Is Haslam the New Snyder?

Just when you think the Cleveland Browns are acting as a normal, professional football team, they throw a huge wrench into the mix.

They announced today that Joe Banner and Mike Lombardi are out as CEO and GM, with Ray Farmer replacing the latter as general manager.

The obvious point to be made is owner Jimmy Haslam was so disgusted by the season and seemingly bungled coaching search, that he couldn’t take the Banner/Lombardi combination for one more day.

Still want to tell everyone that these aren’t the same old Browns?

Look, this is not to say we thought Banner and Lombardi were doing a great job, in fact, we feel quite the contrary.

Banner seemed to be a “me-first” guy, a person who really wanted to coach the team as well as run it, and he didn’t seem to be satisfied with any person who wasn’t Joe Banner.

However, remember that the league recommended Banner to Haslam, the owner didn’t seem to seek him out.

Lombardi comes across as someone who still wants to sit on the lap of Bill Belichick, waiting with anticipation for every word that drips off of the Patriots’ coach’s tongue.

It seemed his solution to every problem was to go back to the Belichick tree.

Farmer helped put together a Kansas City team that had a bushel of Pro Bowlers on a 2-14 team in 2012 and made a major leap forward to the playoffs last season. The fact that Miami was very interested in him shows how respected he is throughout the NFL.

So do we assume things are better in Berea because Farmer and team president Alec Scheiner are more likeable to the fans and media alike?

As with the new coach and his staff, we can’t evaluate how the newest new regime will perform until the Cleveland Browns start playing football games that count in September.

The more disturbing aspect of all this is the growing Snyderization of Jimmy Haslam.

We felt all along that it was Haslam who pulled the trigger on Rob Chudzinski after one season in charge. Could it be that part of the reason Banner and Lombardi aren’t employed here anymore is they told the owner he was being impetuous?

Now, Haslam just fired two people he claimed were part of the solution just 18 months ago.

The Browns’ owner is looking more and more like his counterpart in Washington, Redskins’ owner Daniel Snyder.

Does anyone think that organization is well run?

Since 2000, Washington has gone through six coaches and have amassed three playoff appearances, a boatload compared to Cleveland.

He’s brought in college coaches (Steve Spurrier), veteran coaches with histories of winning (Marty Schottenheimer, Joe Gibbs, and Mike Shanahan), and offensive coordinators (Jim Zorn and new coach Jay Gruden).

They’ve gone 86-122 in that span. While that’s better than Cleveland’s record (72 wins) over the same time period, it’s hardly a winning franchise or something to be aspiring to.

If the Browns go 6-10 this season and Haslam keeps Farmer and Mike Pettine in place seeing some progress, then we can ease off on the Daniel Snyder comparisons.

Until that happens, he appears to be another owner who wants success, but either doesn’t know how to get it, or doesn’t have the patience to attain a winning team.

Either way, no matter how they spin it, it just looks like more chaos at Browns’ headquarters.

Difficulty in Finding Coach Should Scare Haslam

It is no secret to Cleveland football fans that the Browns’ coaching search has taken on its own life.

What is crazy is that there are only 32 head coaching jobs in the NFL, yet several assistant coaches do not want to take one of them, if it happens to be in Cleveland, that is.

First, New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniel removed his name from consideration. Now Denver offensive coach, Adam Gase, just 35 years old, told the Browns he was not interested in taking the big step to head coaching in Cleveland.

You would think making a move from assistant to running your own show would be enough to entice an ambitious person to take the job. Obviously, there is something wrong in Berea.

At least Joe Banner and Mike Lombardi got the chance to talk to McDaniel. You could say that may the reason he turned down the gig. But Gase declined to be considered without talking to anyone currently in the organization.

It wouldn’t be hard to connect the dots and assume Gase did talk to former Browns’ GM Tom Heckert, who now works for the Broncos.

In a vacuum, coaching the Browns should be a great opportunity. After all, what is the downside?

If you don’t turn it around, you are just another coach in a long line of other guys who have failed to win in Cleveland since the franchise returned to the NFL in 1999. Many media people call the Browns’ organization dysfunctional anyway so there is no problem if you can’t win here.

On the other hand, if you do make the Browns a winner and return them to a position where playoff appearances are the norm, you will be heralded the same way coaches like Bill Parcells and Joe Gibbs are.

And if you perform the thought to be impossible and win a couple of Super Bowls with Cleveland, then you can get your acceptance speech ready for the day you are enshrined in Canton.

Instead, the Browns are having difficulty getting anyone who wants to interview for the job, let alone take it.

From afar, you would have to think someone should be checking on the interview technique used by Banner or whoever is involved in the process, to see why candidates seem to be turned off.

Besides that, owner Jimmy Haslam needs to examine why his franchise has such a negative vibe around the league. If it is because of the men he hired to run things here, then perhaps a change needs to be made sooner than later.

Or maybe Haslam should be more involved in the process and make it clear that the new coach reports to him directly. The counterpoint to that is perhaps it is Haslam’s impetuousness that cost Rob Chudzinski his job.

Whoever the Browns eventually hire, no one can judge him fairly until the team takes the field and plays a few games. After all, two coaches in the AFC North didn’t have overwhelming resumes when they were hired: Mike Tomlin with the Steelers and John Harbaugh with the Ravens.

Still, if Haslam needs to look at his organization after this process is completed because the Browns are considered toxic. And whether it is or not, perception is reality.

All three of the people running this team are to blame. No one should be escaping unscathed. The real problem is that the people who are suffering the most are the fans. They just keep watching losing football.

No Matter Who’s Making Decision, Browns Need to Get It Right

Most people’s assessment of Browns’ CEO Joe Banner and GM Michael Lombardi is they think of themselves as the smartest people in the room.

