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Whisenhunt in the hunt

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  • The GipperT The Gipper

    pghbigkev said:

    As a Steelers fan, I absolutely loved the Wiz. Your offense will be both physical and aggressive. He was actually my choice when Cowher retired and I was sad to see him leave the organization. I also met him at training camp in 06 and out of all Steelers players and coaches I met, he was both the nicest and down to earth person that I talked to. With Wiz as your coach, the North better buckle up for Cleveland as contender.

    Also, I suspect that Haslam had knowledge and interaction with Wiz from his brief time as minority owner there.

    Yea, like I said, I see this as possibly Haslam putting his foot down with his subordinates and saying "see if we can get this guy!"

    Good for him as far as I am concerned.

    (and, as I noted in a thread elsewhere: in a couple of years it could be a guy like Whisenhunt who would become "The Boss". Not Banner or Lombardi....just like BB became the boss in Boston.)

    @the-gipper said:

    (and, as I noted in a thread elsewhere: in a couple of years it could be a guy like Whisenhunt who would become "The Boss". Not Banner or Lombardi....just like BB became the boss in Boston.)

    Yep, and this prospect is only more good news for the long haul.

  • banner and lombardi's egos are way too high to let a lowly HC override anything they say.

    but yes, i like wisenhunt a lot.

    back when i'd eat lauren holly's ass. she hit the wall about ten years ago.

  • Finally! A name that makes sense!

  • If he DOES take the job, it's b/c he knows who his next QB is going to be (Bridgewater/Manziel/Bortles) and he might force Lombardi/Banner to trade up to #1 to make sure they get that guy... I'm all for it, and for keeping Horton around if that's possible... I am one of the few that may have liked McDaniels, but WIsenhunt is clearly an equal-to-better option...

    #Justsayin'

  • Would love to have him.

    Also, a better thread title would have been "Wiz In The Hunt".

    once a fan, always a fan. married to a steeler fan. aaaaaaaaah! --andy

  • Wiz is probably what this team needs in the tough AFC North. He would bring a dependable running game (remember that?), a tough defense and good special teams play............... Makes too much sense, which means he wont land here.

  • Couple of thoughts on this one:

    1) He was OC for the steelers when they drafted Big Ben - would that make it more likely we see someone like Bortles than Manziel?

    2) Banner previously said fairly unequivically that nobody they interviewed last year would be looked at this year. this would seem to clearly indicate a lack of a plan, or failure to execute said plan.

    The GipperT 1 Reply
  • The GipperT The Gipper

    pghbigkev said:

    As a Steelers fan, I absolutely loved the Wiz. Your offense will be both physical and aggressive. He was actually my choice when Cowher retired and I was sad to see him leave the organization. I also met him at training camp in 06 and out of all Steelers players and coaches I met, he was both the nicest and down to earth person that I talked to. With Wiz as your coach, the North better buckle up for Cleveland as contender.

    Also, I suspect that Haslam had knowledge and interaction with Wiz from his brief time as minority owner there.

    Yea, like I said, I see this as possibly Haslam putting his foot down with his subordinates and saying "see if we can get this guy!"

    Good for him as far as I am concerned.

    (and, as I noted in a thread elsewhere: in a couple of years it could be a guy like Whisenhunt who would become "The Boss". Not Banner or Lombardi....just like BB became the boss in Boston.)

    @the-gipper said:

    Also, I suspect that Haslam had knowledge and interaction with Wiz from his brief time as minority owner there.

    Yea, like I said, I see this as possibly Haslam putting his foot down with his subordinates and saying "see if we can get this guy!"

    Good for him as far as I am concerned.

    (and, as I noted in a thread elsewhere: in a couple of years it could be a guy like Whisenhunt who would become "The Boss". Not Banner or Lombardi....just like BB became the boss in Boston.)

    Here is some evidence to support your suspicions:

    Peter King of Sports Illustrated tweeted that Browns owner Jimmy Haslam is "very involved. I mean, very involved" with the team's head coaching search. Last year, Chris Mortensen of ESPN reported that Haslam really liked Whisenhunt and the fact that he's been to a Super Bowl.

    (from http://www.dawgsbynature.com/2014/1/9/5291246/ken-whisenhunt-re-enters-the-cleveland-browns-coaching-search)

    I suspect, as you said, that Haslam is finally getting wise to the incompetents he has in his FO and is heading up this coaching search. You can almost guess as to which of the potential coaches were Haslam's idea vs. Banner vs. Lombardi.

    Haslam said he wants a "proven winner." Enter Wisenhunt, Malzahn, and Franklin.

    Banner seems to be trying to discover someone like he did with Andy Reid. In other words, someone who has not won games as a head coach, but has the potential to do so. Enter McAdoo, Gase, Dan Quinn, Todd Bowles.

