His jaw dropped, his eyes bugged out and, internally at least, he felt speechless. Jim Zorn managed to say a few words, but when Dan Snyder asked if he wanted to interview for the head coaching position, Zorn was as stunned as anyone.

Two days later he got the position and a day later he was formally introduced to the Washington media. Not as the offensive coordinator, the job for which he was hired on Jan. 26, but as Joe Gibbs’ successor as head coach.

“I’m very excited about being the Redskins’ head football coach,” Zorn said. “And that is quite miraculous for me to even say today.”

Zorn was not on the Redskins initial list of approximately 50 names that they had drawn up for their coaching search. But after they hired him to be the offensive coordinator, they started thinking about him as a head coaching candidate.

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After interviews with other candidates, owner Dan Snyder and executive vice president of football operations Vinny Cerrato would keep bringing up one name.

“It all kept coming back to Jim Zorn,” Cerrato said.

“I called Joe and said he’d be a terrific head coach,” Snyder said.

Finally, after Steve Spagnuolo dropped out Wednesday, they decided to interview Zorn for the top job. When they told him to come to Snyder’s house for lunch, Zorn initially was annoyed: it would take him away from going over his offensive duties.

He had no idea what awaited him.

“I was a bit taken aback,” he said.