DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Why should the fans support or believe in Haslam?

Since the Haslams bought the franchise , this is the most dysfunctional franchise in NFL
And maybe all of the major 3 sports leagues.
Paying out 55 million dollars to past coaches.
6 different GMs.
Team winning % less than .400
And not one season over .500
Yet theres a section of fans that still believe
In them. Why is that ?
He has concreted himself as the worst owner
In the NFL.
Haslam as created a culture of ego and
Selfishness in Berea.
I think he's a worse owner than Art Modell.

I don’t see any support for the Haslams. I think just about everyone knows what a dumpster fire they are. Hell, I think they even know it by the statement they made.

My guess is ~99% of fans do not believe in Haslam, they (myself included) hope like hell he gets it right either by accident or on purpose.

blah blah blah, you have no choice!

Maybe, buy the team,

I think the Haslems' are fine owners, they've done enough re-shuffling, and hard work to try to bring a winner to Cleveland!

Maybe you'd rather someone move the team to San Antonio?

The only thing I have against the Haslems so far, is maybe hanging on with Hue Jackson as the HC, for too long.

We can always go root for __________.

Or stop watching football altogether,
I stopped watching MLB in 2003, and I don't miss it one bit!

I don’t ‘support’ any of them... per se. I don’t listen to pressers by coaches, FO, owners, players, etc. none of them have earned my ear. I rarely read any interviews. I’ve been over the Browns in that way for a few years. I don’t buy gear. I don’t travel to see games. I do buy the Sunday Ticket each year so I can watch the games. That’s the extent of my fandom.
Ultimately I have no say. I’m a Browns fan. It’s like an abusive relationship. But it’s love. Haslem’s or not.

I honestly have no problems with the Owners.. I feel they feel the same way we do.

They know the fan base and the team wants winners..after years of being bad.. what else do they do ?

Eventually if they get it right and it turns around..then I'll be happy as all of us will be.

I just feel there's more to turning a NFL team around then most of us know there is.

If the Haslam's keep messing up the way they do, its only a matter of time before they move the team.

Messing up all the time is what really killed Art Modell, messing up coaches and big contracts which Haslam seems to be doing at an accelerated rate.

Haslam is literally running the Browns into the ground...if he don't get things right in the next 5-7 years, you will see the team moved due to financial problems just like Model. Haslam keeps paying people not to work for him. Its insane.

Folks don't realize that the Browns lease on First Energy Statium expires in 2029, that's 9 years from now, that's not long. The fact the city seems to be at odds with Haslam, and the Haslam's want a new stadium don't bode well.

https://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/the-browns-are-talking-about-a-new-stadium/Content?oid=18496853

https://www.cleveland.com/cityhall/2013/11/firstenergy_stadium_lease_diss.html

This has all the makings of "The Move" all over again, and Haslam is a worse snake than Modell, he will move this team in a heartbeat and won't think twice about it if he don't get what he wants, and even then may just move it anyways.

the NFL didn't even want a team back in Cleveland in the 1st place, and I sometimes wonder if Haslam keeps blowing things up on purpose trying to slowly kill interest off in the team so when he does move it 9 years down the road few will care.

Salt Lake City, Portland, and San Antonio are all places the NFL would love to put a team at.

Be watchful, if the Browns don't somehow figure out how to be so sucessful that the Haslam can't move the team, I fear we will see another move in 9-10 years...

The Haslams know no matter the product they put on the field the value just increases for the franchise.
They treat the Browns like it's a hobby.
Let's not forget the Haslams are from Tennessee.
They have no invested emotional ties to Northeast Ohio
While Dave Logan and Ricky Feacher were catching balls from Sipe.....Jimmy Haslam was trading handshakes with Johnny Majors and Jimmy Streater.
Can Jimmy Haslam really relate to the 46 year
Season ticket holder from Valley View or Maple Heights ?

This comment from the article proves pretty true I think:



I really believe if Haslam doesn't get his shiny new stadium with tons of property around it for parking and development like teams like Dallas, and NE, etc are getting, that come 2029 or 2030 he is going to move the team.

Cleveland & Pittsburgh have lost population the last 10 years, and the tax money isn't where it used to be, and family gross incomes are near the lowest in the country.

