The Cleveland Brownshave named former Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Hue Jackson as their next head coach.
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Jackson spent the last four years with the Cincinnati Bengals, the last two years as offensive coordinator.
He developed Ravens quarterback, Joe Flacco, into the 2008 Rookie of the Year, spending two seasons as the quarterbacks coach in Baltimore.
He coached Oakland in 2011, leading the Raiders to an 8-8 record.
After a second meeting with Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, Jackson backed out an interview scheduled for Thursday with the New York Giants. We wanted to be innovative and cutting edge on everything we do in this building because, eventually, everybody’s going to be doing what we’re doing’. I think our players will love playing for him.
CLEVELAND (AP) – Hue Jackson strolled into the Browns’ facility unafraid, brimming with optimism. Pettine was 10-22 in those two seasons with the Browns. While owner Jimmy Haslam specifically mentioned executive V.P. of football operations Sashi Brown, chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta, outside search consultant Jed Hughes, and Haslam’s wife (and L.A. Relocluster representative) Dee, there was not a single mention during the entire press conference of team president Alec Scheiner. “At the end of the day, we have some very real goals we want to attain and we understand it’s going to take a lot of hard work to do that”. We want to go to the Super Bowl and win that, too. Jackson did acknowledge that Manziel came up in his discussions with Haslam.
While much of the emphasis after the game was on the Bengals’ eight-game playoff losing streak or the team’s string of seven consecutive wild-card round defeats, Jackson performed wonders with his quarterbacks. According to CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora, the Browns will “look hard” at taking a quarterback in the NFL Draft if they like who’s available with their on the clock with the second overall pick. Because they helped me get to where I am today, and I can never, ever repay them for the opportunity that they gave me.
Jackson joked that he expects to get to know this year’s college class “pretty well, pretty soon”. That’s one of the biggest reasons why Jackson was one of the hot coaches on the market this offseason.
There will be no Vegas Vacation under Hue Jackson. It’s water cooler talk at best but in three years if the Browns are relevant and Miami isn’t, you can bet this will be brought up. “What’s important is that I evaluate him as a football player and find out about those things as we move forward”.
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For Jackson, the Browns’ potential – with a redesigned front office, rabid fan base and resources to improve the roster – appealed to him most as he evaluated his future in the enviable position of a sought after coaching candidate. My thing is to get us to the game ready to play, motivated, fired up, enthusiastically and to have an opportunity to win. They’re holding out hope Jackson can slow a coaching and quarterback carousel nearly always spinning in Northeast Ohio.
