The Browns moved on from Hue Jackson nearly three years ago. Jackson, who is planning to release a book about his run in Cleveland, has not moved on entirely from his rocky tenure.
“There is no doubt I was lied to by ownership and the executive team,” Jackson said (via Tom Withers of the Associated Press). “They were going to be football plus analytics, but they intentionally made it football versus analytics. They were going to take two years and they were going to find a way to use us as an experiment to make sure that they got the data that they needed for it to get better — at the expense of whoever — and that’s not right.”
At one point in time, Jackson was regarded as one of the NFL’s top offensive gurus. Then, a 3-36-1 record across two-and-a-half Browns seasons sank his stock. Jackson has been out of the NFL picture ever since, save for a brief return to the Bengals as an assistant in late 2018.
“I want to make sure everybody knows and understands exactly what went on in Cleveland,” said Jackson. “The truth needs to come out. I am tired of being the brunt of jokes and memes and things that people say when they don’t know.”
Jackson, 55, interviewed for the Steelers’ OC job earlier this year, but Pittsburgh promoted Matt Canada instead. Jackson’s latest comments (and forthcoming book) could be an attempt to get back into the coaching mix.
U lied to the league thinking u were head coach material
In his previous one season as a head coach he went 8-8.
He’s 55 and upset about memes, says a lot about who hue Jackson is as a man, I do think he can’t be judged by his time there because the team was absolutely god awful but dude is mad about memes? I don’t know man that seems childish at best
He’s an otherwise accomplished professional who’s been made the butt of jokes for several years, who’s reputation has been trashed, and the rest of his career either completely ignored or grossly distorted – as seen elsewhere in this thread – and he wants to set the record straight about the internal functioning of what is widely seen as the worst run franchise in the NFL, if not in all of American professional sports. I have no idea whether he has a good case to make or not, but if you’ve read any history, it’s not hard to imagine someone getting incensed over the trashing of a 30-year career based on three years working in Disfunctionville.
He sucked, no doubt….but wtf does this comment exactly mean? He lied to league thinking he was a head coach? Huuh? Lol
Never knew he ever announced this. As far as I know, he took a job as a head coach and the results were bad, which wasn’t all his fault. A lot of the blame goes to…..ugh…. THE PLAYERS. The ones that actually PLAY THE GAME. Not to mention anyone else that had anything to do with the franchise, which absolutely was a joke for so many years. Probably the worst professional franchise in a long time back then.
So there is PLENTY of blame to go around during his tenure as the head coach of that awful franchise.
He wasn’t good and this is obviously sour grapes on his part, but he didn’t hire himself to be Cleveland’s head coach.
Sounds like something a terrible coach would say. “It’s not my fault the team was terrible”
Jackson may have been dealt a crappy hand, but he played the cards. And 3 wins in 3 years is all you really need to hear.
Exactly!
This is the best possible explanation
Scumbag
Prick
Move on Hue. You made good $$ for doing nothing.
You doomed your career when you started tyrod over Baker for the first few weeks.
I vaguely remember on the HARD KNOCKS episodes on the Browns that Jackson refused to make players not able to participate in practice stay to watch and thus learn. He basically had a belligerently hands off approach and acted all proud of himself, as though it somehow was going to make players better.
It showed he doesn’t know a thing about competent coaching and it’s obvious he can’t admit his approach is a failure.
Multiple stops in the NFL and every organization ended up better off when he left.
But I am sure that is not in his book.
I’m sure it’s not in his book because it is simply wrong, markdavisbarber, to the tune of five organizations in worse shape after Jackson left, and two in better shape.
The five organizations in worse shape after Jackson:
1. OC in Washington in 2003, 22nd in points, 23rd in yards. With Don Breaux as OC in 2004, they fall to 31st in points and 30th in yards.
2. OC in Oakland in 2010, 6th in points and 10th in yards. Takes over as HC in 2011, the O ranks 16th in points and 9th in yards, and the team finishes 8-8. Over the next three years under Dennis Allen and Tony Sparano, the Raiders finish 4-12, 4-12 and 3-13, and the offense never finishes above 24th in points and 18th in yards.
3. OC in Cincinnati in 2014 and 2015, and the O ranks 15th in points and yards in 2014, and 7th in points and 15th in yards in 2015. The team makes the playoffs both years, winning the division with a 12-4 record in 2015. The Bengals haven’t had a winning record or made the playoffs since, finished 17th one year in points and 13th a different year in yards, but have finished in the bottom 10 in points and/or yards in four out of the following five seasons.
4. Even as a position coach, the Bengals were better on offensive rankings and in wins and losses when he was the WR Coach in 2004-06 than they were the next two years.
5. And the Ravens ranked better in points and yards when he was their QB coach in 2008 and 2009 than they did the following year.
The two organizations in better shape after Jackson:
1. OC in Atlanta in 2007, 29th in points and 23rd in yards. In 2008, Mike Smith took over as the HC, Matt Ryan was drafted to replace Joey Harrington, and both the offense and the defense jumped from bottom five to top 11.
