The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Haslam: Expect big jump in 2018
Owner says rebuilding to show results then
“Wait till next year” is more than a cliché in the mind of Jimmy Haslam, whose Browns are 20-60 since he bought the team in 2012.
By 2018, the Browns will be in the third year of the rebuild that began in January 2016 with the hiring of Hue Jackson as head coach, the promotion of salary cap specialist Sashi Brown to the title of executive vice president of football operations and hiring longtime baseball executive Paul DePodesta as chief strategy officer.
The Browns in 2016 finished with the worst record — 1-15 — in franchise history. The upcoming season is a mystery yet to be told.
But a year from now, after the Browns make five picks in the first two rounds of the draft next spring — that’s when Haslam expects to start seeing his grand plan start to bear fruit.
“Last year was harder than we thought,” Haslam said on July 29 in his annual training camp news conference. “None of us are exactly sure what will happen this year. I know that we will be a better team. I think 2018 — I’m not hedging my bets — 2018-2019 you should see a substantially better football team.
“I don’t want to say where we are in the rebuilding process, but I will just reiterate and really intentionally be redundant — I
“I think 2018 — I’m not hedging my bets — 2018-2019 you should see a substantially better football team.”
— Browns owner Jimmy Haslam
think we have the right people in place in the organization. I think we’re putting in process a good team and everybody is going to want to know, ‘Well, how many games do you think you’re going to win?’ I’m not going to say that, but I think you will see an improved football team this year.”
Haslam held a similar news conference two years ago after the Browns finished 7-9. He infamously vowed he wouldn’t “blow up” the combination of general manager Ray Farmer and head coach Mike Pettine, then lit the dynamite after the Browns collapsed and finished 3-13. The Browns are 4-33 since beating the Atlanta Falcons on Nov. 23, 2014.
Haslam wasn’t as bold with his words this time, but he seems determined to grit his teeth through what could be another trying season; the Browns are still searching for a quarterback, and even if that player turns out to be DeShone Kizer from the beginning, it means suffering the growing pains of a rookie learning on the job.
“I will just say what we said at first — we feel really good about the people we have in place, really good,” Haslam said. “All of us want to win and win immediately. Most of you don’t know me that well personally, but I’m an extremely impatient person. I think we’ve learned the hard way that if you want to do this and do it right, building through the draft and being patient and getting the right people in place is the right way to do it. It’s hard, but it is unequivocally the right thing to do.”
Haslam has fired Pat Shurmur (2012), Rob Chudzinski (2013) and Pettine (2015) as head coaches. He has also canned GMs Tom Heckert (2012), Mike Lombardi (2013) and Farmer (2015), plus team president Mike Holmgren (2012) and Joe Banner as CEO (2013).
“The learning curve (as Browns owner) has been extremely steep,” Haslam said. “It’s been way harder than we thought. I don’t think we ever would have thought we would be talking about coming off winning four games in our last two years in our third and fourth years (Haslam doesn’t count 2012 because the front office, coaching staff and players were in place when he bought the team from Randy Lerner).
“It’s tough. It’s hard. I think I’ve said it is embarrassing. At the same time, we’ve learned a lot. In life, I’ve learned you learn a heck of a lot more through the hard experiences than you do the easy ones.
“I now think we’re positioned to, like I said, put the organization, the team in a much better place than we have been.”
It is impossible not to notice the empty seats in FirstEnergy Stadium and contrast the Browns’ struggles to the recent success of the Cavaliers and Indians. And, of course, the Browns had losing records 12 of 13 years before Haslam bought the team. It isn’t like the crash started on his watch.
Fans have been suffering since the Browns last played for the AFC championship in 1989. The Browns have won one playoff game (1994) since then.
Haslam admitted that in 2012 he did not understand the depth of fans’ frustration.
“Dee (Haslam’s wife) and I had no clue, but do we realize it and share in that pain now? Absolutely,” Haslam said. “I think Dee says that better than I do that we share in that pain, and we feel the responsibility for helping to erase that pain.”