DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Jimmy Haslam III

Lots of stuff going on right now. H&H gone. Joe Banner hired as "CEO". Alec Scheiner hired as President.

Whisenhunt, O'Brian, Horton, Marrone, and Chip Kelly interviewed for head coach. Speculation about a "GM" or Personnel Director maybe Lombardi or others mentioned in rumors.

Maybe we all forgot something in this world wind of activity. Jimmy Haslam is the owner of the Cleveland Browns. And I don't think Jimmy is going to be anything like the Lerner's.

Owners come in all different flavors. You got the Al Davis, Jerry Jones type who made all decisions. You got guys like Laurie and Snyder type guys calling major shots. You have the Rooney's quiet but very hands on. Kraft of New England strong behind the scenes but turned over football decisions to the man of his choice.

Then we all have are memories of dear Art.

So what do have now in Jimmy Haslam III?

Well he has money and a brother who is the Governor of Tennessee. "The Family" owns alot of gas stations, quickiemarts, and oil.

Joe Banner is not riding solo. Haslam is on these interviews. Banner has Haslam's ear and will be leaned on for knowledge of football structurally, financially, and legally from the rules and regulations of the league.

From what I see of Haslam though he will not be like Randy hiding in the shadows and expecting everything to work out. "Hey Mike how are things going"? "Oh, not so well". "You know, this football business is really hard I think I will sell the team."

Jimmy Haslam is going to make decisions. He is going to have the final say on the head coach hire. He is going to get opinions on our quarterback situation. He will not be Al Davis or Jerry Jones. At the same time I doubt that he will be far from Laurie and Snyder and close to the Rooney's and Kraft.

Banner as CEO has plenty of power but Haslam signs his paycheck and I do not believe from what I have seen of him foaming at the mouth in his private booth that he takes this stuff lightly.

So if Chip Kelly brings his game to Cleveland and the NFL let us not forget the Commander in Chief.

don't worry, he won't let us forget him.

Accountability to the man who pays the bills is a good thing.
There'll be no "While the cats away the mice will play." deal as with Randy.

I don't know if he ultimately leads us to the promised land but I'm betting he's 100% engaged to do so.

I'll be completely honest. Back in August and September I was stoked to have Haslam as the new owner. I thought his enthusiasm and industriousness would greatly benefit the Browns.

But now I'm not so sure. It seems like he is all about the flash. I would simply like to know his HONEST answer to this question:

Pick one of two scenarios:

1. You lose tons of money on your investment but eventually win the Super Bowl

OR

2. Substantially improve your investment and be a perennial playoff contender

Top questions and answers:

Q: Is Haslam a good owner? A: NKA
Q: Does Banner have too much power and does he know what he's doing? A: NKA
Q: Who will the next Browns HC be? A: NKA
Q: Who will the next Browns GM be? A: NKA
Q: Will the Browns be potential playoff contenders? A: NKA
Q: Will the Browns win a Superbowl under the new regime? A: NKA
Q: When it's all said and done, will it all be SSDY? A: NKA

NKA = Nobody knows anything.

We wait and see.

I'm not sure I understand the nature of your question... maybe it's because I can't fathom a scenario where you win the super bowl eventually but lose money on your investment... but I'll play along, let me ask you a question...

You invest a really big chunk of your own money in GM would you rather...

1. lose money because all of their cars are duds but have Chevy make one really nice flashy car that is the hot thing to own for a couple years...

or

2. See your investment grow because GM produces a high quality line of cars consistently...

Haslam doesn't care about the team and is just running the Browns for the money in his pocket. Don't give in to all of the lies and the show he has put on the past few months, he's an evil trickster and will manipulate Cleveland to make us lose more than ever before!

I read it on Dawgtalkers, it must be true.

if Randy didn't know what he was doing, did you really want him making decisions?

Lots of assumptions of what he will be like in there,,, can't say I disagree, just don't know for sure yet.

But we are about to find out.. That's a Fer Sure.,

I have to say I wonder how much of Haslam and Banners claim that they want to be so hands on and so involved in the process isn't a result of some simple marketing... It's common knowledge that the single biggest problem people had with Lerner, aside from just not being able to win, was that he was invisible, he appeared to care more for his soccer club than his football team, he never addressed the media, was never seen in the locker room after games, etc.. then enter Holmgren and he's basically the same way.. don't see him much, he's on Seattle radio more than Cleveland radio, etc...

