The Here We Go Yet Again "New and Improved" Browns Coaching Search Thread

Jimmy Haslam just interrupted his interview with Mike McCarthy (so you can probably count him out) to give a press conference where he stressed: (1) this isn't easy, (2) they want a "strong" coach, (3) non-football folks will be making the decision on the hire, (4) the coach will have a say in hiring the GM, and (5) Urban Meyer isn't on the radar "at this time".

Jimmy stressed the strong leadership.

The only candidates with a proven track record there are McCarthy, who's interview they interrupted, and Urban Meyer, who he called out in the press conference as not an option.

 

When asked about Urban at the presser, Haslem said they are just focused on coaches with NFL experience.

 

When asked about Urban at the presser, Haslem said they are just focused on coaches with NFL experience.

 

Sorry, TD but we've already seen what happens when a Head Coach is hired to be the best scenario for Baker Mayfield. This time they need to hire the Head Coach that's the best scenario for the Cleveland Browns. Baker's just gonna have to step up, re-commit himself and work harder than ever to improve his craft. He may have no choice now that his link to the HC and GM has disappeared.

Not really enthralled with Josh McDaniels either. We've already seen what he can do as a Head Coach. Truth be known, with Bill Belichick as the GM/HC and Tom Brady under Center, Hue Jackson would be successful as OC for the Patriots.

 

Article from Cleveland.com:

https://www.cleveland.com/sports/20...-latest-plan-does-not-inspire-confidence.html


Looks like a cluster phuque yet again. Apparently Haslam wants DiPodesta, the new HC, and the new GM all independently reporting to him ala the Hue Jackson/Sashi debacle scheme and Farmer/Pettine before that.

Why does this hayseed hilljack of an NFL owner not see the problem with doing this form of power structure yet again? It's just another powder keg waiting to blow when they all disagree and one of them holds the owner's ear a bit more than the others.


See you all in another two years when I start the.........

The Once Again Here We Go Yet Again "Even Newer and Improved" Browns Coaching/GM Search Thread



Maybe I'll just start rooting for the Lions. They're just an NFC version of the Browns without all the shenanigans from the front office and ownership.

 

This owner is such an idiot. I heard that he's looking to interview a candidate under 5' tall so that he can satisfy the Mickey Rooney Rule.

 

I like my plan better, but what do I know? I’m just some jackass with a website.

 

@TopDawg isn't on an island with this one... Jimmy called out in his press conference the need to help Baker "realize his full potential". And why not? They invested heavily in him and their window to best contest is on his rookie deal.

Also, it's tough to argue that the hiring of Kitchens was done as being the best scenario for Baker. The season would prove that out -- clearly regressed and set up to fail weekly. He also wasn't a strong enough hand (clearly) and Mayfield is on record saying they didn't take it seriously enough. Being the quarterback's friend doesn't make it the best scenario.

 

If you missed the presser, Haslam has said the structure will be the same as it was with Hue and Sashi -- both men as "equals" in the building and reporting directly to Haslam. The wrinkle this time is that they will hire the head coach first and that coach will have a say in the GM.

It's easy to cringe thinking back on the Sashi Wars (and that's coming from a Sashi-truther) but I have to think that actually would have worked out flawlessly had Jimmy listened to the rest of the coach search committee -- recall that Paul DePodesta, Sashi Brown, Andrew Berry, and Dee Haslam all wanted Sean McDermott... Jimmy went rogue and hired Hue Jackson. Folks are pointing to teams like San Francisco and Seattle that hired the head coach first and aligned the other hirings with that vision in mind.

So unfortunately, no luck on your scenario @Tim.

 

Haslam is too hands on, for sure, but the structure you mentioned is what we had with Dorsey and Kitchens. I honestly can understand where Jimmy's coming from. They put absolute trust in John Dorsey and it came back to haunt them. Dorsey was unwilling to move on for Freddie (it's being reported he wanted him back for another season) and when it was decided that firing him was the only way to go, Dorsey also refused to step back from being the dominant figure in the organization.

A very telling line from the presser was Haslam saying that the GM would have "final say on the 53 man roster" but the coach would have "final say on the gameday 46". It was long rumored that John Dorsey -- not Freddie Kitchens -- was in charge of the game day actives... turns out that was true. A GM that overbearing is not a help to a rookie head coach.

 

Trying not to be too much of a homer here, but recall that the Hue/Sashi and Mike/Ray were arranged marriages that were setup to fail from Day 1. Ray Farmer was ill-equipped to be a GM and was only an assistant in title under Mike Lombardi -- himself a historically bad GM. When Banner and Lombardi were abruptly shown the door, Ray Farmer was caught between a promotion to GM here or taking the job in Miami. If not for Stephen Ross calling him "Roy Farmer" in the interview, he probably disappears to South Beach. Instead, he stays on here, assuming the role about a month before the draft, defers to his rookie head coach on the first pick (Gilbert), defers to his owner on the next (Manziel) and then finally grows a backbone, declares he won't trade Brian Hoyer to the Texans for two second round picks but does add Bitonio and Kirksey in the subsequent rounds.

