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Is there a secret recipe for turning around an NFL franchise? January 15, 2012, 1:15 AM By Bill Lubinger, The Plain Dealer CLEVELAND, Ohio -- There was a time when the Pittsburgh Steelers stunk. Perennial Pro Bowl linebacker Andy Russell remembers it well. The players would call meetings to try to figure out why. They wondered whether they suffered flawed psyches. They talked about whether they were playing hard enough. From 1964-68, the Steelers won no more than five games in a season. They won just two games twice. Then coach Chuck Noll arrived. "He's the guy," Russell said, "that changed the entire mind-set." How Noll and other NFL coaches and executives who built reputations as turnaround specialists reversed the culture of losing can provide a road map for the Browns. Names such as Marv Levy with Kansas City and Buffalo; Marty Schottenheimer with the Browns, Kansas City and San Diego; Gil Brandt with Dallas; Dan Reeves in Denver, New York and Atlanta; and Ron Wolf in Green Bay all offered ideas from their own experiences. The formula, it seems, is some combination of leadership, stability, buy-in across the board, talent (especially at quarterback) and tough love. Soon after landing the job, Noll, who played for the Browns under coach Paul Brown and prepped at Benedictine, called Russell to his office. The linebacker expected praise for making his first Pro Bowl. "As I walked into his office, he was doing some paperwork," said Russell, who retired after the 1976 season. "He pointed at me and said, 'Russell, I've been watching game films since I took the job, and I don't like the way you play. You're too aggressive, you're too impatient, you're out of control, you're trying to be the hero, and that's an unacceptable way to play. Your techniques are flawed, so I'm going to have to change the way you play.'" Noll's first speech to the team wasn't much kinder. "'I've watched the games, and I can tell you why you're losing,'" Russell recalled his new coach saying as the room went silent. "'The reason you've been losing is you're not any good. You can't run fast enough, can't jump high enough, you're not quick enough, and I'm going to have to get rid of most of you.'" Five guys in the room that day survived to be part of the Steelers' first Super Bowl victory. "And I was one of the lucky ones," Russell said. That took four years. The Steelers slipped to 1-13 in 1969, Noll's first year. Then they went 5-9 and 6-8 before finally busting through the dark cloud over Pittsburgh, going 11-3 in 1972. Browns President Mike Holmgren, as he explained when hired in late 2009, reminded the media in his postseason news conference on Jan. 5 that there is no quick fix for a franchise with just two winning seasons since returning to the NFL in 1999. The Browns and their fans have suffered through 10 seasons of double-digit losses and a steady rotation of coaches, quarterbacks and executives. The 2011 Browns won one fewer game than the season before, leaving fans and some in the media questioning the progress and whether the latest approach is just failed business as usual. "The difference is we're going to stay the course. ... We know what we have to fix, but we're not going to blow it up and start over," Holmgren said. "That's the difference." Stability The Browns are on their sixth head coach in 13 years. Holmgren has made it clear his hand-picked first-year coach, Pat Shurmur, isn't going anywhere. While such support may not sit well with some frustrated fans, it sends an important message. As a player, retired Super Bowl coach Dan Reeves landed in a culture of losing as a rookie halfback with the Dallas Cowboys in 1965. Up to that point, the Cowboys had losing seasons in all five years of their existence. After the previous 5-8-1 season, owner Clint Murchison called a news conference, presumably to fire Tom Landry, who had been the team's head coach since Day One. Instead, the owner rewarded Landry with a 10-year contract. "That makes everybody know that this is the man, he's the boss, the owner has confidence in him," Reeves said. "You know he's going to be there, and you're going to have to answer to him." But after a 2-0 start in 1965, Dallas lost five straight. Landry, whose public persona was stoic and cold, broke down in the locker room after the game and accepted blame. "He was saying, 'I apparently let you down because we have better players than that,'" Reeves said. The players saw first-hand how much winning -- and playing to their potential -- meant to their coach. Dallas won five of its last seven games to finish .500, then won 10 games and the division the next year to jump-start the franchise on a two-decade run of dominance through the late 1980s. Murchison's controversial support for Landry had paid off. "Sometimes there's too quick an action taken," said Levy, who flipped losing teams into winners in Kansas City and Buffalo in the '70s and '80s. "We've got to make changes, we've got to make changes, we've got to make changes." Leadership A struggling sports franchise, like any floundering business, "takes a full-court press" to change corporate culture, said business consultant Jim Bennett, formerly with McKinsey & Co. "Without that strong core of leaders and without a noble purpose, I think it's hard." In Dallas, Reeves said, Landry set realistic goals and specific methods in each area to accomplish them. So it wasn't the coach telling his team, "We're going from 6-10 to the Super Bowl," it was, "Maybe we can get to 9-7 and sneak into the playoffs." Even during Noll's inaugural 1-13 season, he'd tell the players he wasn't interested in adding gimmicks, trick plays and overly aggressive defenses just to win a few more games. His approach was to teach the players he expected to stay with the team how to play, starting with basic fundamentals such as lining up. But they were head coaches. How important is an owner in setting culture? "Huge," Reeves said. "It starts at the top with