Browns fire Jackson, ‘internal discord’ cited
BEREA, OHIO — Hue Jackson’s failed, flawed tenure with the Cleveland Browns is finally over.
The team fired its embattled coach on Monday, ending a run of futility nearly unmatched in NFL history. Jackson, who went 3-36-1 in two-plus seasons, was dismissed Monday by general manager John Dorsey with the backing of owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam.
The Browns also fired offensive coordinator Todd Haley and made defensive coordinator Gregg Williams their interim coach. Haley was in his first season on Jackson’s staff after spending the previous six in Pittsburgh.
Jimmy Haslam intimated the firings were prompted by an irreparable divide between Jackson and Haley, who squabbled behind the scenes and recently took their power struggle public.
“Hopefully we made a big step today,” Haslam said at a news conference with Dorsey. “It’s very troubling. It’s hard to win in the NFL; if anybody knows that, it’s us. And I think the message today is we’re not going to put up with internal discord, that we want people who are collaborative and work together.”
Jackson’s firing came a day after the Browns (2-51) lost their 25th straight road game — 20 of them coming with Jackson in charge. The Browns are 22-81-1 since the Haslams agreed to purchase them before the 2012 season.
The Browns, who have not made the playoffs since 2002 amid a slew of coaching changes, have lost three straight games after a promising start to this season. They tied Pittsburgh in Week 1, but were beaten 33-18 on Sunday by the Steelers.
Jackson is the sixth straight Cleveland coach to be fired following the team’s second game against Pittsburgh. Romeo Crennel, Eric Mangini, Pat Shurmur, Rob Chudzinski and Mike Pettine all met the same demise.
Haslam and Dorsey didn’t provide any details about the Jackson-Haley fracture and said the team’s focus is on the final eight games.
“We have a lot of football left in this season,” Dorsey said. “We have some very talented players on this team right now, as we speak. As we sat down and talked to the players today, I expressed that to them. I said, ‘You know what? We have a lot of football left here, you guys.’ And they understand that.”