CLEVELAND: Jimmy Haslam jinxed the Browns on Aug. 1 when he vowed not to blow up the organization after the 2015 season.
The Browns went on to have a horrendous season, and Haslam responded by firing coach Mike Pettine and General Manager Ray Farmer. The team announced the moves Sunday night after the Browns lost 28-12 to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the season finale at FirstEnergy Stadium.
Despite Haslam’s summertime declaration, the shake-up came as no surprise because the Browns finished 3-13, tied for the worst record in the NFL with the Tennessee Titans, and lost 18 of their past 21 games. They’ll have the second overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft and, barring a trade, the first crack at selecting a quarterback. The Titans, who are not in the market for a quarterback because they drafted Marcus Mariota second overall last year, have the No. 1 overall choice.
“The first question that’s going to come up is, ‘I thought we weren’t going to blow things up,’ ” Haslam said when he met with reporters after handing out pink slips. “I don’t think any of us anticipated going 3-13. I certainly didn’t, and I don’t think anybody in our building did. Mike and Ray understand. They understand it’s a bottom-line business, and you’re paid to win games.”
Haslam also explained how he changed the entire structure of the organization.
Haslam promoted Sashi Brown from executive vice president/general counsel to executive vice president of football operations. Brown will have final say on the 53-man roster and draft picks in addition to controlling the salary cap.
“He’s got experience in the cap,” Haslam said. “The last year or two he has been involved in our football administration. He’s smart. He works well with others. He has low ego, and he’s very strategic.”
Haslam, wife Dee, Brown and Jed Hughes of the Korn Ferry consulting firm have launched a search for the team’s eighth full-time head coach since 1999 and the sixth since 2008. Haslam hired Hughes, who coached defensive backs for the Browns in 1989, because he has spearheaded successful hires for other NFL teams. Haslam said President Alec Scheiner will focus on the business side of the organization and not be involved in the search.
“I’m cautiously optimistic we can find a great head coach for the Cleveland Browns,” Haslam said, adding no interviews had been scheduled as of Sunday night.
The Browns are among a handful of teams with head-coaching vacancies.
Once the coach is hired, he will aid the search committee’s quest for the team’s eighth GM of the expansion era. The coach will have control of the game-day roster and report to Haslam.
The GM will focus on talent acquisition. He’ll set up the draft board, oversee the scouting department and report to Brown.
“We have not acquired talent well at all,” Haslam said. “Talent acquisition is the key.”
Haslam hopes the new coach and GM work better together than Pettine and Farmer did.
“I think there’s an opportunity for us to work much closer together going forward than we have in the past,” he said.
Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Adam Gase, Jacksonville Jaguars offensive line coach/assistant head coach Doug Marrone and Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Teryl Austin are among the coaching candidates the Browns are expected to pursue.
Haslam tried to interview Gase in 2014 before he withdrew himself from consideration to focus on a Super Bowl run with the Denver Broncos. Haslam interviewed Marrone in 2013 before he took the head coaching job of the Buffalo Bills.
Chip Kelly qualifies as another name to watch. Haslam pushed hard to hire him in 2013, but Kelly ultimately went to the Philadelphia Eagles, who recently dismissed him.
The pool of GM candidates could include Green Bay Packers director of player personnel Eliot Wolf, Kansas City Chiefs director of football operations Chris Ballard, Minnesota Vikings assistant GM George Paton and Cincinnati Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin.
Asked how much a “splash hire” for coach appeals to him, Haslam said, “Zero. The key is to get the right person to lead his team for a long time and somebody that will come in here and work with Sashi and our general manager, etcetera, moving forward.”
Haslam conceded he worries about whether the Browns can attract a top coach, but he thinks 11 draft picks, including Nos. 2 and 32 overall, and a great fan base can entice quality candidates.
“The Browns’ track record and our track record as owner, you go, ‘Well, why in the hell would anybody want to go there?’ ” he said. “... I still think this is a very attractive job and I’m very excited to go out and find the right person to do it.”
Pettine looked like he could be the right guy when the Browns went 7-4 to start his tenure, but it went downhill from there. His record of 10-22 in two seasons, 7-9 last season and then 3-13, doomed him.
“I told the guys afterward, I couldn’t be more proud of the effort,” Pettine said following the finale.
“... They deserve better than three wins and that’s on all of us. Tough way to end it.”
Haslam said some of Pettine’s assistant coaches will be retained.
“There are several coaches, and I don’t want to get into the specifics, that we will ask to stick around and several that won’t,” Haslam said.
The four first-round draft picks selected on Farmer’s watch — cornerback Justin Gilbert, quarterback Johnny Manziel, nose tackle Danny Shelton and offensive lineman Cameron Erving — have struggled early in their careers.
Farmer also had some misses in free agency. The biggest was signing veteran wide receiver Dwayne Bowe in March to a two-year, $12.5 million contract, which includes $9 million guaranteed. Bowe was inactive in nine games and a healthy scratch in eight, including Sunday’s finale.
He finished with five catches for 53 yards.
“I don’t think our roster is, given the money we’ve had to spend that we’ve spent on free agents and the draft picks that we’ve had, is where it needs to be,” Haslam said.
But Haslam blames himself more than anyone for the team’s failures.
“The fact in the two full seasons we’ve owned the team, we’ve won seven games and three games is unacceptable,” he said. “We accept full responsibility.
“This is probably a several-year rebuilding program. As long as we feel we are directionally correct and getting better, then we will stick with things. We will be patient. We do want to do this the right way.”
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Browns blog at www.ohio.com/browns. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NateUlrichABJ and on Facebook www.facebook.com/abj.sports.