DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Interesting take from ESPN on Haslam and the coaching search

Despite the appearance of confidence, the Haslams, overseeing their fifth regime change in six years as owners, were embarrassed to be starting over again, according to confidants. This was not what they envisioned when they bought the team in 2012, after being minority owners of the Steelers. Haslam had personally made the decision to hire Jackson in 2016, against the recommendation of the Browns' executive team. But the Browns had just lost to the Steelers, dropping Jackson's three-year record to 3-36-1, and after constant fighting behind closed doors, Jackson was publicly warring with his offensive coordinator, Todd Haley. So according to people briefed on the meeting, on Oct. 29, Haslam and general manager John Dorsey entered Jackson's office and told him the team was going to move in a different direction.

Jackson asked why he was being fired.

The team quit on you, Dorsey replied.

At the time, four of the eight Browns games had gone to overtime.

"Get the f--- out of my office," Jackson said.

Haslam next called Banner and asked if the two of them could grab dinner on Feb. 10. That day, Haslam asked to meet at the office before dinner. Haslam and Banner chatted in Banner's office for half an hour about free agency. Banner said he was hungry and asked if they could continue the conversation at the restaurant. Haslam replied by praising Banner for building a strong team.

It was so strong, in fact, that he said he was going to let him go.

Banner was stunned. He asked for a reason. Haslam wouldn't give one, allowing only that Lombardi would be fired too and that he wouldn't change his mind.

Haslam then left Banner's office to meet his new executive team, which was waiting for him at dinner, some of whom knew ahead of time that Banner wouldn't be in attendance. Haslam told associates he was tired of all the negative press and felt the league office had tacitly married him with Banner, even if he had decided to hire him. Later that week, Haslam held an all-staff meeting to announce the firings, the first time he used now-routine language about regime change, learning and hiring the right people. Before that meeting, Haslam dropped by Farmer's office and told him he was being promoted to GM. At age 39, Farmer was suddenly the second-youngest GM in the league. Both Farmer and Pettine would report directly to Haslam. Farmer later told associates he was shocked.

He never interviewed for the job.

Brian Hoyer, the Browns' starting quarterback, was furious about Manziel. Farmer called him shortly after the pick to calm him down. Moments later, the Texans called, offering a high second-round pick for Hoyer. The room was buzzing with the chance to pick up a potential first-round player for second-round money. But Farmer killed the trade, later telling friends he felt like he had to take control of his first draft. Several in the room later told associates it felt like a quintessentially dysfunctional Browns draft: team leaders on different pages and bad decisions leading to more bad decisions -- both Gilbert and Manziel would flame out -- with the owner in the middle of it all and his guests as a live audience.

Marketing executives wanted employees to see how fans were engaging with the Browns on social media, so they projected the Browns feed onto a giant wall at the facility. It was like broadcasting talk radio over the entire building, and one day in particular, it was worse than that. One of the marketing staffers entered a search for #dp -- for Dawg Pound. The problem was, that hashtag carried a few different meanings, one of which triggered an array of porn to be broadcast onto a wall for the entire office to see for more than 20 minutes, until a tech employee killed the feed.

That fall, Haslam, team president Alec Scheiner, Sashi Brown and a few others visited executives in other sports in an effort to gain insights that might help steady the Browns, if not ultimately revolutionize football. Scheiner, Brown & Co. wanted to open Haslam's eyes to a different way of running a team, based heavily but not solely on analytics. The executives prepared a document for Haslam titled "Football Strategy Outline"to sell him on a radical rebounding plan based on a few years of pain that could pay off in many years of reward. The idea called for the Browns to tear down to the studs and commit to a four-year rebuild, primarily through the draft, mixing sabermetrics and traditional methods -- similar in many ways to Banner's original vision. The group visited Theo Epstein of the Chicago Cubs, Sam Presti of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Mark Shapiro of the Toronto Blue Jays and Paul DePodesta of the New York Mets. Haslam asked the majority of the questions. One exec told him that if he were to commit to the plan, he should "not go to any games for two years."

After a few rounds of interviews, the brass voted. It was 4-1 in favor of Sean McDermott, the Panthers' defensive coordinator, a coach who had crushed his interview and was known to be open to new ideas.

Haslam voted for Hue Jackson, the former Raiders head coach and then-Bengals offensive coordinator. Jackson was a respected playcaller and teacher, especially with quarterbacks. Haslam told the group he felt Jackson could relate better to players. Jackson knew how hard it was to get a second chance as a head coach, and he was nervous about the rebuilding plan. He would later tell friends the team undersold him on the extremeness of the rebuilding plan, a charge that Browns executives found absurd, given the level of detail shared during the interview process.

