Jackson wanted to run offense

Fired Browns coach disputes notion of ‘internal discord.’

Hue Jackson sat in CLEVELAND — his office at his east side Cleveland home on a dreary Thursday morning, wishing he were at work getting the 2-5-1 Browns ready to face the 7-1 Chiefs.

“I’ve never done this before,” the former Browns coach said of not having a game to prepare for during the week.

After Sunday’s 33-18 loss to the Steelers, Jackson was hoping to persuade owner Jimmy Haslam to let him take back the offense, which had been floundering under offensive coordinator Todd Haley. The offense sputtered behind a rookie quarterback in Baker Mayfield, a rookie left tackle in Desmond Harrison and a skeleton crew at receiver ever since Josh Gordon was traded.

Instead, Haslam and Browns GM John Dorsey went into Jackson’s office that morning and told him he was fired. Jackson, 3-36-1 over two-plus seasons in Cleveland, tried to remind Haslam of the rea-

sons he brought him back for 2018, citing the failed all-analytics experiment of his first two seasons and a chance to coach a better roster.

Shortly afterward, Haley was also dismissed. He also didn’t see it coming, according to a source close to him. Haslam and Dorsey named defensive coordinator Gregg Williams interim head coach and running backs coach/ associate head coach Freddie Kitchens offensive coordinator.

Later that afternoon in a news conference, Haslam said the message was “we’re not going to put up with internal discord.” He was referring to the disconnect that began with Haley during training camp and continued on throughout the season.

Here are some excerpts from The Plain Dealer’s exclusive conversation with Jackson, in which he read from some of his own notes and then answered a limited amount of questions.

Was he blindsided by the firing?

“I was surprised. I’m not going to say just totally blindsided because there was just so much noise out there about what was going on with our football team that I thought was not true. But anytime there’s all these undercurrents going, there’s something in there.

“I was surprised when both Jimmy and John walked in my office and let me know that they’d be relieving me as being the head coach of the Cleveland Browns.

“That’s a hard pill to swallow when you’ve given it your all, and you’ve worked extremely hard and you do everything you can to try to put the place in the best position to move forward. But again, it’s their decision. I have to respect it and move on.”

Was there internal discord?

“I didn’t perceive it (that way). I think you can disagree with people and not have it be discord. Discord to me is a strong word. It means there’s always infighting. That’s a pretty hot word.

“I know there was disagreements and rightfully so. Who doesn’t disagree? But I think the term internal discord was a little much.

“I believe the message the organization was trying to convey with that was that the success of the organization depends on the success of their future franchise QB in Baker Mayfield. So with the offense not playing well, and me stating that I would look to help out the offense — we were not trending in the direction you would like to see for the development of your No. 1 overall pick.

“So I get that they had a tough decision to make and they felt they did what was in the best interest of the organization going forward. Now in regard to some of the other media stuff about internally things being a mess and losing the players — none of that is accurate at all.”

Did he appeal to Haslam to let him run the offense?

“I had a very candid conversation with Jimmy Haslam as I’ve known Jimmy longer than I’ve known John, and I think Jimmy knows what I’ve expressed and how I felt and how I would have liked to have gone out.

Why did he want to take the offense back?

“What I didn’t and couldn’t predict was that our offensive production would turn out the way it did — especially considering us leading the league in turnovers on defense. We all knew that trending down with a rookie future franchise QB on board was not an option. I do believe that having the opportunity to finish it out would’ve been best.

“We had a lot of football left, were 2-5-1 with a rookie QB, left tackle, already played Pittsburgh twice, beat Baltimore, and could have easily been 3-4-1 if the first down isn’t taken back (in Oakland). The fact that we played four overtime games says that we were a better football team.

“In my mind, if we fix the offense — it’s a totally different story. So I do believe the move was premature. But I think a part of the problem again went back to the first two years.”

Are there regrets in not taking it back earlier in the season?

“If you’re going to go out, you always go out betting on yourself. I knew that I would’ve taken our same system and turned the offense around. It was not what I wanted to do, it’s what I had to do.

“If I couldn’t turn it around — then so be it and we move on. So I was surprised that I was not given the opportunity to display what I could do as a play-caller with a much more talented offensive roster. But again, while I don’t agree, I respect their decision and wish them the best.”