ownership." Publicity-shy Browns owner Randy Lerner gets criticized for what fans and some in the media perceive as being uninvolved and disinterested. In a recent interview, Levy said he didn't even know who the Browns owner was. Holmgren told the media he met with Lerner the day before the wrap-up news conference. "He cares deeply about what happens here," Holmgren said. "He is committed to helping us in any way he can as an owner to get this done." Those who have been part of successful NFL turnarounds say an owner's style doesn't have to fit one extreme or another to set a culture of winning. The Steelers, even when they were bad, were run like a family business under the late Art Rooney. He attended practice, even in sleet, snow and rain. He'd visit the locker room, offering players pats on the back and expressing concern about their injuries. When his son, Dan, became team president, he was smart enough to hire Noll, who hadn't been a head coach but was a proven NFL assistant. The good owners, Levy said, know and study the game, ask provocative questions and may participate in meetings and the draft but don't dictate. But an owner doesn't have to be visible or vocal to be effective. "I worked in Green Bay, and we didn't have an owner," said former Packers General Manager Ron Wolf. The Packers, run by a team president and a board of directors as the only publicly owned NFL team, had just five winning seasons in 24 years from 1968 to 1991 when Wolf arrived. The losing, woe-is-me attitude was so thick, he said, "you couldn't cut it with a set of shears. ... They didn't know how to win." He said they began to hack through the thicket by emphasizing Green Bay's winning tradition, reminding players Lambeau Field was the jewel of the NFL and by bringing in stars from the Vince Lombardi era who won five NFL titles in seven years. "It changed the mind-set [to one of], 'Yes, you can be successful here,'" he said. "I played a lot on that." Reeves said the owner must hire the right people and give them a chance to get the job done. "I'm old school, but [owners] need to be there. They need to know what's going on, but they don't need to be out front. The main thing is you've got to be on the same page with the people you've hired." Talent -- especially at quarterback "That's the other thing," Russell said. "Coaches can't do it by themselves. They have to have the talent." The Steelers, being so awful, had relatively high draft positions each year, but too often swung and missed. But Noll's drafting was brilliant, especially his selection of defensive tackle "Mean" Joe Greene, who absolutely hated losing -- an attitude that spilled over. "Maybe some of us older guys started accepting the losses, thinking, 'Well, that's just us, we're not that good,'" Russell said. "But Joe Greene went crazy." Noll and his personnel staff valued a player's intelligence, not just size, speed and strength. Levy and his general manager, Bill Polian, architect of the Buffalo turnaround, sought players with solid character. "Ability without character will lose," Levy said. "When things go wrong, and they will, the guy without character is going to quit or blame others or be more concerned with himself than the team or be disruptive with a drug bust or something like that." Kansas City had gone 17-39 in the previous four seasons when Levy took over as coach in 1978. The Chiefs went 4-12 his first year, then 7-9, 8-8 and 9-7. At Buffalo, Levy took over after back-to-back 2-14 seasons and a poor start in 1986. The Bills went 7-8 his first full year there, then 12-4 in 1988 as the franchise was built around quarterback Jim Kelly, running back Thurman Thomas and wide receiver Andre Reed -- all building-block draft choices. In Green Bay, Wolf hired Holmgren and pushed trading a first-round draft choice for quarterback Brett Favre, a young, unproven backup in Atlanta whom the GM was sold on coming out of college. "I got lucky," Wolf said. As Holmgren reminded the Cleveland media Jan. 5, it took his Green Bay Packers five years to reach the Super Bowl after finding its quarterback in the first year. In Seattle, it took his team three years to find a quarterback and seven to reach football's Holy Grail. Gil Brandt, vice president of player personnel for Dallas from 1960 to 1989, recalled how Green Bay beat Arizona on the last day of the season to improve to 4-12. That gave the 3-13 Cowboys the worst record and the chance to take quarterback Troy Aikman with the first pick in the 1989 draft. Then new head coach Jimmy Johnson helped orchestrate the trade of running back Herschel Walker for five players and six draft choices. "We had bottomed out," he said, "so getting the quarterback was kind of the coup de grace." Brandt said the Browns under Holmgren have done a good job evaluating talent and setting a foundation with such players as Phil Taylor, Jabaal Sheard, Joe Haden and T.J. Ward. "You have to turn the team over and play with younger guys," he said, "and I think that's what they're doing." Buy-in Former coaches and team executives say a winning culture is built on being prepared, organized and making everyone -- from players, coaches and the executive team to the support staff -- feel like an important part of the team. "That's the only way you can get things turned around," Reeves said. The other important ingredient, Levy said, is that ego steps aside. "Bill's first words to me were, 'It's amazing what we can accomplish if no one cares who gets the credit," Levy said of Polian. "'Let's get to work.'" Former Browns coach Marty Schottenheimer directed turnarounds in Cleveland, Kansas City and San Diego. The Chiefs had one winning season in seven years, and back-to-back 4-11 seasons, when he took over. Schottenheimer's team went 8-7-1 the first year, and he led them to six double-digit winning seasons in eight years. He took the Chargers from no winning seasons in six years to a record of 8-8 the first year, 4-12 the second, and then 12-4, 9-7 and 14-2. "There can be