The Cleveland Browns coaching search has taken an important step forward, but there are still questions in need of answering and issues in need of addressing.
Cleveland Browns ownership has tabbed general manager John Dorsey to lead the latest search to find the right head coach. It’s critical that Dorsey believe in the head coaching hire the team makes in order to avoid division within the organization, but the structure of the organization remains a question mark and one that needs to be answered before the team can be consistently successful.
The entire Hue Jackson era was marred by division. Sashi Brown was hired before Hue Jackson to be the team’s general manager, but he was only a voice in the decision.
According to Robert Klemko’s recent article for SI, Sashi pushed for Sean McDermott and Matt Patricia while the Haslams ultimately decided on Hue Jackson. That in itself isn’t necessarily problematic, especially given Sashi’s experience. The structure of the organization, having Jackson and Brown report directly to the owner independently of each other was.
A relationship that didn’t need help unraveling was put into a framework that only encouraged more division and politicking for survival and power. And when Sashi was replaced with John Dorsey, that framework continued. With Jackson now gone, the Browns have the opportunity to get everyone on the same page, but eliminate even the temptation for parties to try to get ownership’s ear.
Dorsey may be in charge of the coaching search, but it stands to reason that the Haslams will still sign off on any decision. As long as Dorsey believes in and is completely invested in the final decision, that’s at least a good start. One would hope he’s not inclined to go to ownership and crush a coach he was directly involved in hiring.
But if Dorsey’s ultimately going to head the coaching search and be the main voice in finding the head coach, it stands to reason that he should be the one single voice reporting to ownership. If not Dorsey, someone specifically hired to be the liaison between the team and ownership.
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As much as the Haslams, and specifically Jimmy Haslam, may have good intentions and desperately want the team to win, they don’t know how and often find themselves making bad situations worse.
The A.J. McCarron debacle is the best example of ownership run amok. Jackson wanted to trade for McCarron and Jimmy Haslam was recruited to try to jam it through. Perhaps sabotage from Sashi Brown is the only reason the team crippling trade didn’t get done, but it showed just how problematic the organizational structure was. It may well have been the tipping point in firing Sashi Brown and proved to be a huge embarrassment for a team that doesn’t need help looking bad.
Simply having Dorsey head the coaching search isn’t enough of a safeguard from the type of issues this team has dealt with since the Haslams purchased the team. They need to trust the people they hired to do the jobs enough to keep themselves out of it as much as possible.
Instead of trying to get involved with specific football decisions better left to the front office or coaching staff, they need to focus on the things they do well. And much of that is acting the part of cheerleader and focusing on their community outreach which they have shown to be quite good.
When it comes to helping the community whether it’s helping area high schools in need with better fields or inviting high school coaches to their practices or various other forms of outreach, they not only spearhead these programs, they get involved. They don’t just write a check, they get involved and are great ambassadors for what they are doing. That is the Haslams at their best.
Their desire to win is obvious, but they need to show the proper restraint. Throw themselves into these outreach projects while they can keep asking all the questions they want answered from the front office. It’s imperative they resist the urge to try to get in there and fix issues during the season that are better left to the professionals they hired.
After the season is when they should get involved if necessary. As soon as training camp opens and the players report, the cake is baked for the season and that should be the end of any hands on involvement with the team. Whatever happens, happens and any issues are dealt with once the season ends.
So much of the head coaching job can sell itself. The team has a ton of young talent on this roster, including a tremendously gifted young quarterback, the have the ability to acquire more with draft picks and a pretty healthy salary cap. They have a talented front office. The cherry on the top of the Browns sundae would be a streamlined organizational structure where everyone knows where ownership is and maybe just as importantly isn’t.
The Browns should be an attractive job to some excellent coaching candidates, but if they can just improve the organizational structure and have a unified voice, there should be an immediate benefit and improvement from the top down, regardless of the coach’s expertise. Just the sense that everyone in the building is going in the same direction and the amount of energy saved by not focusing on the politics of survival would be a breath of fresh air.
Last year, the Browns were able to build a front office with Dorsey, Alonzo Highsmith, Eliot Wolf, Andrew Berry and others including some help on spec from Scot McCloughan. This year, they have the opportunity to do the same with a coaching staff on the same page. Everyone in the organization and locker room will benefit, but it all starts with ownership and their ability to trust they put the right person in charge with Dorsey.
If they can’t do that, either he isn’t the right man for the job or they are incapable of doing theirs.