    Lombardi seems interested in bringing in someone he has a man-crush on: Enter McDaniels (who has now exited).

    Of all the coaches mentioned above, the ones I favor are the ones I speculate are Haslam's choices. Wisenhunt has won before and knows the AFC North very well. Malzahn is the "Chip Kelly" of this year and turned around a horrible college program and is viewed as an offensive genius. Franklin also turned around a horrible program and I think from a character standpoint would be a great choice if you are concerned with keeping Manziel and Gordon on the straight and narrow, as he is someone who involves himself in a positive way in the lives of his players. This young Brown's team could benefit from that.

    You have to imagine that Haslam's patience has thinned with Banner and Lombardi after Chud's failure, and right now I am hopeful he is ready to exercise his authority on the coaching search. Having watched the press conference, I picked up on a lot of anxiety on the part of Banner, and I'm sure he took a lot of heat from Haslam regarding Chud's failure. People will recall that Banner said they wouldn't interview anyone from last year, yet here they are doing so. I think that smacks of Haslam overruling Banner on that decision.

    I may not even be surprised if Banner and Lombardi get fired after the coaching search is complete and Haslam tries to bring in someone new with a good drafting record for the draft (perhaps wishful thinking).

    "I said, 'I need someone who's going to want to get on the roller coaster with me knowing that it's not always going to be fun,'" -Paul DePodesta
  • gftChrisG gftChris

    Couple of thoughts on this one:

    1) He was OC for the steelers when they drafted Big Ben - would that make it more likely we see someone like Bortles than Manziel?

    2) Banner previously said fairly unequivically that nobody they interviewed last year would be looked at this year. this would seem to clearly indicate a lack of a plan, or failure to execute said plan.

    @gftchris said:

    Couple of thoughts on this one:

    1) He was OC for the steelers when they drafted Big Ben - would that make it more likely we see someone like Bortles than Manziel?

    Maybe, who knows....and he will never reveal what he thinks until the draft pick is made.

    2) Banner previously said fairly unequivically that nobody they interviewed last year would be looked at this year. this would seem to clearly indicate a lack of a plan, or failure to execute said plan.

    More likely it is the Owner overriding his hirelings, and tell them he wants them to go after Whisenhunt....after the plan to get McDaniels fell through.

  • Here's an impressive list of assistant coaches he has worked with:

    • Russ Grimm - Former PIT & AZ OL coach, who was in competetion with Tomlin for the Steelers job, which supposedly got taken away due to the Rooney Rule. Was not coaching in 2013.
    • Mike Miller - AZ WRs coach when Fitzgerald and Boldin went to the Pro Bowl in the same year, and not to mention the SB. Was coaching last year in the CFL after losing his OC job when Whiz got fired in AZ
    • Ray Horton - of course
    • Maurice Carthon - former Browns OC (remember that debacle). Been coaching in the NFL since 1994, particularly offense and RBs, also has 2 nice SB rings as a player. Was not coaching in 2013.
    • Clancy Pendergast - current DC at USC. Another former Browns coach, who got stolen by AZ and was DC when they went to the SB. Has a lot of experience coaching D, and has particularly been a DBs coach.
    • Billy Davis - current Eagles DC. Twice former Browns coach (LBs). Was on Dick Jauron's staff before leaving for Philly for a promotion. Been coaching in the NFL since 1992
    • Kevin Spencer - current ST coach in San Diego. Has always coached great ST. Began his coaching career under Bill Bellichick in Cleveland
    • John Lott - current AZ strength & conditioning coordinator. Famous for being the bench press coach at the combine. Also was Strength & conditioning coach for the Browns in '05 and '06
    • Freddie Kitchens - current QB coach in AZ. Former TE coach in AZ, and former Alabama starting QB. Did well with Palmer this past year...
    • Todd Haley - current Steelers OC. I don't want him...
    • Donnie Henderson - Current Bills DBs coach. Was never a Browns coach. Has coached D, especially DBs, since 1992 at NFL and college levels
    • Frank Reich - current QBs coach in San Diego. Worked as Offensive assistant and QBs coach under Tony Dungy with Peyton Manning in Indy. Has been with Whisenhunt the past 2 seasons.
    • Fred Graves - current WRs coach in San Diego. Former Browns WRs coach in 2004. Spending most of his career at the University of Utah coaching different offensive position sets, and being the offensive coordinator, he began coaching WRs in the NFL in 2001 and has held that post for 6 different coaching staffs. Rumor is he has made his receivers catch bricks in order to work on their hands... I like it.

    I'd love to see some of these guys in Cleveland if he gets hired...

    #Justsayin'

  • I'll believe it only when it happens, but at least there's hope. Two phrases I'm literally hating right now is "it has been speculated", and "according to sources".

  • Since Lovie was already hired, this is my favorite option for the Browns. Would be cool if he brought Grimm along and kept Horton. I would love this hire.

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