So if you're Haslam and Banner, whats the first thing you say when you buy the team to endear yourselves to the fans? We are going to be involved. Then you get into the locker room after the game, you go sit in the dawg pound for a while, you do some interviews... You are the anti-Lerner....

Now maybe they went too far in discussing decision making, etc.. or maybe they flat out mean they want to make all of the decisions, I don't really know... but in my mind, the possibility exists that all of this talk about them being involved is in response to what Browns fans said they wanted..

And you gotta admit. If Chip was his man he went fulll throttle at him!
I like that.

and if Haslam is running the browns purely to fill his own pockets, losing is not the best way to make money

I want him to get filthy rich and build an Arizona type stadium!

I loved the games outdoors while a younger man but now...not so much!

Just think about bowl games, final fours, Super bowls etc.

you get more money due to bandwagon fans.. you only get bandwagon fans from winning..

That is a good point Turk.

We tend to make fun of bandwagon fans, but that is mostly driven by the fact the Browns don't have many. We get some player groupies every now and then, but not bandwagon team fans.

I look forward to the day we have tens, if not hundreds of thousands of bandwagon fans wearing Browns gear.

General reply here...

My biggest worry with Haslam is that he is a little too much of a "college booster" type for me. We all know how big of a Tennessee fan/booster he is, and I fear he wants to engender that type of mentality in all aspect of the Browns. Don't get me wrong, I love College Football (CFB), but I love the NFL more! However, I like having a clear delineation between the two and I like CFB on Saturday and NFL on Sunday. I don't want the extraneous stuff like cheerleaders, hokey theme songs, multiple uniforms, and bands to impinge on what draws me to the NFL. For instance, the notion that at every home game the need to play Hang on Sloopy before the 4th quarter is annoying. Leave the dumb dance and sing along to Saturdays, please. If I wanted to go to Buckeyes games, I'd drive to Columbus and get a ticket! As for Haslam, his infatuation with Chip Kelly when proven NFL level coaches are available to be had only compounds my fear.

I didn't necessarily have a problem with Lerner, unlike most it seems, because he always signed whatever check necessary and did what it took to TRY and make things go in the right direction. I know trying is not the same as succeeding, but the effort was there. It just appears to me that we have swung the pendulum in the exact opposite direction with an owner now who seems narcissistic with his own appearance on camera. Seems a little too Jerry Jones-ish to me. You know, another big-time college guy (Arkansas) whose unquenchable ego has kept his team mired in mediocrity for the better part of a decade.

I sincerely hope I am wrong in all of this and I want to be wrong in my heart, but I have seen zero examples that make me consider changing my opinion of Haslam. My final point is this, regarding this coaching pursuit, some were expressing dismay that Kelly didn't sign last night and were bringing up leverage as his reason in the hopes to spook the Browns into offering more money. My thing is, if Haslam is the amazing businessman that some think he is, why not take that opportunity to put some pressure on Kelly and interview some of the other BIG NAMES out there, i.e. Lovie Smith or Bruce Arians, and show Kelly there are other fish in the sea? Seems to me there will be roughly a 24 hour window between last nights round of interviews and tonights sit down. PLenty of time to gas up the jets and fly somewhere to interview another candidate and put the onus back on Chip to make up his mind. Just a thought...

Infatuation with Chip Kelly? You mean the most sought after coach currently on the market? Yeah, Haslams an idiot.

JH3 hasn't done anything yet to put any real worry.

I was a bit surprised that he is taking this route toward the coaching search.

I really thought when he took over, after being a small part of the Steelers franchise (more importantly, having more than few conversations with the Rooney family) for the reason to eventually own an NFL franchise, that he'd take the "Steeler" route.

Which means hire a coach, but limit his power. Mike Tomlin has probably earned a little say in Pittsburgh, but he's the coach and nothing more. They have people in place running the organization. I believe he's 4-3 coordinator, no?

I really thought we'd be going after a coordinator, and just letting him worry about coaching and just coaching.