I don't see how Cleveland can afford what Haslam is going to want in a few years. Were talking close to a Billion dollars in new stadium and property. Another city promises to give it to him, there is no way Cleveland will be able to raise the Capital to counter, Cleveland area is already taxed as it is, and their credit card is nearly maxed.

My gut tells me this won't bode wlel and it makes me so sad at the same time...I don't want to see another move in my lifetime

I was a season ticket holder..Thanks to Peen and Columbusdawg.

I stopped going to games after the second home game. It had nothing to do with the Haslams. Mostly because of the poor coaching and lack of effort.

The Haslams pretty much do how I would do.. Get mad and change it up until it gets right.. May not be the right way of doing things..But it's kind of the way I would.

I don't know what the right answer or the right way is. But I do know they seem to try..right or wrong. Hopefully getting it right is near.

From an outsider's point of view: Support the Haslams because they are passionate about making the Browns a winner. They need to learn how to run this franchise, but it seems that they really want to succeed. Hopefully for Browns fans they will finally get it right.

yeah..be a lot more fun when we can start smacking each other around a little bit in fun..instead of your team always smacking us..

I'm not mad at the Haslams. What else could they possibly do themselves to turn this around? It's the players.. It's the coaches.. If they can't get it right, you find someone who can.

The Haslams, by their own admission (at least by Dee) have no idea what they are doing. They did not realize that running an NFL franchise would be this difficult. They have shown themselves to be incompetent at best. Their management style or strategy or whatever you want to call it is a massive failure. Basically, they don't know what they don't know. And that spells trouble. They literally are grasping at straws year in and year out hoping to get lucky. The best thing that can happen to this team and this fan base is for someone to buy the Browns and get rid of these dumbasses. They will NEVER be successful in the NFL unless they make MAJOR changes to how they run this franchise.

They can sell or go to hell. The sooner, the better. They basically confirm the fact that just because you are rich doesn't mean you are smart. I hate them and what they have done since taking over. I cannot believe that the NFL allowed these dipshits to become owners. It's really unbelievable. And the fans CONTINUE to pay the price. Screw you Haslams!

The Haslam's hired a football guy to run the franchise. Someone to acquire players and assemble coaches. They listened to his recommendations and signed the checks. The fans, for the most part, were even on board, as was a large part of the National Media. BUT .. That person hitched his wagon to Freddie Kitchens. Someone who had never been a head coach, someone who spent 8 games as an interim Offensive Coordinator, while picking and choosing his plays from someone else's playbook. They thought Dorsey knew what he was doing. Perhaps he did when it came to talent, but his blind spot was coaches. He needed someone he could control.

The blame is on Dorsey. It appears as though he was offered the chance to stay, but no power to pick or control the new Head Coach. Dorsey declined to stay. How do you blame the Haslams for having two 1000 yard receivers, and a 1400 yard rusher, and only winning 6 games. Did Dorsey call Freddie in and tell him .. "Let Monken call plays ?" Did Dorsey say .. "Freddie, somethings not working right .. Fix it." It didn't show on the field if he did.

The franchise was turned over to Dorsey to run. Don't blame Haslam. He did exactly what EVERYONE here has wanted him to do.

LMAO, I like this reponse the best. Pretty much sums it up!

45 years of rooting for the browns, and this year has been the toughest yet. Not for the disappointing record. It's that these guys are really hard to root for. Diva wideouts. QB that didnt work in the off season. No discipline. Meanwhile, I have to watch the purple browns in Baltimore do everything right. I fricken hate this attachment I have to orange helmets.

I had a hard time explaining to my 7yo why the miles garret play was so wrong. He tried so hard to justify it, but its garbage.

Anyway, rant off. Browns are a hard habit to kick.

We don’t have much choice other than to just hope they get it right luckily.

I think we were SO close to getting it right with Dorsey and what he acquired/drafted .. BUT his own ego and need for control put FK as the head coach and it crumbled. If Dorsey’s ego weren’t so big and he was more trusting in a TRUE coach, we might think way differently today

4 ways Browns can quit being NFL laughingstocks, including top coaching candidate they should chase
Terez Paylor

The Cleveland Browns’ decision to fire Freddie Kitchens on Sunday was met with head nods and chuckles.

