Ron Rivera was not expecting all of this in his first year as the head coach of Washington’s NFL team. On Thursday, The Washington Post released an article that states 15 women allege sexual harassment from former scouts and members of owner Dan Snyder’s inner circle. When talking top reporters on Thursday evening, Rivera made it clear things will change while he’s the head coach.
“We’re trying to create a new culture here,” Rivera said via Pro Football Talk. “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.” Rivera also said the team has to “move forward” and there are “policies that we will follow and that we have an open-door policy with no retribution.” Rivera then stated, “my daughter works for the team and I sure as hell am not going to allow any of this!”
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The former executives being accused are former director of pro personnel Alex Santos, former assistant director of pro personnel Richard Mann II and longtime radio play-by-play announcer and senior vice president Larry Michael. All three left the team within the past week. Others named in the report are former president of business operations Dennis Greene and former chief operating officer Mitch Gershman. Snyder is not accused directly of sexual harassment. However, he has declined interview requests from The Washington Post and has yet to release a statement.
“The Washington Redskins football team takes issues of employee conduct seriously,” the team said in a statement to the Post. “While we do not speak to specific employee situations publicly when new allegations of conduct are brought forward that are contrary to these policies, we address them promptly.” On Friday morning, the NFL issued a statement, and Washington could face some severe penalties.
“These matters as reported are serious, disturbing and contrary to the NFL’s values,” the league stated via ESPN. “Everyone in the NFL has the right to work in an environment free from any and all forms of harassment. Washington has engaged outside counsel to conduct a thorough investigation into these allegations.” The report comes a few days after the team retired the Redskins nickname and logo. The players are expected to report to camp at the end of the month to get ready for the 2020 season.
