Browns Owner Jimmy Haslam III yesterday fired coach Mike Pettine and GM Ray Farmer while naming Exec VP & General Counsel Sashi Brown Exec VP/Football Operations, giving him "control over the 53-man roster," according to Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland PLAIN DEALER. Brown, who was hired by the Browns in January '13, "essentially takes over the role vacated by Farmer." The Browns will hire their coach "first, and then let him participate in finding the GM." However, the new GM "won't have the same authority as Farmer, who had final say over the draft and the roster." The coach will "report to Haslam and the new GM will report to Brown." Haslam also hired Korn/Ferry Vice Chair Jed Hughes to "help him hire the new coach." A search committee will "consist of Haslam, wife and co-owner Dee Haslam, Brown and Hughes." Team President Alec Scheiner "is not included" in the search. The new man "will be the Browns' sixth head coach" since '08. The previous four "lasted two years or less." Haslam yesterday "shouldered responsibility for the Browns' woes." Haslam: "The blame for the franchise doing so poorly lays right here with me because at the end of the day it's our job to put the right people in the right place and provide them with the resources." Haslam "acknowledged that the learning curve was much steeper than anticipated" (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 1/4). NFL Network's Aditi Kinkhabwala noted Haslam indicated "one of the most important things he wanted was a unified front, that he wanted everybody to work together well." Kinkhabwala: "He very openly said that Ray Farmer and Mike Pettine didn’t necessarily do that" ("NFL HQ," NFL Network, 1/4).
TAKING A CLOSER LOOK: In Cleveland, Terry Pluto writes the idea of Brown's role "makes sense in one key area -- having the football people work together." However, it was a "mistake to announce that Brown will have control of the 53-man roster." The team said that Brown's job is "not picking players, etc." His background is "as a salary cap guy," and he is a "top-flight attorney, a deal maker." Brown is "considered an excellent negotiator," which can "help when the general manager and coach have conflicts -- something that invariably happens." Haslam will "have to make it clear that the 'salary cap guy' is not going to be making player personnel decisions" (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 1/4). ESPN CLEVELAND's Bruce Hooley wrote Brown, a member of last year's SBJ/SBD Forty Under 40 class, is a lawyer whose "personnel experience in the NFL dates all the way back to when he came to Cleveland in 2013." Haslam yesterday repeated several times Brown is "now in charge of picking the Browns' 53-man roster." But Hooley wrote, "You can admit it: You'd rather have Farmer back, right?" Brown "comes into this job without the resume for any prospective head coach or GM to respect him at all in his new role." Haslam "clearly loves Brown" and Scheiner (ESPNCLEVELAND.com, 1/3). In Cleveland, Bud Shaw writes, "Maybe we can think of Sashi Brown as Joe Banner Extra Lite." If Brown is "not as forceful" as Banner, the team's former CEO, there is a "chance the Browns can get their top choices." If Brown "wants to facilitate and help mediate, this could work." But if he "begins to think having authority over the draft and the roster must mean he also possesses great knowledge in those areas, run for the hills" (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 1/4).
BACK TO SQUARE ONE? USA TODAY's Nancy Armour wrote Haslam "still hasn’t learned the first thing about what it takes to run an NFL franchise." The best teams in the NFL are the ones "whose owners are smart enough to admit what they don’t know, hire people who do and then get out of their way." It is the owners who "continually tinker and think having the money to buy an NFL team means they have the smarts to run one, too, that put the fun in dysfunction" (USATODAY.com, 1/3). ESPN CLEVELAND's Pat McManamon wrote, "Here the Browns go again, with yet another restart in a cycle of restarts that started in 1999 and seems to have no end." With the Browns change "leads to struggles which lead to more change which leads to more struggles which lead to (surprise) more change." The newest hires "will make six coaches and six general managers in eight years." McManamon: "Continuity, anyone?" (ESPNCLEVELAND.com, 1/3). ESPN Radio's Mike Greenberg noted the Browns "change coaches about as often as most people change socks, and yet they fire Ray Farmer as General Manager without him ever getting to hire one." Greenberg: "If you want to know why that franchise is a laughingstock, a complete joke, that's the reason why -- because they hire people and they give up on them before they give anyone a chance to prove whether they could or could not do the job” ("Mike & Mike," ESPN Radio, 1/4). In Cleveland, Bill Livingston writes under the header, "Ray Farmer, Mike Pettine Gone, But Cleveland Browns Big Problem Is Owner Jimmy Haslam." Livingston: "It is hard to believe that anyone could make Randy Lerner seem to be a better steward of the forlorn franchise. But Haslam is giving it a shot. No established NFL coach would probably give even a fleeting thought to coaching the Browns. Unfortunately, no one can fire the owner" (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 1/4). The MMQB's Peter King writes he has had several conversations with Haslam in recent years, and Haslam "wants to win badly, and his heart's in the right place." King: "He's really trying. ... But his actions are simply inconsistent with those of winner-builders" (MMQB.SI.com, 1/4).
SEARCH FOR TOMORROW: In Cleveland, Tom Reed notes Korn Ferry's Hughes "directed the search that helped the Seahawks hire" coach Pete Carroll and GM John Schneider. He also has "partnered the Chiefs and coach Andy Reid," and other "success stories include" Bill O'Brien and the Texans, and President & CEO Mark Murphy and the Packers. Reed notes this "marks the first time the owner ... has used an outside consultant for the Browns." It also is the "first time the organization has publicly acknowledged using one" since its '99 NFL return (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 1/4).