progress without winning, absolutely," he said. "But at some point in time, there's a moment of decision where: 'Hey, this isn't going to go on forever. We've got to show some positive results or that negative reaction will result in failure.'" ............................................................................................................. Turning around a franchise What does it take to reverse a team’s losing culture? Take some time to let your philosophy develop; you don’t just come in and turn around a 2-14 team. Understand that the strength of your team relies on personnel sources from everywhere, not just the first round of the draft. (Seven-time Pro Bowl wide receiver) Andre Reed was a fourth-rounder. Pick people with high character. — Marv Levy, Hall of Fame coach in Kansas City and Buffalo. You have to have the commitment to the philosophy that you’re going to adopt. You have to have a competent person running the football end of your operation. And the most important thing is you have to have a quarterback. — Ron Wolf, retired Green Bay general manager. You have to have people who are open to listening and understanding what you’re trying to achieve and place value in that. You have to replace individuals that don’t buy in — usually identified by kind of an attitude of disinterest and an unwillingness to take the extra steps it takes to get there. You have to have good people, because there’s always going to be adversity. — Marty Schottenheimer Back from the brink From 1968-91, Green Bay was hardly “Titletown USA,” with just four winning seasons in 24 years. Since 1992, when General Manager Ron Wolf hired head coach Mike Holmgren and pushed a trade for untested quarterback Brett Favre, the Packers have had 16 winning seasons and won two of three Super Bowls in which they’ve appeared. Buffalo had slogged through just five winning seasons in 20 years when Bill Polian became general manager and hired Marv Levy as coach for the second half of the 1986 season. By the time Levy was through in 1997, the Bills had eight winning seasons in their next 11, with at least 10 wins seven times and four straight Super Bowls, losing each time. New England was up and down for years when coach Bill Parcells took over in 1993 and set a positive course. But the Patriots really kicked it in when Bill Belichick was named coach in 2000. After going 5-11 that first year, his teams haven’t come close to a losing season since and have gone 3-1 in Super Bowls. — Bill Lubinger web page
FOOTBALL IS NOT BASEBALL
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damn Mac,, you are fast man...LOL
Beat me by a few moments.
Anyway, as mine will be deleted either by me or a mod, I thought I'd post my thoughts here.
guess if there is a lesson here, it's that patience is the key to making a loser into a winner, but only after you find the right leaders in the FO and Coaching staff.
I suppose the other lesson to be learned is, what you see today may not be what Holmgren envisions, but what he can get done so far. But his problem is one of PR.
For him to openly say,, "McCoy isn't the guy" would be the same as throwing the young man under a bus.
But that doesn't mean that he believes that McCoy is the man either.
Look at Noll for instance, the whole Hanratty vs Bradshaw thing.
As has always been the case, cream rises to the top.
So, that kinda takes us back to patience doesn't it.
#GMSTRONG
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Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe."
Damanshot
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Good article. Nothing earth shattering though.
I noticed the article focuses on teams who stuck with their staff and plan who went on to great things.
There have been lots of teams that sucked, got a new coach and plan, stuck with them 4-5 years, and still sucked.
The key is the players. None of those coaches or teams would have been in this article if they hadn't gotten players like Greene, Staubach, Lilly, Lambert, Favre, White, etc., etc.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn. GM Strong ![[Linked Image]](http://www.dawgtalkers.net/uploads/small-gator-chomp.gif)
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Question...Is there a secret recipe for turning around an NFL franchise?
The answer in Cleveland is something that has been lacking since the franchise returned in 99...PATIENCE
The fans have shown little patience when it comes to the Browns. Today, fans are more vocal than ever, more critical than every, mainly due to the fact they have a platform..the internet and talk radio/TV.
The media, especially the local media have had little patience with the Browns and have been very vocal with their criticism of players, coaches, front office and ownership.
But, the impatience of the fans and media should have absolutely no impact on the Browns franchise when it comes to building the Browns into a winner again.
When it comes to "patience", the only area where patience really matters is within the Browns organization. Rand Lerner, Holmgren, Heckert, the coaches and the players..everyone connected to the franchise, must "tune out the impatience" shown by their fans and the local and national media.
The secret recipe is PATIENCE...
Those building this franchise must tune out the impatient fans and media...and continue to build the Browns as they see fit.
FOOTBALL IS NOT BASEBALL
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Sorry, patience isn't the recipe. It's something one must endure and practice.
Getting players is the recipe.
And I really don't understand all this talk of patience?? It's not like people are calling for big change in the FO.
Other than a few crackpots, I don't think anybody really expects Shurmer to be here less than another two seasons unless he does something really stupid, and with some marginal improvements, he is probably safe for another 3 seasons.
We just need a solid draft, keep the guys we want and sign any we want who make it to free agency.
