Al Saunders joined the Redskins' offensive coaching staff on Jan. 23, 2006. The former offensive coordinator with the Kansas City Chiefs, will work with head coach Joe Gibbs and the current offensive staff.
In his new position for the Redskins, Saunders will help direct a Redskins offense that finished ninth in the league last season, with several players setting new team offensive records.
Entering his 37th season in the coaching ranks, Saunders owns 24 years of NFL coaching experience. He recently finished his 15th coaching campaign with Kansas City, the last five as assistant head coach-offensive coordinator.
In total, Saunders has been associated with 10 postseason appearances, five division crowns and a World Championship during his NFL tenure.
Saunders had tremendous success in 2005 leading the Kansas City Chiefs offense to a number one overall ranking in the NFL averaging 287.0 yards per game. The Chiefs' passing attack was sixth in the NFL and fourth in the AFC and the run game was fourth in the NFL and second in the AFC.
Kansas City running back Larry Johnson led the AFC in rushing and was the third in the NFL with 1,750 yards, 5.2 yards per carry and 20 touchdowns. Quarterback Trent Green was second in the NFL in passing yards with 4,014 and a 90.1 quarterback rating.
Overall, the Chiefs' offense supplied four 2006 Pro Bowlers on offense: offensive linemen Willie Roaf and Will Shields, tight end Tony Gonzalez and running back Larry Johnson.
In 2004, the Chiefs led the NFL in total offense for the first time in franchise history, accumulating a franchise-record 6,695 yards, or an average of 418.4 yards per game. In the process, Kansas City established an NFL record with 398 first downs, breaking the previous mark of 387 set by the 1984 Dolphins.
In 2000, Saunders was part of a St. Louis coaching staff which helped the Rams score 540 points (33.8 ppg), the third-highest single-season total in NFL history. En route to their World Championship in '99, the Rams paced the NFL with 6,412 yards of total offense, good for a remarkable 400.8 ypg average.
Before initially joining the Chiefs in '89, Saunders served as San Diego's head coach from midway through the '86 season through the '88 campaign. In his first full season as head coach in '87 he guided the Chargers to an 8-7 record; a four-game improvement from the club's 4-12 finish the previous year.
That 8-7 record represented San Diego's first winning season in five years and included a perfect 3-0 record in replacement games, a feat matched only by Washington Redskins head coach Joe Gibbs that season.
Saunders began his career as a graduate assistant under John McKay at Southern California ('70-71). He worked along-side Joe Gibbs at USC in 1970.
Saunders then coached receivers at Missouri ('72) before heading the offensive backfield at Utah State ('73-75). He was an assistant head coach, quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator at California from '76-81, leading an offense that set 32 national, conference and school records.
In 1982, he served as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Johnny Majors at the University of Tennessee.