Maybe he went that route, but after doing research, realized Chip Kelly could put you ahead of the curve? Who knows.

I do think Joe Banner should be a good thing for the Browns. If Jimmy Haslam is more on the side of a Jerry Jones and not a Randy Lerner, then it may be good to have a guy like that to maybe steer him in the direction of keeping things stable. That includes reaching on flashy guys in the draft, top tier free agents, and firing/cutting/trading guys based on knee jerk reactions. I believe he's already stated he will be the "bad cop" in the organization. We've all screamed for spending on free agents, but while that is something we should dabble in, less is still more.

It was a good sign that Jimmy waited until the season was over to fire people. Because these losses all year have been beyond frustrating. Maybe as frustrating as they have been since 1999. We aren't getting blown out anymore. We're hanging around most of the game and are not coming up big when big moments arise.

He stuck to his guns and made the move to fire Pat when everyone knew it was coming.

I am not surprised. I think he wants something fresh and doesn't want some NFL retread.

How many times does Norv Turner need to be brought back?

We have a young roster filled with guys not far removed from college. Bring in some excitement and a fresh approach.

We have been doing it the other way and have SUCKED since 1999. Actually, since 1964 because anything less than a championship is a failed season.

It's time to move on.

CalDawg: NKA does not aply to all of your questions, especially #2. Does Banner have too much power, YES. Does he know what he's doing, NO.

He may be by far and away the the first and biggest mistake that Haslam has made so far. He destroyed the Eagles from within, being the owners childhood friend, he was given too much oower and sunk the ship. That's why he was sent packing. He is a business man period just like Haslam and the other guy they brought in to merchandise the club to the max and make it MORE profitable. Getting to the SB is NOT the main objective of this group, $$$$ is all that really matters to them.

Just look what happened after Banner took over for Heckert in Philly, the drafts went down the tubes along with the rest of the team. He got a F and D- in his two drafts, if they bring in Lombardi it will just get worse.

Kelly will be for the glitz, certianly not for his NFL experience, he may never have even stepped into an NFL locker room as far as experience goes. We will get all the new hype, uniforms, logo's, cheer leaders, all kinds of NEW gear to buy $$$$, but the same old results.

We may even get to the playoffs, but it won't be because we are that much more improved, it's because the Steelers and Ravens are in the process of re-tooling there teams. Both are really getting old and are due for a couple of bad seasons. So, we might be in the right place at the right time type of thing, not because we're that good, just lucky.

And don't think for one minute that Haslam, Banner and company didn't have this in mind when they bought the team $$$$. At least Lerner really did want to win for the city and team, it wan't strictly about the bottom line.

Just think about it, every truck stop and all of the other Haslam venues will be selling our NEW gear to the whole world and the bottom line $$$$$$. It's all still the same, especially with the new breed of owners in the NFL, it's all about the $$$$ and big ego's.

It's kinda funny, on one hand I'm a fan of what kelly has accomplished, I'm not 100% sure he's game plays in the NFL. If it doesn't play as it, I hope he can adapt it.

I'm gonna get killed for saying this (at least by everyone but you Peen) But wouldn't Tebow be the perfect QB to run his offense?

I don't know if he would be perfect, but he would be the best bridge until we did find the guy, if in fact he wasn't.

I would love to see us sign Vick and get like Jennings or Mike Wallace or both and just open it up... Would be fun to see what could happen and draft defensive.

Quote:

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I would love to see us sign Vick and get like Jennings or Mike Wallace or both and just open it up... Would be fun to see what could happen and draft defensive.

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Vick? Are you friggin serious. Vick is done, didn't you see any of his games this year? If they sign Vick, they would be idiots.

Jennings I like though, Wallace I want no part of.

I agree, Vick is old news and Wallace is bad news.

I think Alex Smith might be the best guy available for the offense.

I don't buy that you need some freak runner, throwing is still most important, but he's athletic enough.

I don't want Tebow, because having Chip Kelly around is going to be enough of a circus as is, at least for the early part.

I'm just not a big believer in him throwing the ball. It worked against the Steelers in the playoffs, but people soon forget how badly he was exposed against New England.

So we just need someone to hold down the fort till Mariota is draft eligible?