Tuesday, January 21, 2014


And the search goes on and on and on and . . . 


Now that Adam Gase has reportedly told the Browns to remove his name from their list of candidates to replace Rob Chudzinski, there is no way the club can introduce its new head coach and say he was the first choice. Or even second choice.

That’s how bad it has become for this franchise.

When assistant coaches tell the Browns they are not interested in moving up in the coaching ranks to become the head man, you know they have reached the nadir. That has happened at least twice now with Gase and Josh McDaniels.

There are only 32 of these jobs available on the planet and the notion the Cleveland job is a sort of football coaching graveyard does not nothing but pile on the embarrassment. The aftermath of the Chudzinski firing appears to be reaching epidemic proportions.

Doesn’t anyone want to coach this team?

The answer obviously is yes, but it looks as if Jimmy Haslam III and his minions will have to settle for whoever says yes first. So much for careful consideration as to who succeeds Chudzinski.

Who knows? Maybe the Browns will get lucky and wind up with someone who actually becomes successful to the point where the team rises to the level of mediocrity. After what fans have been subjected to the last 15 seasons, mediocrity is a step in the right direction.

Whether it’s Dan Quinn or Mike Pettine or whomever, it’s time to get off the pot, stop being “purposefully methodical” and wrap this thing up. Find out who really wants to come to Cleveland and sign him before he changes his mind.

This coaching circus needs to stop. It’s bad enough the team embarrasses the city and its fans. Watching the front office botch this coaching search only adds to that embarrassment. And the longer it goes, the worse it gets.

This is not rocket science. Joe Banner’s quest to find the next unknown superstar and anoint him has already produced one failure. Maybe that’s why he is treading cautiously now.

It’s one thing to become careful with the selection. It’s quite another to do so when the field continues to be whittled to a precious few. This obviously has not gone as the CEO had anticipated.

The longer Banner waits, the more difficult it will be for the new coach to put together a staff. The new coaches of the six teams that fired their old coaches have snapped up most of the available coordinators.

With the new coach, the team gets a new philosophy on both sides of the ball. That’ll be three changes of coaching philosophy in the last three seasons. No wonder this team can’t win. With the Browns, continuity is a dirty word.

One of these years, someone is going to come along with a plan that will actually flip this franchise 180 degrees and he will be hailed as a savior. There is always hope.

Until then, we are stuck. And still looking for a head coach.

6 comments:

  1. Same old song and dance...should have hired somebody sooner just for the sake of hiring them, nice plan. McDaniels was a Lombardi suggestion(did you really want that?). Its time to stop picking off the Belicheck tree. McDaniels has Belicheck and Brady. Who wouldn't look good? Gase is riding the coattails of Manning and apparently doesn't have enough nerve yet to step out on his own. You really want somebody that indecisive? "The longer Banner waits...", it seems you have missed the point that Banner is not in the driver's seat on this one. This is, and has been Haslam's quest. It would appear that no matter what happens, all we get are the same Chicken Little-sky is falling posts. Its not that I don't respect your opinion, its just that you've gotten so far into the negativity that I think its clouded your view.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't deal in negativity. I deal in reality. If the reality of a situation is negative, that's the way I present it. You might not agree, but that's why we all have opinions.

    I agree with you that we should not keep tapping the Belichick-Kraft tree. I have written that many times in the past. But like you have said, they will do whatever they want.

    As for Gase, I wouldn't use indecisive as an adjective. He is head-coaching material and is following the advice of his agent, Bob Lamonte, who is very familiar with what goes on in Cleveland. Lamonte = Holmgren, Shurmur, etc.

    Gase will be a head coach some day in the NFL, maybe as early as next season when maybe as many as six more coaching openings will occur.

    As for the driver's seat, I somewhat agree with you and have opined that, too. Banner still has a large say-so, though. Maybe not the biggest, but his opinion still carries weight. If it didn't, I don't believe he would still be around.

    Lombardi, on the other hand, is nothing more than a puppet. He is relatively harmless.

    And if you want to use a Brady connection, you can say Belichick has Brady. Who wouldn't look good? Without Brady, Belichick is a good, maybe very good, coach. Without Brady, Belichick does not have three Super Bowl rings.

    ReplyDelete
  3. When somebody "drops out", it doesn't mean he said "no" nor does it mean he was even offered the job. Settle down Rich and get some common sense. By the way its too hard to sign in here. Timpiker

    ReplyDelete
  4. By asking the Browns to remove his name from the list of candidates, that's as good as a no for Gase. He's basically saying I'm not interested. You can call that dropping out if you wish, Tim. At this point, it's semantics.

    Nowhere did I or anyone say Gase was offered the job. Just that the Browns wanted to talk with him about the opening. Please don't attempt to read between the lines.

    As for common sense, my wife sometimes would agree with you.

    And as for signing in, use the drop down (Unknown (Google) arrows and click on Name/URL. Fill in your name and proceed to the next step, which is Publish.

    If that still is too hard, do the Timpiker thing at the end and we'll be fine.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Maybe what's most discouraging is that Banner may not be going away any time soon. I read that Haslam is loyal to him because Banner helped broker the deal for Haslam to buy the team. If true, it may take a complete collapse before Banner's influence on the football operations is neutered. Even then, Banner may survive running the business side of things, always lurking around the corner to get the owner's ear. Wow, this seems grim. Is this an over-reaction? Paul from Seattle. P.S. Seahawks will pound the Broncos...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Eric Scheiner was hired to run the business side. And if Haslam is as smart as I think, he won't let Banner use whatever influence he has left if this next hire bombs.

    It looks grim right now. Let's see how it all plays out. My guess is that Banner's leash is short and tight. He might even pawn off some of the blame toward Lombardi. That's a guess based strictly on how well Banner politics.

    Either way, it's a soap opera.

    ReplyDelete