DePodesta wrote Haslam an email arguing that the Jackson hire went against many of the characteristics of successful coaches they had discussed. Brown met with Haslam -- there's always a race to be the last one to talk to Haslam before a big decision -- and told him he thought hiring Jackson would be a bad call. "I hear you," Haslam said.

Then Haslam flew to Cincinnati and hired Jackson, who would report directly to ownership.

A few days before the Browns played the Steelers in October, Haslam gave Jackson an apparent vote of confidence by telling him Haley would be let go the Monday after the game, according to people close to Jackson. A source close to Haslam says that he wouldn't have made such a promise because he didn't want to fire Haley. The Browns lost to the Steelers, and Haslam fired Jackson. Haley told Kitchens, who was then the running backs coach, that he didn't want to be named interim head coach and would recommend Kitchens for the job if asked. But a few hours later, Haley was fired too; the organization felt that he was inflexible and it needed to start over. Haslam elevated defensive coordinator Gregg Williams to interim head coach and Kitchens to offensive coordinator. It looked like another wasted season, with the looming threat of another coaching search and another failed first-round quarterback on top of it.

But then something phenomenal happened, as if cosmic forces had finally aligned in the Browns' favor: The team won five of its final seven games, and it became clear the quarterback was neither a product of his head coach nor a spreadsheet. He was his own strange force, cocky but endearing, raw but gifted. He called Jackson a "fake" on Instagram. He refused to concede an inch to anyone, and his fierce, hungry approach to the game and his world became contagious. After Mayfield led the Browns to an upset over the Falcons in November, he said, "When I woke up this morning, I was feeling pretty dangerous." It became an instant catchphrase around Cleveland, popping up on T-shirts, lifting a city still stinging after LeBron James left for Los Angeles. All of a sudden, it looked as if Jimmy and Dee Haslam had the most important prerequisite to being premier NFL owners -- a franchise quarterback -- and head coach of the Cleveland Browns was again a sought-after job. The Haslams found themselves in an unfamiliar position but with a very familiar challenge before them.

Jackson complained that Brown had passed on Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson. It enraged the front office, given Jackson's insistence on drafting Garrett that year.

Haley told Kitchens, who was then the running backs coach, that he didn't want to be named interim head coach and would recommend Kitchens for the job if asked.

Dorsey was skeptical of their helpfulness when he first got the job. He told an associate that he didn't need "f---ing nerds" to tell him how to evaluate players.

But they wish to paint a picture of dysfunction. Don't they understand this is a new page of our Franchise.

You wanna know what's really funny, generally, ESPN is considered less than accurate usually. Unless of course, it's to bash Haslam.

In what circumstance is ESPN generally inaccurate? Their reporting is usually pretty solid.

Who should play Jimmy when this becomes an ESPN/ABC movie of the week?

I mentioned in a different thread that there should be a "Moneyball 2" movie about the Browns, with Jonah Hill reprising his role as Paul Depodesta (Peter Brand). Clint Eastwood could probably work for Haslam. As often as Haslam fired people, I could see him walking into people's offices and saying, "You feeling lucky punk?"

Many of us weren't happy about the structure of both the GM and HC reporting to Haslam. Most of us didn't think it made any sense and went against the natural order of a business structure.

But the one common factor was the infighting in what seems like every regime. That I don't see as abnormal. It's the human nature of things. I would see it otherwise if the team had success. But when the walls cave in human nature takes over survival instincts kick in. When you feel your livelihood is threatened most will resort to playing the blame game. Most become disheveled and things break down.

I will certainly give you kudos for posting this article Peen. You have been a staunch supporter of the Haslam's and this article doesn't shed the best light on them.

Some great insights as to what has gone on behind the scenes these last few years. Good read.

It seems like Haslam has the right intentions, but he can't get out of his own way. He wants to be the guy that is well informed and knows what he's doing, but he's too quick to push the reset button or see things out. He also needs to learn when to sit back and let others do their job.

If we can win Haslam will back off. Start losing and he will most likely step back in.

Dorsey has been all about respecting the contributions and opinions of everyone, even if he happens to disagree.

Based on the timing of the article, I wonder if he got most of his material in Mobile at a meeting of the "former Browns coaches" after they were good and... lubricated. I'm not saying it isn't true, but possibly a bit one-sided in perspective.

Hopefully this go around works out.

Like when he is quoted as saying he didn't want help from the nerds? That kind of "respect"?

Yeah, after he found out how asinine of a statement that was. It's kind of like the "not real players" comment as well. He quickly had to walk that ridiculous statement back too.

Hey, at least he is learning right?