Failure of an NFL Coach Blames Everyone But Himself for His Firing
Hue Jackson found himself out of a job as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns after a two-and-a-half season run in which the team went 3-36-1, a winning percentage of .088.
Jackson sat down with Mary Kay Cabot, Browns beat writer for Cleveland.com, to tell his side of the story, and he tried, unsuccessfully, to make the case that his firing was “premature.”
Jackson blamed offensive coordinator Todd Haley for the team’s inability to move the ball after Jackson had made the executive decision not to let first-overall draft pick and, from appearances, star in the making Baker Mayfield into games until injury forced his hand.
For what it’s worth, Haley got his walking papers along with Jackson.
Jackson’s statement shows the kind of tone-deaf lack of self-awareness that marks the difference between someone like Michael “I have failed over and over and that’s why I succeed” Jordan and a guy who just fails.
“I was surprised,” the 53-year-old Jackson said. “I’m not going to say just totally blindsided because there was just so much noise out there about what was going on with our football team that I thought was not true. But anytime there’s all these undercurrents going, there’s something in there.
“I was surprised when both (Browns owner) Jimmy (Haslam) and (GM) John (Dorsey) walked in my office and let me know that they’d be relieving me as being the head coach of the Cleveland Browns.
“That’s a hard pill to swallow when you’ve given it your all, and you’ve worked extremely hard and you do everything you can to try to put the place in the best position to move forward. But again, it’s their decision. I have to respect it and move on.”
You just kind of want to pull Jackson aside and say, “Dude. You won three games out of 40. You’re surprised by this?”
Cabot then asked Jackson if there was internal discord in a locker room where order had completely broken down, and if any more people had been thrown under the bus, the drivers union would’ve started complaining about all the speed bumps.
“I didn’t perceive it (that way),” he said. “I think you can disagree with people and not have it be discord. Discord to me is a strong word. It means there’s always infighting. That’s a pretty hot word.
“I know there was disagreements and rightfully so. Who doesn’t disagree? But I think the term internal discord was a little much.
“I believe the message the organization was trying to convey with that was that the success of the organization depends on the success of their future franchise QB in Baker Mayfield. So with the offense not playing well, and me stating that I would look to help out the offense — we were not trending in the direction you would like to see for the development of your No. 1 overall pick.
“So I get that they had a tough decision to make and they felt they did what was in the best interest of the organization going forward. Now in regard to some of the other media stuff about internally things being a mess and losing the players — none of that is accurate at all.”
Then Cabot asked if Jackson was surprised that Haley — the same Haley that Jackson allegedly bad-mouthed to Haslam in hopes of regaining control of the offense — got fired, the very fate that would’ve befallen Haley had Haslam taken Jackson’s advice, and you don’t have to be a burger king to know a whopper when you hear it.
“I can’t speak for the situation with Todd,” he said. “First I was shocked that I was let go and then obviously hearing later on that they let him go — again, they made decisions that they thought were best for them.
“Whether I was shocked or not didn’t matter. I just think as I keep saying, I’m going to respect the decisions they made and move forward.”
All of this, of course, was not lost on the broader internet…
Man, the more Hue Jackson talks, the more I firmly believe he should just stop talking.
— Lance McAlister (@LanceMcAlister) November 2, 2018
And when you can demolish a guy’s entire argument in a tweet, it’s probably not a very good argument:
Hue Jackson’s revisionist history – “I wanted to draft Carson Wentz, Patrick Mahomes, and Deshaun Watson”
Hue Jackson’s reality – I tried to trade a 2nd and 3rd round draft pick for AJ McCarron
— Big Cat (@BarstoolBigCat) November 2, 2018
It seems highly unlikely we’ll ever again see Hue Jackson on an NFL sideline as anything other than an assistant.
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