MIke & Mike ripped on Jimmy this morning with Greenie amazed that the owner is asking the Browns for "patience" after firing his first coach after 11 months when he had to start three different QBs.

Zombo

we ARE the laughing stock of the NFL right now. oh yeah, you can spin it like "we're waiting for the payoffs to end to interview certain candidates" but for all possible reasons who'd want to take the job being on the same level as chud with no guarantee that you won't be canned after the first year.

i think the firing of chud after the first year has come back to bite this FO in the worse way.

(even though i never liked thed the chud hire to begin with).

Heard Clayton on they way home on ESPN radio. Called the Browns situation "a mess".

we ARE the laughing stock of the NFL right now. oh yeah, you can spin it like "we're waiting for the payoffs to end to interview certain candidates" but for all possible reasons who'd want to take the job being on the same level as chud with no guarantee that you won't be canned after the first year.

i think the firing of chud after the first year has come back to bite this FO in the worse way.

(even though i never liked the the chud hire to begin with).

Well ... I think we all feel better.

Zombo

By now, you’ve read Haslam’s letter on ESPNCleveland.com and elsewhere. What you didn’t read was the first draft, penned after Haslam’s butler mistakenly added truth serum, not cream, to Jimmy’s morning brew:

“I thought it was important to update you on our coaching search, which we fully intend to complete as soon as we can convince someone they can win here. We’ve spoken to six guys, three whom have been head coaches and three who’ve been a coordinator in the NFL all of one year apiece. None of them knocked my socks off, even though our general manager, Mike Lombardi, promised me at least one would.

“That guy, Josh McDaniels, might have been OK, but he’s probably next in line to Bill Belichick in New England. I can’t blame Josh for waiting on that job, as opposed to taking over here. That would have made us look really bad nationally, but we covered our butts by leaking a story to our local media that Josh called and asked if he was our frontrunner and we told him he was not, so he withdrew from consideration. I can’t believe anyone fell for that, because no one else was interviewing Josh, so he had no reason to need an answer from us immediately. But, I’ll give Mike credit, he was right when he said everyone would lap up that whopper and run with it.

“Candidly, we’re waiting to interview Broncos offensive coordinator Adam Gase. We plan to do that as soon as Denver’s season concludes. Adam has been on our short list since we fired Rob Chudzinski the night of our season-ending loss to Pittsburgh. You know what other short list Adam is on? The one that lists all the guys who’ve looked bad coaching Peyton Manning. But Mike and our CEO, , Joe Banner, have guaranteed me Adam is the forward-thinking, out-of-the-box innovator we need to turn the Browns around.

“Mike made me the same guarantee about Bobby Rainey being a waste of our time. That was before he rushed for 532 yards (more than any of our running backs) in nine games with Tampa Bay, and before he rushed for five touchdowns (one more than our entire team). Mike also promised me the guy we claimed off the Packers’ practice squad would really help our special teams’ coverage units. We’ll never know if Mike was right about Charles Johnson or not, ‘cause he showed up here with a torn ACL. Guess it was a bumpy flight from Green Bay.

“When I finally recognized my dream of owning a professional football franchise, I never dreamed I’d have a hard time getting someone to take one of only 32 NFL head coaching jobs in the world. Prospective candidates keep asking me why they have to report to Mike and Joe, not me. I assure them I put more research into hiring Mike and Joe than I did into hiring any of my executives at Pilot-Flying J. One guy heard that and said, “In light of the IRS investigation at Pilot, maybe you need some work on vetting your executives.” That galled me, so, candidly, that guy did not get a second interview.

“We have the second-most salary cap space in the NFL because last season, even though we thought it was a good idea to bring three quarterbacks out of training camp, we saved some money by not replacing Hoyer when he tore his ACL. Just before we played New England, it looked like we might not have a healthy quarterback, so we signed Trash Can Kid off the Cowboys’ practice squad. Turns out, Jason Campbell got healthy in time to play against the Patriots, but it sure would have been outside-the-box, forward-thinking fun to have a real life

“We have five Pro Bowlers on our roster, even though Joe and Mike keep telling me our analytics folks see no need to re-sign two of them, Alex Mack or T.J. Ward.

“We have three of the top 35 picks in the upcoming draft and five of the top 83 selections. Just think if Mike spins those selections into impact players like Barkevious Mingo, Leon McFadden and my personal favorite, Jamoris Slaughter. You talk about forward-thinking? Who else but Mike Lombardi would pick a safety who missed almost all of his senior year in college because of a torn Achilles tendon?

“So, don’t worry, fans. We’ve got this under control. Rest assured, when we finally hire a coach, we’re going to bring you a guy who’s every bit as brilliant as we said Chud was when we hired him.

“Thanks for your phenomenal loyalty and support. Don’t forget, season tickets are on sale by calling 1-800-SUCKER.

Jimmy Haslam

“p.s. This coffee tastes funny.”

http://espncleveland.com/common/more.php?m=49&action=blog&post_id=27621

I for one, am at least happy that when losing, Jimmy is not happy, and makes changes when expectations arent met and mistakes are made. whereas Randy Lerner was watching Soccer in England, and didnt even like the sport of American Football.

I'm just happy we have an interactive owner. He seems pretty passionate to me because he seems to have an ego that reflects off the Browns. He really wants to be the guy to turn it all around.

I'm being optimistic but sensibly so.

If Gase is "their guy", then I would bet there's been some sort of contact behind the scenes. Of course that's just a guess like every other bit of news on this search.