At the podium stood Mike Shanahan, who has a five-year, $35 million contract that gives him final authority over football decisions as head coach and executive vice president of the Washington Redskins.
Seated at a nearby table was Bruce Allen, the first general manager Dan Snyder has hired in 11 years of owning the team.
And nowhere on the stage was Snyder, who sat next to his wife, Tanya, as a member of the audience in the Redskins Park auditorium. It was the first time he hasn't introduced a new coach, a powerful symbol of how the balance of power has shifted within a proud franchise.
"Dan Snyder has directed us to please get this team back to the levels where it's been in the past," Allen said. "And I believe he's going to be our most supportive fan."
Shanahan made his formal debut Wednesday, one day after signing his contract and just two days after Jim Zorn was fired as coach following a 4-12 season. Shanahan, the winner of two Super Bowls in the 1990s with the Denver Broncos, mainly spoke in generalities with polish and confidence, far from the nervous and ragged performance given by rookie coach Zorn 23 months ago.
"I've got very high standards, just like everybody in this organization," Shanahan said. "I can't tell you how long it's going to take. But I can guarantee you: We'll get better every day, and hopefully it won't take long to get back to where this organization has been."
For most of his time as the Redskins' owner, Snyder has been a hands-on manager yielding a strong influence on roster decisions. But the Redskins are 82-99 on his watch, missing the playoffs in eight of 11 seasons, so three weeks ago, Snyder hired Allen and ousted longtime front-office confidant Vinny Cerrato.
Therefore, in less than a month, the Redskins have gone from an organization that primarily revolved around Snyder and his yes-man to one that includes two established decision-makers firmly in charge.
"I wanted a guy that knows that like I know football. Bruce is that guy," Shanahan said. "So we will work together. Do I have the final say? Maybe you could say that. But you know what? I would never use that. ... One of the reasons I was so excited about Bruce is I know Bruce will not agree with me on a lot of things, and that's what I'm looking for."
Snyder tried this once before, giving final roster control to Marty Schottenheimer in 2001 -- before the two butted heads and the coach was fired after an 8-8 season. Snyder also deferred to Joe Gibbs when the Hall of Fame coach came out of retirement, but this is the first time the owner has taken this much of a back seat.
Snyder left the news conference without speaking to reporters, but he later did an interview with the team's Web site.
"We've got the foundation here now ... with Bruce, and coach Shanahan is our leader," Snyder said. "They're going to be a great team."
It was no secret that Snyder had been planning to replace Zorn with Shanahan for months, and the new coach's comments supported that notion. Shanahan said he and Snyder talked "throughout the year, like we have over the last 10 years," and the coach all but lobbied the owner on Allen's behalf for the GM job last offseason.
"I said, 'Hey, this guy, I can't believe, is on the street,'" Shanahan said. "And so, when you get a guy like that, you say, 'Hey, let's gobble him up.'"
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Things surely will be different under Shanahan. He said he'd prefer to move training camp away from the area, something the Redskins haven't done since 2003. He also said he won't tolerate the kind of public bickering that surfaced in recent weeks from players such as defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth and running back Clinton Portis. The roster includes major questions at offensive line, quarterback, running back and defensive back.
Another symbol of change: Absent from the news conference were the team's three Super Bowl trophies from the 1980s and early '90s, the prized possessions that Snyder used to always display whenever the Redskins made major news.
Shanahan will spend his first days evaluating the Redskins' roster and deciding on a coaching staff. One move already made: His son, Houston Texans offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, is taking the same job with the Redskins to fulfill his dream of working with father.
"When I got into coaching, I made it a point not to work with my dad," Kyle Shanahan told the Texans' Web site. "It's something I wanted to stay from for at least a while until I at least had some success on my own.
"The way it went down for him in Denver with him getting fired and everything (in 2008), it made me realize I can't be too picky with it. I'm going to only have so many opportunities to coach with him before he's done."
The Redskins also are prepared to interview Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer for the same position in Washington should his team lose at home to the New York Jets in an AFC wild-card playoff game Saturday, a league source told NFL Network's Jason La Canfora.
Should Shanahan not hire Zimmer, former New Orleans Saints coach Jim Haslett is another possibility, league sources indicated to La Canfora. Haslett recently coached in the UFL, and there are rumblings in coaching circles that Shanahan isn't averse to going with a 3-4 defense in Washington.
Shanahan made the playoffs in half of his 14 seasons in Denver and had just two losing seasons -- 6-10 in 1999 and 7-9 in 2007. His greatest successes came early, winning consecutive Super Bowls after the 1997 and '98 seasons with a team led by quarterback John Elway.
Shanahan's career record, including two seasons with the then-Los Angeles Raiders, is 146-98 in the regular season and 8-5 in the playoffs.
"It's been a good year off for me to sit back and really evaluate," Shanahan said. "I've enjoyed watching more games and doing things that I've never done before, and at the same time, very anxious to get back."
Shanahan made the playoffs in half of his seasons in Denver and had just two losing seasons -- 6-10 in 1999 and 7-9 in 2007. His greatest successes came early, winning consecutive Super Bowl championships after the 1997 and '98 seasons with a team led by quarterback John Elway.
Shanahan was fired a year ago after the Broncos missed the playoffs for the third consecutive season.
"We needed a guy like Mike Shanahan," Redskins cornerback DeAngelo Hall said. "We needed a proven leader, a proven winner. He's definitely going to get these guys motivated and get the most out of all of them."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
