It’s tough to own a professional sports franchise. Yes, the people that are owners have a considerable amount of money, and that’s not tough at all, but these people thrust themselves into the public eye when they get involved in professional sports.
Who had ever heard of Dan Gilbert and Larry Dolan before they purchased the Cavaliers and Indians, respectively? Do you really think Randy Lerner likes picking up a newspaper (or looking up stuff on the internet) and reading that he’s an idiot because the Browns aren’t winning?
Of course they don’t, but they put themselves into that position when they bought in.
There is also a double standard when it comes to getting involved for owners.
Currently, Gilbert is under fire from some corners for being the driving force behind the dismissal of coach Mike Brown and the resignation of GM Danny Ferry. Meanwhile, the Dolan’s get heat for trusting the judgment of GM Mark Shapiro.
It seems they can’t win on how to handle their franchises if their teams aren’t winning.
The ideal thing is for the owner to hire the right people and then step back and let the qualified staff run the team. This worked for Dick Jacobs with the Indians. When Jacobs bought the team, he brought in the highly regarded Hank Peters, who hired someone who worked with him in the Oriole organization in John Hart.
Hart proved to be the man who turned the Tribe from a laughing stock into one of the sports’ best teams from 1994-2001. Jacobs let Hart do his thing, he was successful, and the owner was very popular with the fans.
Dolan puts his trust in Mark Shapiro, who hasn’t had the same record as his predecessor. So, the fans want to know why the owner gives his GM so much rope. At some point, the guy who pays the bills has to step in and make a change.
Granted, the Cavaliers have been very successful over Ferry and Brown’s five years together. They got the wine and gold to the NBA Finals once, and had the league’s best regular season the past two seasons. But they didn’t accomplish the one thing the owner wants more than anything, a world championship.
And you could argue that Brown’s coaching in the playoffs was one of the reasons the Larry O’Brien Trophy hasn’t been hoisted in Cleveland the past two seasons.
Odd defensive alignments hurt the wine and gold against Orlando in 2009, and the lack of an offensive game plan didn’t help the team versus the Celtics this past season.
After Tom Izzo turned down the Cavs’ job, Gilbert’s critics said he shouldn’t have fired Brown without having a better candidate. They are wrong. Brown deserved to be let go because he did a poor job of getting his squad ready to play a good defensive team, and not utilizing some talent (read: Antawn Jamison) properly.
Brown’s dismissal led to Ferry’s resignation, make no mistake about that.
So basically, Dan Gilbert saw what everyone else did regarding the coach and decided he had to do something. Which is his right to do as the guy who signs the checks. The GM was stubborn and didn’t want to go along with it, which is his right.
Now Gilbert is regarded as a meddling owner, and is being compared to Daniel Snyder, the Washington Redskins owner, who is the poster boy for guys not understanding the sport he is involved in.
The Cavaliers’ owner should get the benefit of the doubt here. He gave Ferry and Brown five years. That would be a lifetime for guys like Snyder and the George Steinbrenner Yankees of the 1970-80’s.
Sometimes these guys have to make tough decisions, but there is a fine line between being too active and being too passive if you own a professional sports franchise.
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 