We do that, we'll improve next year.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn. GM Strong
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You wanna know what's really sad... the fact that after the off season debacle that was the NFL, after enduring disfunctional FO after disfunctional FO, enduring incompetent drafting for all those years...
And what are we talking about.. a front office that's been in place for 2 seasons, a Head Coach that's been in place for ONE year.. and we have some with the thought that the HC should be fired, the QB needs replaced, and we should start over AGAIN.
That's what's sad......
Patience IS important for the fans,, and managing expectations is important for the team
And yeah, getting the right players in place.... Ultimate importance....
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.”
Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe."
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I can be patient with H&H because they are philosophically coherent.
I'm not patient with people who frankly don't seem to know what they're doing. No coherent plan, and some FOs didn't even have GM and HC on the same page. You don't stick with people who draft Gerard Warren or usurp their GMs.
Palmer wasn't a good fit. Butch Davis had an emotional breakdown and too much power. Romeo wasn't on the same page as Savage (who was kind of crazy). Mangini had a puppet GM and wasn't well liked by players.
H&H have a cleary stated philosophy and decades of experience with some success. I could really care less who is HC, because I know if they replace Shurmur at any point, his replacement will be from the same philosophical branch. Coherence earns patience.
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Patience isn't important for the fans...they don't make any of the decisions.
I will say I do want to see Colt replaced.
It takes time to build a team. It doesn't take all that much time to see if a player has it or not.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn. GM Strong
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Watching Belichek and Brady giving each other a lil love at the end of the game just sticks in my mind...They have so much respect for each other...
It seems to me when the QB and HC have a close bond or respect for each other..they seem to be successful ...
I haven't seen that in Cleveland...
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Quote:
Patience isn't important for the fans...they don't make any of the decisions.
I will say I do want to see Colt replaced.
It takes time to build a team. It doesn't take all that much time to see if a player has it or not.
Oh Bull, Patience is absolutly important for the fans to exercise..
As for McCoy,, you may be right, we'll see..
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.”
Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe."
Damanshot
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Patience by the fans is only important if you have a FO that listens to what they say.
Am I the only one that pronounces hyperbole "Hyper-bowl" instead of "hy-per-bo-le"?
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Quote:
Patience by the fans is only important if you have a FO that listens to what they say.
Yeah,, you are right, we know so much more than the FO..sure.... 
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.”
Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe."
Damanshot
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Quote:
Quote:
Patience by the fans is only important if you have a FO that listens to what they say.
Yeah,, you are right, we know so much more than the FO..sure....
I think you missed my point.
If the FO has a plan, and is executing it, Then it doesn't matter what the fans are screaming or saying, you continue your plan...
Am I the only one that pronounces hyperbole "Hyper-bowl" instead of "hy-per-bo-le"?
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Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Patience by the fans is only important if you have a FO that listens to what they say.
Yeah,, you are right, we know so much more than the FO..sure....
I think you missed my point.
If the FO has a plan, and is executing it, Then it doesn't matter what the fans are screaming or saying, you continue your plan...
Well, if that's what you meant,, OK,, I agree. but that's not what you wrote..
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.”
Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe."
Damanshot
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What?
Patnience by fans only matters if the FO listens to them..
The FO SHOULDN'T BE LISTENING TO THEM.... That's why they are the FO...
Am I the only one that pronounces hyperbole "Hyper-bowl" instead of "hy-per-bo-le"?
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I think it's about good drafting and development. Nobody hits on all their picks, but good teams are able to hit on most of the high ones, and are able to find guys who they pick up in later rounds or sometimes undrafted...
You could go into coaching, which shows with San Francisco and Jim Harbaugh.
With free agency, pulling off good solid signs but not blowing a ton of money. And also, making decisions on retaining your own free agents, or letting them walk because of the money they demand. Sometimes the system makes the player better than they are.
To me though, the development is the biggest thing. You look at all the good teams, they all have really good players that came out of nowhere. I don't think you can just do it alone with first and second round picks. If I could wish one thing better for the Browns, it'd be development.
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Crubbs UDFA
Rubin 6th Round
Besides those two, have we had any other late round picks really do ANYTHING?
Am I the only one that pronounces hyperbole "Hyper-bowl" instead of "hy-per-bo-le"?
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Quote:
Crubbs UDFA
Rubin 6th Round
Besides those two, have we had any other late round picks really do ANYTHING?
If you look at our 4, 5, 6, and 7th picks from last year, all of them played significant snaps on the field. Not saying these guys are locks for the pro bowl, but it's nice to see. Gives you hope that the front office is doing their homework.
The Rubin pick still might be our best pick since 1999, when you figure in when he was taken and how good he is. He's a pro-bowl level d-tackle.
You're right though, nobody else has ever stuck out. Jerome Harrison had his moments, and I don't count Pont because he's a long snapper. Aaron Shea was a 4th and not a bad player.
I mean if you go back and look, it's just embarassing. http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/cle/draft.htm
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Good find mac. Great article with a lot of good talking points. But the Rats just won and I don't feel like talking much. Later...