As previously mentioned with Hue and Sashi... Jimmy went rogue and dismissed the advice from those around him because he was impressed with Hue's interview and bought the national hype of it being a "brilliant" hire. Analytics and a football lifer with no interest in analytics paired up was always going to fail. It was less about structure and more about ideology and purpose.

If they hold to what Jimmy said yesterday and have everyone aligned, as long as they make the right hires (and it's fair to question if they're capable of that) and don't have one guy -- Jimmy -- overruling everyone else, I think they're actually taking the right approach for the modern game.

 

Mike Pettine had this team at 7-9 his rookie season, despite a god-awful quarterback, an inept general manager, and a meddling owner. He brought in Kyle Shannahan to run the offense. A seriously awful draft in 2014 and ownership's insistence on starting Manziel doomed him.

Imagine another earth in the multi-verse somewhere where Mike Pettine has a legitimate GM and they follow Banner's plan to draft Teddy Bridgewater. You hate to play what-ifs, but my guess is he's still the coach here in Cleveland and we're enjoying copious amounts of post-season success.

 

Again, it's absolutely fair to question Jimmy until the dust settles this time around, but Paul DePodesta's role is to layout the blueprint for how to do this (coaching/GM search). He's a process guy.. he's not picking players or giving gameday insights. He's trying to build a blueprint for the team to follow. He's in the last year of his deal and NFL insider Albert Breer has reported he's not confident DePodesta wants to remain in football.

If Jimmy let's the people around him do their jobs, and actually takes their advice for once, we could be setup pretty well. Recall that DePodesta's previous picks were McDermott (who ended the then longest playoff drought in the NFL for Buffalo and has them in the post-season twice in three years, despite a TE a quarterback), and Stefanski (who salvaged Kirk Cousins and is commanding a Top 5 NFL offense).

People are pointing to Stefanski still being a contender because of Paul, but I suspect he's not in play. DePodesta's recommendation came with John Dorsey -- a very strong, commanding GM -- in place.

I suspect the job will come down to either McCarthy or McDaniels, with Robert Saleh as a darkhorse. The emergency plan for Jimmy would be to coax Urban Meyer out of pseudo-retirement. Just the notion of having a stronger head coach would seem to point to a guy like McCarthy (experience) or McDaniels (organizational success and tutelage). I see Saleh as the wrench in all this as he's a fiery, high-energy guy and a defensive mind as well -- the only non-offensive guy being interviewed. Jimmy has a history of falling in love with interviews and I would think he'd be a good one. Also, seems to really like bald men, for some reason. As is typically the case in these searches, talking to the multitude of offensive coordinators and run-game coordinators on down is more a tactic of identifying potential assistants -- not head coaches -- and/or picking other NFL minds about how to structure an offense.

Low-key, this guy could be Mike Pettine's younger brother.

 

I don't think these thoughts contradict each other. Helping Baker realize his full potential doesn't necessarily mean "Hire a HC that will work best for/with Baker Mayfield".

Personally I think the best answer when asking these candidates about Baker Mayfield would be, "I plan to hire the best QB coach and offensive coordinator that have a proven record of being able to adapt to personnel." "This would help Baker reach his full potential better than getting him to fit within a system."

If I heard that answer, I would say I might have found my next HC.

I think a HC FOCUSED on a single player is a recipe for disaster.

 

It doesn't look like Urban is really on the radar, so it doesn't really matter, but I wasn't trying to imply that we should hire someone to hold Baker's hand and be his friend so he can kick back and do more commercials. Obviously Mayfield needs to step it up, regardless of who we hire as coach. I just think Urban is a "take control" kind of guy, that would keep everyone in check, and he could devise an offense that would suit Baker's talents extremely well. Urban is a winner, and I don't think you'd see all the confusion and general gameday dysfunction that we saw all year with Freddie. He does have plenty of HC experience, just not at the NFL level. Just a name for conversation that I thought would be interesting. I personally would love to see what Urban could do in the NFL.

 

A name I think we will be hearing more and more is Kevin Stephanski, OC for the Vikings. From what I've read, DiPodesta wanted to hire him last year over Freddie, and we've already lined up an interview for this week.

 

Marvin Lewis is coming in too.









Just kidding, but the Cowboys did interview him.

 

Sounds like McCarthy and Dallas are getting close to a deal....

 

Just curious if anybody has compiled a list of possibilities and can give an answer to a few questions.........

1. When we hire a new HC, whether a defensive or offensive guy, does he hire DC or OC and mainly focus on being HC?
2. Who are the candidates to take the "other" coordinator job?
3. Does the front office hire this "other" coordinator or does the new HC?
4. Finally, and I apologize it's not about the HC or his staff, who are the GM candidates who are being considered? Or is that a "new HC input required" and won't be answered until we hire a HC first?

 

McCarthy has signed with Dallas