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Commanders coach Ron Rivera 'fired up' about post-Dan Snyder era in Washington: 'Now it's about football'

jason owens
Staff writer
·3 min read
110

Count Ron Rivera among those relieved that Dan Snyder is gone.

The Washington Commanders head coach addressed the franchise's ownership transfer from Snyder to Josh Harris as veterans reported to training camp Tuesday. He's "fired up."

"I think it's pretty exciting, I really do," Rivera said, with a smile on his face. "You can already feel the impact. A lot of it has to do with just really the reaction from the fan base more so than anything else. I think our guys have also felt it."

Rivera has been with the Commanders since 2020, long enough to witness first-hand the turbulent ending to Snyder's chaotic 24-year reign. It was a tenure that saw the franchise devolve from one of the league's elite with three Super Bowls wins in five appearances to a laughing stock that's produced just two postseason victories since Snyder bought the team in 1999.

There's a new vibe in Washington as Commanders training camp begins. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
There's a new vibe in Washington as Commanders training camp begins. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Since Rivera arrived, Snyder faced an onslaught of legal action, including allegations against the franchise and himself ranging from sexual harassment to sexual misconduct to multiple instances of financial impropriety. The franchise also underwent, not one, but two name changes after Snyder relented under years of intense pressure to drop the team's former moniker that was long criticized as a racial slur.

The ownership transfer from Snyder to Harris was made official last week, just in time for training camp. On his way out the door, Snyder was tagged by the NFL with a $60 million fine based on the conclusion of a league investigation into the allegations of sexual harassment and financial impropriety.

Rivera on Tuesday said that he's glad to be able to simply focus on football.

"It's exciting," Rivera continued. "I'm fired up about the opportunity as we go forward. ... Now it's about football. Like I said, we're going to focus in on what's important to us, and that's playing the game. I'm fired up about that. ...

"The last few years, I honestly felt more like a manager. ... But the spring, I thought, was really good because it really was about putting the team together knowing the ownership change was going to happen."

Rivera said that he's met with Harris and his ownership partners to discuss "philosophy" and building a winning football team.

"That was probably the thing that I really appreciated, was having that conversation and just hearing their commitment to trying to do the best they can to bring back to this area a sense of pride in this organization," Rivera said.

But for now, the buzz in Washington isn't so much about who is there. It's about who isn't.

(Disclosure: Josh Harris is a co-founder of Apollo Global Management, which owns Yahoo, Inc. He left the private equity firm in 2022.)