Peen
"There have been lots of teams that sucked, got a new coach and plan, stuck with them 4-5 years, and still sucked."
That's why I posted "The case for the current regime" a couple weeks ago outlining the difference in this regime vs. all those who preceded it since our return in 1999. Each of those regimes were flawed and therefore doomed from the start. Mostly from not being on the same page but also for not having a real solid philosophy and sticking with it.
I believe this regime has the the right philosophy and with their pledge to stick with it I see the possibility it working out.
#gmstrong
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Quote:
Is there a secret recipe for turning around an NFL franchise?
Have a philosophy that has had proven success as well as current success.
Surround the team with high character people at all levels
Stress the value of team over the individual
Go get players with dynamic athleticism that will cause matchup problems.
Build from the LOS out.
Get a QB
Done! That was easy.
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Nice post. Quote:
You have to have the commitment to the philosophy that you’re going to adopt.
You have to have a competent person running the football end of your operation.
And the most important thing is you have to have a quarterback.
— Ron Wolf, retired Green Bay general manager.
Smart man, this Ron Wolf guy is.
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Quote:
Nice post.
Quote:
You have to have the commitment to the philosophy that you’re going to adopt.
You have to have a competent person running the football end of your operation.
And the most important thing is you have to have a quarterback.
— Ron Wolf, retired Green Bay general manager.
Smart man, this Ron Wolf guy is.
What does he know about QBs ... or building winning teams? 
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
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We should hire him in some sort of advisory role!
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and then we could not use his information!
wait...did we do that before?
"It has to start somewhere
It has to start somehow
What better place than here?
What better time than now?"
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Quote:
What?
Patnience by fans only matters if the FO listens to them..
The FO SHOULDN'T BE LISTENING TO THEM.... That's why they are the FO...
Dude, you said it, I didn't.. YOU SAID that patience only matters if the FO listens to the fans.. I didn't
I won't' ever agree with that..
but then you changed it to mean something else..
the change is what I agreed with....
Now, PUT THE WHISKEY DOWN
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.”
Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe."
Damanshot
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Seemed pretty clear to me what he meant by his statement...
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Quote:
Seemed pretty clear to me what he meant by his statement...
Me too, and what I was talking about in the first place.
Patience by the fans doesn't mean anything.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn. GM Strong
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Quote:
Is there a secret recipe for turning around an NFL franchise?
January 15, 2012, 1:15 AM
By Bill Lubinger, The Plain Dealer
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- There was a time when the Pittsburgh Steelers stunk.
Perennial Pro Bowl linebacker Andy Russell remembers it well. The players would call meetings to try to figure out why. They wondered whether they suffered flawed psyches. They talked about whether they were playing hard enough.
From 1964-68, the Steelers won no more than five games in a season. They won just two games twice.
Then coach Chuck Noll arrived.
"He's the guy," Russell said, "that changed the entire mind-set."
How Noll and other NFL coaches and executives who built reputations as turnaround specialists reversed the culture of losing can provide a road map for the Browns. Names such as Marv Levy with Kansas City and Buffalo; Marty Schottenheimer with the Browns, Kansas City and San Diego; Gil Brandt with Dallas; Dan Reeves in Denver, New York and Atlanta; and Ron Wolf in Green Bay all offered ideas from their own experiences.
The formula, it seems, is some combination of leadership, stability, buy-in across the board, talent (especially at quarterback) and tough love.
Soon after landing the job, Noll, who played for the Browns under coach Paul Brown and prepped at Benedictine, called Russell to his office. The linebacker expected praise for making his first Pro Bowl.
"As I walked into his office, he was doing some paperwork," said Russell, who retired after the 1976 season. "He pointed at me and said, 'Russell, I've been watching game films since I took the job, and I don't like the way you play. You're too aggressive, you're too impatient, you're out of control, you're trying to be the hero, and that's an unacceptable way to play. Your techniques are flawed, so I'm going to have to change the way you play.'"
Noll's first speech to the team wasn't much kinder.
"'I've watched the games, and I can tell you why you're losing,'" Russell recalled his new coach saying as the room went silent. "'The reason you've been losing is you're not any good. You can't run fast enough, can't jump high enough, you're not quick enough, and I'm going to have to get rid of most of you.'"
Five guys in the room that day survived to be part of the Steelers' first Super Bowl victory.
"And I was one of the lucky ones," Russell said.
That took four years. The Steelers slipped to 1-13 in 1969, Noll's first year. Then they went 5-9 and 6-8 before finally busting through the dark cloud over Pittsburgh, going 11-3 in 1972.
Browns President Mike Holmgren, as he explained when hired in late 2009, reminded the media in his postseason news conference on Jan. 5 that there is no quick fix for a franchise with just two winning seasons since returning to the NFL in 1999. The Browns and their fans have suffered through 10 seasons of double-digit losses and a steady rotation of coaches, quarterbacks and executives.
The 2011 Browns won one fewer game than the season before, leaving fans and some in the media questioning the progress and whether the latest approach is just failed business as usual.
