations Dennis Greene, former chief operating officer Mitch Gershman, and team announcer Larry Michael over a 15-year span.

The details of this story are vile. And there will undoubtedly be consequences for all that have been allegedly involved in the various aspects of the scandal.

Because of this, Washington is going to need to completely rebuild their organizational culture. That was already a major goal this offseason, but there could be more gutting of the club than there already has been, or perhaps a punishment from the league.

And all while that is happening behind the scenes, Washington is going to have to try to move forward and prepare for the 2020 NFL season.

For that reason, the team is extremely lucky that they have Ron Rivera onboard. Rivera is a great leader and a high-character man. And he is one of the only head coaches in the NFL that is qualified to deal with a scandal like this. Even a current Washington head coach agrees with that sentiment, per Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller.

During Rivera’s time with the Carolina Panthers, he was able to navigate an ownership change when Jerry Richardson was implicated in a sexual harassment scandal. This involved inappropriate sexual comments directed at female employees as well as racist remarks toward a team scout.

The Richardson scandal unfolded quickly. Rivera was caught off-guard by the story about Richardson and the subsequent news that he would be selling the team. But Rivera did the best he could to keep the team on track. He still got the team to the playoffs with an 11-5 record amid the turmoil. It was impressive that he was able to keep the team focused on what was happening on the field given the team’s uncertainty off the field.

Rivera’s next two seasons didn’t see a lot of success on the field. The Panthers were 12-18 in games that he coached. Had Cam Newton been healthy, the Panthers could’ve posted a better record.

But more important than the on-field record was that Rivera did what he could to make the transition to new owner David Tepper smooth. And because of his efforts there, the Panthers were able to stabilize quickly in the wake of a major organizational disruption.

Now, Washington will need Rivera to help them do the same. It’s unclear what exactly will happen in wake of the scandal, but Washington will be navigating major changes in the wake of the exodus of staffers implicated in The Post’s report.

During this time, the team needs Rivera to act as a stabilizing force. He needs to continue to help define the team culture — one of his main goals since joining the team seven months ago — and rebuild a front office that had turned toxic long ago. He clearly has played a part in the recent front office hires and replacements for departed employees, but he will really need to be the face of leadership for the team moving forward.

He’s already off to a good start. InThe Washington Post article, Rivera chose to comment on rebuilding the culture and spoke about creating a new direction under his leadership.

"“We’re trying to create a new culture here,” Rivera said. “We’re hoping to get people to understand that they need to judge us on where we are and where we’re going, as opposed to where we’ve been.”"

And beyond that, he released a statement in the aftermath of the article saying that he would not be allowing behavior like that detailed in The Post’s story to continue moving forward. In short, he’s weeding out the problems to create the culture that the team has been lacking for so long.

Rivera can be the leader that Washington so desperately needs. And he should be ready for the challenge. The facts of this case are certainly appalling, but fans can have confidence that having Rivera on board will help to restore much-needed order to the storied Washington franchise.