Of course, it was time for Kitchens to go. Of course, he was in over his head.

But when word leaked Tuesday that general manager John Dorsey was in trouble and later got the ax too, well, those chuckles turned to deep sighs in Ohio.

Browns fans have seen this act before from team owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam, who clearly want to win but have no idea how as they continue to put this fan base through a cruel and twisted football version of “Groundhog Day.”

Step One: The team underachieves.

Step Two: Haslam gets frustrated and impatient, someone (or some) get fired.

Step Three: A new hope gets hired, and expectations rise.

Step Four: Start back at Step One again.

And so on, and so on it goes, which explains how, in an era of football when parity is a driving force of the league, the Haslams have accumulated a horrific record since they bought the Browns in October 2012.

Since 2013, the first full season the Haslams owned the team, Cleveland is 28-83-1. That’s a 25 percent winning percentage, about 16 percent behind what William Clay Ford Sr., the deceased patriarch of the Detroit Lions, posted as team owner from 1964-2013. That should explain how pathetic the Haslams’ winning percentage is, right?

But here we are again, with the Haslams holding everyone — the coaches, the players, the general manager, the executives, the waterboy — accountable except themselves.

And it’s a shame. The Browns are one of the NFL’s most historic franchises, a place where legends like Paul Brown, Jim Brown and Otto Graham thrived, and more importantly, won championships.

Of course, those championships came in the 1950s and ’60s. Since then, the Browns have not only failed to reach a Super Bowl — joining the Lions as the only non-expansion team to do so — they also employed the greatest coach of all time (Bill Belichick) and never reaped any of the benefits, went 0-16 in 2016 and implemented the single-worst uniform design in the NFL in 2015.

It’s time for this to stop.

Here are some ways the Haslams can resurrect this franchise, based on football truths I’ve culled from people I respect in the league during my time covering the NFL.

Qualities needed for GM, head coach
The key to being a good NFL team owner is to hire competent people and give them time and space to do their jobs. Doing both will not be easy, particularly for Jimmy Haslam, an impatient meddler with a tendency to seek opinions from far too many internal voices (which only encourages more culture-crushing power grabs from subordinates). But hiring smart people and empowering them fully so everyone can chart the course forward is the only way to change the culture of losing and back-stabbing in Cleveland.

It’s not impossible to do. After all this trial and error, the Haslams may be on the verge of finding a winning path. But doing so will require a new four-step process from the Haslams, one that would theoretically replace their patented, time-tested “How to lose NFL games at a clip faster than the Detroit Lions” strategy.

Step One: Hire a general manager who will vibe with chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta, who has earned responsibility from within the organization and is reportedly running the head coaching search. My vote is for Eagles vice president of football operations Andrew Berry, who is bright and highly regarded and is believed to be in the running for the position. If Berry doesn’t work out, the key here is to hire someone smart that DePodesta can be tied to at the hip.

Baker Mayfield struggled in his second season in the league. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
Baker Mayfield struggled in his second season in the league. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
Step Two: Hire a head coach who shares the same team-building philosophy of DePodesta and the new general manager, and can maximize the talents of quarterback Baker Mayfield, who is about to be coached by his fourth head coach in three years.

This is the type of dysfunction that causes first-round quarterbacks to bust. We’re approaching a danger zone with Mayfield, who will have no more godfathers — someone personally involved in his selection — in the building. If the Browns want to ensure he makes it, and they should because they can win with him, the next coach needs to believe in him and build an offense around his talents.

To do that, they should turn to Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski, whose zone run-heavy offensive scheme is en vogue in the NFL. He has also coaxed a career season out of Kirk Cousins. Stefanski’s scheme would fit Mayfield’s strengths (athleticism, arm) while minimizing his weaknesses (his lack of height).

Step Three: Spend lots of money in free agency on the best zone-blocking offensive linemen available. This will improve the run game, which will negate a 2019 weakness — pass protection.

Step Four: The Haslams need to stay the hell away from all football decisions for at least three years. Conversations should be limited to the triumvirate (DePodesta, GM, coach), a group that should be reminded regularly that it will get three years together, but if one of them eventually goes, all of them will go. This will prevent the in-fighting that has caused past Browns regimes to lose course.

