Browns fire Hue Jackson and Todd Haley
Hue Jackson publicly pledged four times to eventually win a Super Bowl with the Browns.
He didn’t even win four games. Owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam finally gave many disgruntled Browns fans what they wanted by firing Jackson on Monday, less than 24 hours after the Browns fell 33-18 to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the eighth game of the season Sunday at Heinz Field. Now none of them will need to listen to Jackson talk the talk, only to watch him repeatedly stumble while trying to walk the walk.
The Browns also fired offensive coordinator Todd Haley, who clashed with Jackson. The writing was on the wall for the franchise to make significant changes, yet ousting Jackson and Haley on the same day is a surprise.
Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams will serve as the Browns’ interim head coach and running backs coach/associate head coach Freddie Kitchens will become the offensive coordinator.
The Haslams are looking for their fifth full-time head coach since they bought the Browns in 2012.
The difference this time is general manager John Dorsey, hired in December to replace Sashi Brown, will be guiding the search.
Jackson earned a record of 3-36-1 in two and a half seasons with the Browns. With a record of 1-31 during the 2016-17 seasons, Jackson had the fewest wins by any coach in NFL history in his first 32 games with one team, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Despite Dorsey significantly upgrading the talent and leadership on the roster in the offseason, the Browns could only muster a record of 2-5-1 midway through in their third season under Jackson.
“We greatly appreciate Hue’s commitment to the Cleveland Browns organization over the last two and a half years,” the Haslams said in a prepared statement. “We understand how critical this time period is in the development of our football team, individually and collectively, and believed it was in the organization’s best interest to make the move at this time, in order to maximize our opportunities the rest of this season. We certainly only wish Hue, [his wife] Michelle, and his family the best moving forward.”