Jimmy Haslam, owner of the Cleveland Browns.
As a new Cleveland Browns fan, I’ve taken to consuming all-news Browns: I listen to WKNR when I can, online of course, and I subscribe to the Cleveland Browns channel on YouTube.
The firing of Hue Jackson seemed appropriate as did the dismissal of Todd Haley. For me, the firing of Haley, who appeared to be undermining his boss at every turn, was especially warranted. All of us Oklahoma Browns Baker Mayfield fanatics watched “Hard Knocks” and had come to appreciate GM John Dorsey, a proven winner.
However, I think many of us have yet to get to know Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, a man who made his billions with truck-stop chain Pilot Flying J and whose brother is the governor of Tennessee. By all accounts, as a new Browns fan, Haslam was progressive: he hired Dorsey and drafted the great Baker Reagan Mayfield.
But Jimmy Haslam also was behind the drafting of Johnny Manziel.
And he was also responsible for all sorts of chaos within the organization, as was documented this week by ESPN’s Seth Wickersham. The author documented everything, from Haslam’s tendency to pit coaches against each other to his family’s own admission that they really don’t know anything about the NFL.
On one hand, I appreciate Haslam’s willingness to be vulnerable in that way. On the other hand, even with the drafting of Mayfield, the firing of the inept Hue Jackson and the hiring of the hopefully ept Freddie Kitchens, there isn’t much evidence that Haslam has for sure learned the error of his ways.
He must let John Dorsey run the football part of the business with zero meddling.
And he must be patient.
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in the digital marketing world is that you have to let campaigns play out before evaluating. In sports, it’s awfully easy to become impatient and execute a regime change before the plan gets a chance to bear fruit.
You’d think this is a lesson Jimmy Haslam can get behind. However, it hasn’t worked for Jerry Jones in the near three decades he’s owned the Dallas Cowboys, and they truly don’t look to be any closer to the promised land than they were 20 years ago.
So, as a new Browns fan, my confidence soars because John Dorsey appears to be in charge,
But, man, is that tempered by the fact that Jimmy Haslam’s history shows that Dorsey won’t be left alone for very long.