Do all four steps, and there is the possibility for a quick turnaround in Cleveland, maybe even a winning record and/or playoff berth in 2020. The Browns’ skill position players are strong. Sure, they underachieved this year, particularly at receiver, but with a better offensive line and a scheme more fitting of Mayfield’s talents, Cleveland could score a lot of points very quickly next season.

The wake of another failed regime, where the principles involved (Dorsey and Kitchens) couldn’t change the culture, served as a reminder that the Browns’ ultimate fate hinges on the Haslams changing their ways of doing things.

And given their embarrassing winning percentage, it’s hard for Browns fans to expect that, or even remain optimistic. Considering the savage punishment they’ve been subjected to for over half a century, one can only hope it comes to fruition.


https://www.yahoo.com/sports/4-ways-brow...-015817640.html

They bought the team for 1 billion roughly. Its now worth 2billion according to forbes.

If that's running the team to the ground, I would hate to work for you.

I have faith in the Haslams.

Their legacy isn't constant change and firing good people for the sake of firing people. Their legacy is hiring the wrong people. And perhaps not just wrong people, but forcing front office and head coach marriages that are destined to fail.

They want to win, not make money. Otherwise they would have stayed the course with one of the 5 or so head coaches in the past 8 years for the sake of saving money.

One day they'll get it right and we'll be rewarded.

See, I think this is just a post of a frustrated fan. I don't believe anything within this post is true.

JH should listen to Depo more, not less...

Why would Depodesta have power over how coaches do their job?

That makes absolutely no sense.

I hear you.

I remember the days when we'd talk about Hank Fraley, and other 'bring a lunch pale to work' kind of guys. That's Browns football to me and that's what it was to a lot of other fans as well.

OBJ just isn't it. People lost touch of things somewhere. That's a guy who got traded because NYG, one of the more respected franchises in the league, got tired of his antics. Fans laughed repeatedly at how much we ripped them off, like we got such a great steal... um no. We got a low grade, chronic headache. Someone who will wear a $200k watch during a game for no other reason than to draw attention to himself (please tell me, what other reason would there be to do this?)

He'll make flashy warmup catches, and has an active and lively Instagram account, but can't find the time to study the playbook. He couldn't get lined up correctly a lot of times, and we're talking the end of the season here.

Garrett, don't even get me started. I get that fans are going to be biased toward defending their own players but reading some of the stuff on here and on social media was a bit much.

All the other franchises increased their value like that too (some by more), because owning an NFL franchise is basically a license to print money.

Let's not pretend that the value of the franchise increased that much because the Haslams have done a good job.. lol

I do think they care, are trying to get this right, and are willing to spend the money to do so. Their decisions have been really bad, though.

1) Haslam is not an egomaniac. But Dorsey was and he was a problem.

2) If Jimmy's main concern was money he wouldn't be paying more money to people NOT to coach his team than to the people actually coaching and running it.

3) Haslam is spending A LOT of money to get this right. He's not raping anyone, he wants to win as much as anyone.

The Browns also have one of the highest salary cap figures in the league this year.

From Wikipedia ...

In reality, DePodesta played football in college and wanted to be a football coach,[14][16][17] seen in a photo wearing number 17.[18] After graduating from Harvard with a degree in economics, he became an intern for the Canadian Football League's Baltimore Stallions in 1995.[19]

If you want an answer, look to the fact that they are quick to change if they feel they've made a mistake and that they keep on trying.. They never quit.

Eventually, they will find the right people,,,

I have to agree with this. Plenty to gripe about but they seem to have no problem saying, "oops". Definate evaluation issues though.

I too believe the Haslams are working hard to get this right. They don't want to be the laughingstock of the league and I'm sure would like to be successful and win a Superbowl. If he has an ego as some say why would he want to fail? He didn't buy this team to lose and fail at it. They keep trying and this time I hope they get it right.

good point
That said due you trust jimmy and Dee to hire the right gm and coach right now

Very few.

I do. Much moreso than I would have trusted Dorsey with the HC hire.

The fact that they KEEP making the SAME mistakes tells you that THEY are the problem. Once the regime is put in place, they NEED to step away from the operation. Jimmy needs to stay in his lane which is OUT of the offices of coaches, scouts and whoever else. Until he does this, change will be constant in Berea. SMH