"The difference is we're going to stay the course. ... We know what we have to fix, but we're not going to blow it up and start over," Holmgren said. "That's the difference."
Stability
The Browns are on their sixth head coach in 13 years. Holmgren has made it clear his hand-picked first-year coach, Pat Shurmur, isn't going anywhere. While such support may not sit well with some frustrated fans, it sends an important message.
As a player, retired Super Bowl coach Dan Reeves landed in a culture of losing as a rookie halfback with the Dallas Cowboys in 1965. Up to that point, the Cowboys had losing seasons in all five years of their existence. After the previous 5-8-1 season, owner Clint Murchison called a news conference, presumably to fire Tom Landry, who had been the team's head coach since Day One. Instead, the owner rewarded Landry with a 10-year contract.
"That makes everybody know that this is the man, he's the boss, the owner has confidence in him," Reeves said. "You know he's going to be there, and you're going to have to answer to him."
But after a 2-0 start in 1965, Dallas lost five straight. Landry, whose public persona was stoic and cold, broke down in the locker room after the game and accepted blame.
"He was saying, 'I apparently let you down because we have better players than that,'" Reeves said.
The players saw first-hand how much winning -- and playing to their potential -- meant to their coach. Dallas won five of its last seven games to finish .500, then won 10 games and the division the next year to jump-start the franchise on a two-decade run of dominance through the late 1980s.
Murchison's controversial support for Landry had paid off.
"Sometimes there's too quick an action taken," said Levy, who flipped losing teams into winners in Kansas City and Buffalo in the '70s and '80s. "We've got to make changes, we've got to make changes, we've got to make changes."
Leadership
A struggling sports franchise, like any floundering business, "takes a full-court press" to change corporate culture, said business consultant Jim Bennett, formerly with McKinsey & Co. "Without that strong core of leaders and without a noble purpose, I think it's hard."
In Dallas, Reeves said, Landry set realistic goals and specific methods in each area to accomplish them. So it wasn't the coach telling his team, "We're going from 6-10 to the Super Bowl," it was, "Maybe we can get to 9-7 and sneak into the playoffs."
Even during Noll's inaugural 1-13 season, he'd tell the players he wasn't interested in adding gimmicks, trick plays and overly aggressive defenses just to win a few more games. His approach was to teach the players he expected to stay with the team how to play, starting with basic fundamentals such as lining up.
But they were head coaches. How important is an owner in setting culture?
"Huge," Reeves said. "It starts at the top with ownership."
Publicity-shy Browns owner Randy Lerner gets criticized for what fans and some in the media perceive as being uninvolved and disinterested. In a recent interview, Levy said he didn't even know who the Browns owner was.
Holmgren told the media he met with Lerner the day before the wrap-up news conference.
"He cares deeply about what happens here," Holmgren said. "He is committed to helping us in any way he can as an owner to get this done."
Those who have been part of successful NFL turnarounds say an owner's style doesn't have to fit one extreme or another to set a culture of winning.
The Steelers, even when they were bad, were run like a family business under the late Art Rooney. He attended practice, even in sleet, snow and rain. He'd visit the locker room, offering players pats on the back and expressing concern about their injuries. When his son, Dan, became team president, he was smart enough to hire Noll, who hadn't been a head coach but was a proven NFL assistant.
The good owners, Levy said, know and study the game, ask provocative questions and may participate in meetings and the draft but don't dictate.
But an owner doesn't have to be visible or vocal to be effective.
"I worked in Green Bay, and we didn't have an owner," said former Packers General Manager Ron Wolf.
The Packers, run by a team president and a board of directors as the only publicly owned NFL team, had just five winning seasons in 24 years from 1968 to 1991 when Wolf arrived. The losing, woe-is-me attitude was so thick, he said, "you couldn't cut it with a set of shears. ... They didn't know how to win."
He said they began to hack through the thicket by emphasizing Green Bay's winning tradition, reminding players Lambeau Field was the jewel of the NFL and by bringing in stars from the Vince Lombardi era who won five NFL titles in seven years.
"It changed the mind-set [to one of], 'Yes, you can be successful here,'" he said. "I played a lot on that."
Reeves said the owner must hire the right people and give them a chance to get the job done.
"I'm old school, but [owners] need to be there. They need to know what's going on, but they don't need to be out front. The main thing is you've got to be on the same page with the people you've hired."
Talent -- especially at quarterback
"That's the other thing," Russell said. "Coaches can't do it by themselves. They have to have the talent."
The Steelers, being so awful, had relatively high draft positions each year, but too often swung and missed. But Noll's drafting was brilliant, especially his selection of defensive tackle "Mean" Joe Greene, who absolutely hated losing -- an attitude that spilled over.
"Maybe some of us older guys started accepting the losses, thinking, 'Well, that's just us, we're not that good,'" Russell said. "But Joe Greene went crazy."
Noll and his personnel staff valued a player's intelligence, not just size, speed and strength. Levy and his general manager, Bill Polian, architect of the Buffalo turnaround, sought players with solid character.
