ESPN’s Adam Schefter was first to break the news of Jackson heading to Cleveland to fill the void left by former head coach Mike Pettine, who was sacked at the end of the 2015 season.
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The Cleveland Browns’ latest regime change signals a drastic paradigm shift in the football operations department. He is the eighth head coach since 199 and the first head coach with experience at the position since Eric Mangini in 2010. And after seven interviews with seven different candidates – some of whom Jimmy Haslam said he expects to soon land head coaching jobs – it was clear Jackson stood out from the rest. Jackson, who waited four years for his second crack at leading an National Football League team, has been hired as Cleveland…
Jackson doesn’t mind the mess.
“We certainly are glad that we found Hue”, Brown said. Pettine was 10-22 in those two seasons with the Browns. “I can’t worry about what’s happened before me”. Haslam did just that as he did not make the trip to the annual owners’ meeting, instead sending his wife and co-owner, Dee Haslam, while he went and conducted a second interview with Jackson.
“This is our man”, Haslam told them. From quarterbacks coach in Baltimore in 2009 to offensive coordinator in Oakland in 2010 to head coach in Oakland in 2011. I know who he is. So the Browns’ new head coach likely wasn’t blown away by what he saw in person. Jackson wants the Browns to move on from current quarterback Johnny Manziel. I pulled into the parking lot across the street about five minutes before Haslam arrived in a black SUV, driving Jackson from the airport. The Browns have been so consistently bad both on the field and in the front office for long that it could be some time until this franchise is able to put anything together and make a run at the postseason.
“I don’t know Johnny personally”, Jackson said.
“I think this Hue Jackson will do a good job he’s got a good track record the other guys that we’ve hired all had agendas and I think this guys gonna be good I really do”, said Franceschelli. It looks like we are about to find out because Manziel is done in Cleveland. Majority are coaches, and they’re not just saying congratulations. “I know that this is about wins and losses”.
Unfortunately for Jackson and Cincinnati, they could not break a postseason drought that dated back to 1990 as Cincinnati lost a bitter contest to heated rival Pittsburgh on Saturday. The Bengals were among the league’s most exciting offenses – balanced and lethal.
The incessant text messages featuring coaches clamoring for a job in Cleveland weren’t the only endorsements of Jackson on Wednesday. He is undaunted by the challenge of turning around a team that has been stuck in a perpetual cycle of losing for more than a decade. He had career bests in Total QBR (73.1), yards per attempt (8.42), touchdown-to-interception ratio (3.57) and completion percentage (66.1 percent).
When he arrived at the team’s facility, Jackson was greeted in the lobby by team employees, who applauded his entrance. “We had a couple of great years here when he was here early on”. That’s what we’re interested in doing. “We want to support him in any way we can”. “That’s what it’s all about”.
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“That’s those coaches”, said Jackson, sounding confident, not cocky.