2. Cleveland.
MarkDavisBarber –
You’ve just been burned! Try doing some research before running your mouth…you’re less likely to come off as a complete fool if you do
Yeppers — Burned…
Got burned talking about a coach who wrote a book complaining about a team he guided to a 1-31 record. A coach with 17 years of NFL experience and one Wild Card loss on his resume.
So burned
Boy, you don’t know when to quit, markdavisbarber.
In his 18 years as an NFL coach – not 17 – Jackson’s teams are 3-7 in the playoffs, 3-2 with Baltimore and 0-5 with Cincinnati. And his record with the Browns is 3-36-1, not 1-31, as he was their head coach for two-and-a-half years, not just two years.
Pro Football Reference is your friend.
I’m going to guess that writing a book that (presumably) is highly critical of one of your last employers is not a great way to “get back into the coaching mix…”
That’s what I was thinking…..
You don’t write a book like this unless the opportunities have already evaporated.
This is a classic tell-all book by a disgruntled employee who can’t find another job and needs the money.
And the book publisher is playing the whip-up excitement game. Drop a few controversial details to help book sales.
You went 1-31. Just stop talking.
They are who we thought they were!
With his record and ability, he would have shard time coaching a dog to bark.
Man Hue should be counting his blessings the Browns aren’t trying to get the money he stole from them. Man is lucky he wasn’t fired after his first year.
This piece of garbage went 1-31 and kept his job. He needs to shut up and fade away quietly
This book is gonna suck too
You agreed to the Browns after all. Come on, you knew you were signing with one of the worst teams in the NFL.
I’ll probably buy his book. #SaidNoOneEver
Exactly what I was thinking. Who wants to read a book about a team who wins three times in three years and the coach is complaining about being fired? And why would that coach want a permanent memoir of his feeble record? The Browns were the laughingstock of the NFL during his tenure. Makes next to zero sense why he wrote it.
Zero sense? Um… $$$$$$$$
Lying psychopath race baiter says what?
So much for his NFL coaching career,
Not defending Hue, but Haslem is a Grade A moron who seemed to change course from day to day. There are a few insider articles written about the Browns and in all of them, Haslem comes off as an impulsive fool. Here’s one of them.
link to espn.com
Again, not defending Hue as his awful record speaks for itself. But the Browns have been awful from the top down for a while.
Agreed
Haslam is not a moron because he may do things you don’t like. He has spent money on the team and wants to win. He may have made bad hires and some bad decisions but moron is a little much.
No chance he gets a coaching gig now. No front office is gonna take the chance of getting thrown under the bus when he wets himself.
In the book there are 17 chapters on the 1 Win he had in 3 years and how to develop a winning mentality
Hue is a legend in his own mind. He torpedoed Cable behind the scenes in Oakland. He is the poster child for self promotion and disloyalty. Needs to grab a mirror ( his best friend) and an Irish coffee and go away.
This man wouldn’t know the truth if it tap danced across his forehead wearing cement loafers. Such a great coach that he’s been in “Hue” demand ever since.
The incredible thing is the Browns stuck with Jackson for nearly three seasons. One of those years his team lost every single game and he was not fired. Lost every single game. Didn’t lose his job. It doesn’t matter if he was lied to. He had some pretty good players on his team. He won thee games in three years.
The fact that he didn’t lose his job makes me think that maybe there is some truth to what he is saying
Hue who?
Dude… some guys are hired to be there for the tank job. Get over it and interview better or go into broadcasting.
Consider myself an old school fan and I know most of the great coaching legends never had to rely on analytics. Stats have some value but you will never be able to measure a players competitive spirit and willingness to sacrifice for teammates using analytics.
Hue was SO bad when he was coach!
blasting people with comments and publishing a book about it is not the way to get back into coaching…try proving yourself!
poor baby was lied to…awww…suck it up buttercup.
entitled P.O.S.
All you needed to do was resign. Since you did not, you weren’t a victim, you were a willing participant.
Why didn’t the Browns fire him if he was so terrible? Did the organization want to go through that miserable streak? Any team with half a clue would have fired a coach after one such season, yet the Browns kept him for 3. Explain that.
What a crybaby! He should be glad he had the opportunity to coach. He didn’t do well. There’s always high school.
High schools aren’t banging down the doors for 3-36-1 coaches. I see a Progressive Insurance commercial in his future.
If the ownership came to me with a hairbrained idea that they were going to use 2 years as an experiment for analytics. Id quit. Because anything that’s involves the word experiment and my job doesn’t sound like an ideal situation. He was pretty well thought of at one point. So he could of quit and went and got another OC job and waited for a better head coaching job to open up. He CHOSE to stay there. And if they told him the plan they were putting in place that’s just as much his fault as the organizations. So how exactly did they lie to him if they laid out that they were using 2 seasons as an experiment in analytics?
3-36-1. Nuff’ said.
Hue lied to us, he said he could coach.
Anyone being critical of those that are critical of Jackson should be made to accept him as head coach of their favorite NFL team, then we’ll see how quick you are to defend him. He’s a disgrace as a head coach that did nothing but make up excuses as losses piled up, claiming “I need to watch the tapes.” Frankly, I don’t think he EVER watched the tapes!!!