Why the Cleveland Browns are firing Mike Pettine
Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2016 1:53 pm
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000 ... ke-pettine
I really feel sympathy for the Browns fan base. They supported their team passionately only to see it Modell move it to Baltimore and then, when they get the Browns back again, the team turns out be an ongoing disaster. It must be awful.
What a completely dysfunctional mess. I know there are only 32 NFL head coaching jobs, and they pay well, so Cleveland will find another HC (ditto for GM if Farmer gets fired) but at this point, any self-respecting HC candidate who actually wants to have a future as an NFL head coach would be wise to turn down the Browns job.By the time Pettine went into Browns owner Jimmy Haslam's office on Friday to ask if he was safe, Haslam had already started the process of looking for a new coach, Rapoport said. Haslam did not tell Pettine whether or not he was safe.
Cleveland has not had a coach finish his tenure with a winning record since Marty Schottenheimer back in 1988. They have not had a candidate last more than 65 games since Bill Belichick in 1995. If Pettine's firing also means the ouster of general manager Ray Farmer as reports suggest, Farmer will leave having only made two of his four first-round draft picks over two years. As Rapoport mentioned, Johnny Manziel was a Haslam decision and cornerback Justin Gilbert was a hand-picked prospect by Pettine.
The four picks represented a chance for the organization to start over and dull a bit of the fan unrest over the last two decades of football in Cleveland. Instead, it just contributed to another regime change.
I really feel sympathy for the Browns fan base. They supported their team passionately only to see it Modell move it to Baltimore and then, when they get the Browns back again, the team turns out be an ongoing disaster. It must be awful.