"Ability without character will lose," Levy said. "When things go wrong, and they will, the guy without character is going to quit or blame others or be more concerned with himself than the team or be disruptive with a drug bust or something like that."
Kansas City had gone 17-39 in the previous four seasons when Levy took over as coach in 1978. The Chiefs went 4-12 his first year, then 7-9, 8-8 and 9-7. At Buffalo, Levy took over after back-to-back 2-14 seasons and a poor start in 1986. The Bills went 7-8 his first full year there, then 12-4 in 1988 as the franchise was built around quarterback Jim Kelly, running back Thurman Thomas and wide receiver Andre Reed -- all building-block draft choices.
In Green Bay, Wolf hired Holmgren and pushed trading a first-round draft choice for quarterback Brett Favre, a young, unproven backup in Atlanta whom the GM was sold on coming out of college.
"I got lucky," Wolf said.
As Holmgren reminded the Cleveland media Jan. 5, it took his Green Bay Packers five years to reach the Super Bowl after finding its quarterback in the first year. In Seattle, it took his team three years to find a quarterback and seven to reach football's Holy Grail.
Gil Brandt, vice president of player personnel for Dallas from 1960 to 1989, recalled how Green Bay beat Arizona on the last day of the season to improve to 4-12. That gave the 3-13 Cowboys the worst record and the chance to take quarterback Troy Aikman with the first pick in the 1989 draft. Then new head coach Jimmy Johnson helped orchestrate the trade of running back Herschel Walker for five players and six draft choices.
"We had bottomed out," he said, "so getting the quarterback was kind of the coup de grace."
Brandt said the Browns under Holmgren have done a good job evaluating talent and setting a foundation with such players as Phil Taylor, Jabaal Sheard, Joe Haden and T.J. Ward.
"You have to turn the team over and play with younger guys," he said, "and I think that's what they're doing."
Buy-in
Former coaches and team executives say a winning culture is built on being prepared, organized and making everyone -- from players, coaches and the executive team to the support staff -- feel like an important part of the team.
"That's the only way you can get things turned around," Reeves said.
The other important ingredient, Levy said, is that ego steps aside.
"Bill's first words to me were, 'It's amazing what we can accomplish if no one cares who gets the credit," Levy said of Polian. "'Let's get to work.'"
Former Browns coach Marty Schottenheimer directed turnarounds in Cleveland, Kansas City and San Diego. The Chiefs had one winning season in seven years, and back-to-back 4-11 seasons, when he took over. Schottenheimer's team went 8-7-1 the first year, and he led them to six double-digit winning seasons in eight years.
He took the Chargers from no winning seasons in six years to a record of 8-8 the first year, 4-12 the second, and then 12-4, 9-7 and 14-2.
"There can be progress without winning, absolutely," he said. "But at some point in time, there's a moment of decision where: 'Hey, this isn't going to go on forever. We've got to show some positive results or that negative reaction will result in failure.'"
.............................................................................................................
Turning around a franchise
What does it take to reverse a team’s losing culture?
Take some time to let your philosophy develop; you don’t just come in and turn around a 2-14 team.
Understand that the strength of your team relies on personnel sources from everywhere, not just the first round of the draft. (Seven-time Pro Bowl wide receiver) Andre Reed was a fourth-rounder.
Pick people with high character.
— Marv Levy, Hall of Fame coach in Kansas City and Buffalo.
You have to have the commitment to the philosophy that you’re going to adopt.
You have to have a competent person running the football end of your operation.
And the most important thing is you have to have a quarterback.
— Ron Wolf, retired Green Bay general manager.
You have to have people who are open to listening and understanding what you’re trying to achieve and place value in that.
You have to replace individuals that don’t buy in — usually identified by kind of an attitude of disinterest and an unwillingness to take the extra steps it takes to get there.
You have to have good people, because there’s always going to be adversity.
— Marty Schottenheimer
Back from the brink
From 1968-91, Green Bay was hardly “Titletown USA,” with just four winning seasons in 24 years. Since 1992, when General Manager Ron Wolf hired head coach Mike Holmgren and pushed a trade for untested quarterback Brett Favre, the Packers have had 16 winning seasons and won two of three Super Bowls in which they’ve appeared.
Buffalo had slogged through just five winning seasons in 20 years when Bill Polian became general manager and hired Marv Levy as coach for the second half of the 1986 season. By the time Levy was through in 1997, the Bills had eight winning seasons in their next 11, with at least 10 wins seven times and four straight Super Bowls, losing each time.
New England was up and down for years when coach Bill Parcells took over in 1993 and set a positive course. But the Patriots really kicked it in when Bill Belichick was named coach in 2000. After going 5-11 that first year, his teams haven’t come close to a losing season since and have gone 3-1 in Super Bowls.
— Bill Lubinger
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ask randy lerner what to do and do the opposite.
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Only one real secret to building a winner. Dont be stupid. I think if you look back at what this team has done since Touchdown Tommy, it is just an endless supply of stupid freaking moves.