The team’s search for a new coach isn’t really supporting that argument.

It is clear at this point that when the Browns (most likely owner Jimmy Haslam) decided to fire Rob Chudzinski, they didn’t have a plan to hire his successor. It appears to be a knee-jerk reaction by someone, probably Haslam, after a seven game losing streak to end the season.

Sounds a little bit like what goes on in Washington and their owner Daniel Snyder, a man who is the butt of jokes by people who work in and cover the National Football League.

That’s not what we thought we were getting when Haslam bought the team from the reclusive Randy Lerner.

So, the view here is now Banner and Lombardi have to clean up that mess, which isn’t a great job, but one they are paid pretty handsomely to do.

There isn’t anyone out there that is going to create a buzz with the Cleveland football fan, although that really shouldn’t be a consideration. It’s more important to hire the right man for the job. Remember, no one had really heard of Mike Tomlin when the Steelers chose him, and as Banner would put out, Andy Reid wasn’t greeted with fanfare when he got the job with the Eagles, either.

The front office asked for permission to hire Denver offensive coordinator Adam Gase early in the process, but Gase decided to not interview for any job until the Broncos are eliminated from the playoffs. Maybe Gase takes the job and the Browns can say they got their man, but supposedly Minnesota wants him too.

The problem that Chudzinski’s firing after one year has caused is it makes other candidates leery of taking the job because of security. Yes, head coaches are highly paid in the professional football, but they are still human beings and they want to have some assurance that they will get more than a year to produce results.

Haslam’s decision isn’t helping attract candidates.

Neither are the rumors that Banner and Lombardi want to limit the new coach’s authority in terms of the roster. We have been advocates in the past of not giving coach’s total control because they favor the players they brought in, even if they aren’t cutting it.

However, the coach needs to feel like he’s part of the process, not that it’s Banner and Lombardi’s show and the coach is a replaceable part.

There is going to be negativity about this ownership/front office until winning starts taking place on Sunday. The main problem with Haslam and his crew is that the Browns went 5-11 in 2012, and finished with a worse record in 2013.

While the roster may be more talented (they are quick to point out five Pro Bowlers), until the progress shows up in the win column, fans are going to be skeptical.

They don’t want to hear about “the process” anymore. Other teams in the NFL turn around on the yearly basis. This year it was the Chiefs, last year it was the Colts.

It’s never the Browns.

There seems to be uncertainty in Berea regarding who is in charge now. Is it Haslam calling the shots on the new coach? Is it Banner?

Fans want to see an open search. Why isn’t Mike Munchak (22-26 with no QB in Tennessee) interviewed? How about Jack Del Rio (68-71 with two playoff appearance in Jacksonville)?

Regardless, fans really can’t judge any hire until the games start in September. That being said, the Browns need to get this hire right.

Are These Browns Any Different?

The Cleveland Browns appear to be headed to another 10 loss season, their sixth consecutive campaign losing in double figures.

Therefore, the question needs to be asked…what is different with the new regime, headed by Jimmy Haslam, Joe Banner, and Michael Lombardi? The results are the same from the last group, headed by Mike Holmgren and Tom Heckert.

These Browns have three possible Pro Bowl players, which would be their most in several years. OT Joe Thomas is perennial, making the all-star team every year he has been in the league. He could be bound for Canton someday.

CB Joe Haden has been outstanding all season long, highlighted by shutting down Cincinnati WR A. J. Green in both meetings between the teams, and he has started to intercept passes this year as well, with four on the season.

Those two have been the best players on the squad the past few years, but this year they are joined by WR Josh Gordon, who may be the NFL’s best wideout who isn’t named Calvin Johnson. He may be the Browns’ best wideout since Paul Warfield wore the orange and brown.

There are several other players who can be considered building blocks for a playoff team, such as C Alex Mack, TE Jordan Cameron, DT Phil Taylor, DEs Ahtyba Rubin and Billy Winn, OLBs Barkevious Mingo, Jabaal Sheard, and Paul Kruger, and ILB D’Qwell Jackson.

All of those players, save for Mingo, were brought in by the prior regimes.

So while Holmgren and Heckert take a lot of criticism for the first round of the 2012 draft (Richardson and Weeden) and deservedly so, they are responsible for putting together the foundation for the future.

Certainly, the prior president and GM also have to be faulted for the hiring of Pat Shurmur, who was a public relations disaster. Rob Chudzinski doesn’t really say anything in his press conferences either (call this the Belichick method), but fans and media can see he has a passion for the city and the game, and the players play like they respect him.

It would have been easy for the team to give a lackluster effort after the Jacksonville game, but the Browns went to New England and fought, and almost knocked off the Patriots.

Chudzinski and his staff do draw negatives with the handling of the quarterback situation, going with Brandon Weeden to start the season when it’s pretty clear he is the least effective of the trio that were on the Opening Day roster.

The front office should be lauded for the Trent Richardson trade, but at the same time should be questioned for not having another decent running back on the roster to replace him, nor did they get another passer after Brian Hoyer was injured.

That left the coaching staff without a running game, putting more pressure on Weeden, Hoyer, and Jason Campbell.

Think about how many more wins this team would have had Hoyer or Campbell started the year and the Browns had even an average running game.

Ultimately, the Banner/Lombardi group will be judged on this season’s draft, which they have spent time accumulating picks for. The fear is they will force a quarterback pick too high (see, Ponder and Gabbert) and will pass on players who can impact the team in 2014.

If they wait for the passer to come to them, perhaps with the Colts’ pick, and instead upgrade the football team at several spots, they will be remembered as the group that turned this franchise around.

Bill Parcells once said you are what your record says it is. And right now, Joe Banner and Michael Lombardi are just like everyone else who sat in their chairs.