The Browns on Friday announced that team President Alec Scheiner "will officially step down on March 31 after overseeing the day-to-day business operations of the organization for the past three years," according to Nate Ulrich of the AKRON BEACON JOURNAL. The news broke two months after Owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam "restructured the front office on Jan. 3." Browns Exec VP & General Counsel Sashi Brown "was promoted the same day" to Exec VP/Football Operations and "given control of the 53-man roster." Mets VP/Player Development & Scouting Paul DePodesta was named Chief Strategy Officer on Jan. 5, while Colts Pro Scouting Coordinator Andrew Berry was hired as VP/Player Personnel on Jan. 27. The shake-up left Scheiner "without the power he sought on the football side." The Browns "didn’t give an exact explanation for Scheiner’s exit." He will "consult the organization through the end of the year." The Browns "won’t immediately fill the vacancy." Team Exec VP & CRO Brent Stehlik and Exec VP & CFO David Jenkins "are now in the top roles on the business side" (AKRON BEACON JOURNAL, 3/5). In Cleveland, Tom Reed noted Scheiner "oversaw the team's business department and renovations of FirstEnergy Stadium and the Browns' facility." His absence during the recent coaching search and the decision to hire DePodesta "seemed to portend Friday's announcement" (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 3/5). CBSSPORTS.com's Jared Dubin wrote with the hiring of DePodesta and the promotion of Brown, it "seemed like the writing was on the wall for the end of the former regime," led by GM Ray Farmer and Scheiner. Farmer "was relieved of his duties along with former head coach Mike Pettine back in early January." The statement from team ownership made it "seem a whole lot more like Scheiner's consultancy will be an 'in name only' type of thing," as they were "referring to his tenure with the team in the past tense" (CBSSPORTS.com, 3/4).