Instead of building around Bernie, we draft his replacement.
Instead of taking advantage of the Saints in 99, we draft a QB and supply him with zero talent.
Instead of trading either or both Couch and Holcomb, we did nothing but kill both their stock and all we had to show for it was a split locker.
William Green with his drug issues
Drafting a lazy ass with the nickname big money.
Not trading DA when the Boys were begging for him.
How about drafting and trading players for an attacking scheme and playing a zone based 3-4.
Signing Chud to a contract making HC money and then we fire him along with Romeo.
Stopping all interviews and Hiring Mangini and KoKo puffs.
Trading out of #5 for a center and area league talent.
Trading up for RB that had one healthy year since pee wee league.
Signing Jake Delhomme to a 7 mil a year contract.
Hell add in keeping mangini when you wanted to run a 4-3 defense and a WCO.
I think 95% of the normal fan base saw these moves as really dumb moves at the time they were made. I mean it isn't even hindsight, it was just really stupid. How about signing Jeff Faine for a power based in line blocking scheme?? trading with the Ravens so they could get Ngata over Wimbley.
I don't expect albert einstein but damn I would like better than what we have been given.
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Couldn't have said it better.
Some ineptitude on display for sure. Hopefully it's behind us now.
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If everybody had like minds, we would never learn. GM Strong
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Quote:
Seemed pretty clear to me what he meant by his statement...
Really, then you can't read,, this is his exact quote:
Quote:
Patience by the fans is only important if you have a FO that listens to what they say.
so, according to OS, if the FO listens to the fans,, then the fans can be patient?
do you really agree with that?
then he goes on to completly change the meaning of what he said.. see this:
Quote:
What?
Patnience by fans only matters if the FO listens to them..
The FO SHOULDN'T BE LISTENING TO THEM.... That's why they are the FO...
see what i mean,, do you still agree with him now? How about you Peen?
Last edited by Damanshot; 01/15/12 07:37 PM.
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.”
Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe."
Damanshot
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Quote:
Quote:
Seemed pretty clear to me what he meant by his statement...
Really, then you can't read,, this is his exact quote:
Quote:
Patience by the fans is only important if you have a FO that listens to what they say.
so, according to OS, if the FO listens to the fans,, then the fans can be patient?
do you really agree with that?
then he goes on to completly change the meaning of what he said.. see this:
Quote:
What?
Patnience by fans only matters if the FO listens to them..
The FO SHOULDN'T BE LISTENING TO THEM.... That's why they are the FO...
see what i mean,, do you still agree with him now? How about you Peen?
I like you man, and you know that, but it's blowing way over your head.
Patience by the fans doesn't mean squat unless they( the FO) allow the fans thoughts to sway their judgement.
I don't understand what else you are reading in to it???
To answer your question....Yes, I still agree. Fan patience isn't important.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn. GM Strong
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see what i mean,,
Not at all. But that's on you, not me.
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Quote:
Dude, you said it, I didn't.. YOU SAID that patience only matters if the FO listens to the fans.. I didn't
I won't' ever agree with that..
but then you changed it to mean something else..
When he said it the first time I understood it exactly as he explained it the second time. He didn't change any meaning. He just re-worded for you.
#gmstrong
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Well, since everyone seems to think I misread his first comment AND his second, I'm going to go back and reread them...
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.”
Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe."
Damanshot
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This is exactly what he said the first time: Quote:
Patience by the fans is only important if you have a FO that listens to what they say.
Now, how did I misread that. He’s saying Patience is only important if the FO listens to the fans.
I responded with this:
Quote:
Yeah,, you are right, we know so much more than the FO..sure
To which he responded:
Quote:
I think you missed my point.
If the FO has a plan, and is executing it, Then it doesn't matter what the fans are screaming or saying, you continue your plan...
And I agreed with that comment…
Then he comes back with:
Quote:
What?
Patnience by fans only matters if the FO listens to them..
The FO SHOULDN'T BE LISTENING TO THEM.... That's why they are the FO...
He contradicted himself and all you guys are following along with it..
So, heres the final question,.,
Should the FO listen to the fans? And Why?
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.”
Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe."
Damanshot
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What I think he is trying to say is having a plan for improving the team (which everyone concerned wants) is the most important thing ...... so "the fans' patience" is only an overly large concern to a front office that puts such a minor thing at the top of their agenda.
It is worded rather awkwardly, and I don't know if I improved on it at all.
Edit*
Or that the fans' patience is only important to the front office if they inappropriately place such a thing above their plan for improving the team.
Last edited by YTownBrownsFan; 01/16/12 10:59 AM.
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
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However you wish to interpret it, Patience is an important ingredient.
Building an NFL Franchise is no different than building any other company.
You have to have a plan, then you have to have the stones to stick to your plan - and have the patience and be given the time to stick with the plan through the tough times and give things time to get better.
If you bail on your plan every few years, you will NEVER, EVER, EVER see anything even remotely approaching meaningful and lasting success.
Browns is the Browns
... there goes Joe Thomas, the best there ever was in this game.
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