The Cleveland Browns found their new head coach on Wednesday, January 13th. Hue Jackson, former-Bengals offensive coordinator, who spent one season as head coach of the Oakland Raiders and went 8-8.
After a 3-13 season, and the Browns losing 18 of 21 games, there hasn’t been much to cheer about, so maybe Jackson can brighten the mood of the fan base.
He’ll have a press conference in Berea at 6:30 PM and I’m sure he’ll say some things that the fans love.
But you know who else had press conferences that the fans loved? Jimmy Haslam, Mike Pettine, Rob Chudzinski, Pat Shurmur, and I’m sure if we wanted to go back farther we could.
Let’s just look at the three failed head coaches since Haslam bought the team. He’s the guy you’re entrusting to make the right decision this time.
Haslam officially became owner in October of 2012. He let Shurmur finish out his second season as head coach and didn’t like the direction the team was heading, so he hired Chudzinzski.
It was less than two years prior that Shurmur said in his opening press conference, “Our goal is to win the AFC North, to compete in the playoffs and win Super Bowls.”
I remember that day. Browns fans were all excited about a no-nonsense guy coming to Cleveland. It turned out that the next two seasons were nothing, but nonsense.
So when Chudzinski took over, fans thought, “OK. Well, Shurmur wasn’t Jimmy’s guy anyway. Let’s see what Chud does.”
Chudzinski had some success with the Browns as a tight ends coach in 2004, and then as the Browns’ offensive coordinator in 2007, when the Browns went 10-6.
Fans were optimistic that he could get the offense to play like it did in that great ’07 season. It was not the case and he was out the door in a year.
Flash back to Pettine’s first day in Berea. Pettine promised “high-standards” in his first press conference.
“My vision here in Cleveland, having spent time in Baltimore, is to compete in the AFC North, you need to bloody your nose a little bit,” he said. “We’re going to build a team that’s not just tough physically, but mentally tough.”
Well, they played well for a little over half a season, but we all see how it turned out.
How will Jackson fare? Maybe he’s the guy. Maybe the Browns finally got it right. But one thing we know for sure is, we won’t know anything for sure based on a press conference. And frankly, whatever the eighth head coach since 1999 has to say tonight at 6:30, I’ll believe it when I see it.
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