Redskins, former GM Scot McCloughan to meet in hearing over $2.8 million grievance
Scot McCloughan and the Redskins will meet again in Washington on Monday for the hearing that will determine whether the former general manager can recoup the remaining $2.8 million that was left on his contract when the team fired him in March.
The Redskins will argue that they fired McCloughan following his second season with the team for cause. At the time of the breakup, a person familiar with the thinking of owner Daniel Snyder and team president Bruce Allen said that McCloughan was fired because of a drinking problem. McCloughan is a recovering alcoholic.
Both sides have already presented evidence through deposition, according to two people with knowledge of the situation. They spoke to USA Today on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the subject.
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The Redskins’ side includes evidence that alcohol consumption prevented McCloughan from effectively doing his job. Meanwhile, the argument from McCloughan’s side contends that he didn’t drink on the job. That evidence presented by McCloughan’s camp also paints the Redskins’ highest-ranking officials in a negative light because it reveals that they themselves regularly drank on team property, which violates the league policies against the consumption of alcohol at team headquarters.
It’s possible that Allen, and other Redskins employees, including coach Jay Gruden, will be asked to testify during the hearing. Arbitrator Peter Harvey is presiding over the hearing.
The Redskins hired McCloughan in January of 2015 despite a checkered past, which included dismissals from both San Francisco and Seattle and a stint in rehab. At the time of his hiring and his introductory press conference, McCloughan openly discussed his battles with alcoholism, and explained that family issues had caused his drinking to get out of hand. But he never said that he had given up drinking entirely. Some league insiders, who were familiar with McCloughan’s past, worried at the time of his hiring that joining a Redskins organization led by Snyder and Allen, who are known around the league for their fondness of alcohol consumption, was such a good idea.
Members of the organization said last spring that there were whispers about McCloughan’s drinking, but that they never saw the talent evaluator incapacitated at work.
In two seasons as general manager, McCloughan helped the Redskins post a 17-15 record and post back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since the 1996-97 campaigns. Despite that success, frictions between Allen and McCloughan were well-known, and one person familiar with the situation predicted toward the end of McCloughan’s tenure that because of their rift, Allen would likely fire the general manager and use alcohol consumption as grounds for the dismissal.
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