By now, it’s no secret to anyone that I am not only a fan of the Browns, but all of the Cleveland sports teams. I must say this though, this is the most nervous I’ve been about a decision the Browns are going to make in a long time. I am one of the people who did not like Chip Kelly as a fit for this team. I felt if you hire someone you hire them for who they are and what they’ve done and what you know about them, not hire them based on what you think they can do, and what Chip Kelly had done was prove he was a very good college coach, with a very good college system. But if you wanted him to come to Cleveland he would not have been able to use that system, so why hire a coach that you want to immediately change? That’s like dating a girl/guy just so you don’t have to be alone, and try to conform them into who you want and MAKE them the perfect fit for you, it never works. So instead of trying to “make” Chip Kelly into a successful coach I thought why not just go after one who has the tools and background that gives you the biggest chance to succeed.

You see these were my biggest issues with the previous Browns regime, in particular Mike Holmgren. I felt they/he made too many decisions based on ego and “gut” instead of facts. For example keeping Eric Mangini around for an extra year, everyone knows that when you clean house, you do exactly that...clean house. That did nothing but waste a year and add a built in excuse to the fans as to why they should be “patient”.  Then hiring Pat Shurmur, a coach who had no credible background to suggest he would be a successful NFL head coach with his only season as an offensive coordinator coming with the Rams in a 7-9 season, but the lockout was the excuse there. Lastly his handpicked decision of Brandon Weeden. The jury is still out on Weeden, however you will hear, as the draft approaches many people say numerous times how the draft isn’t an exact science, but it’s a process that you take all facts available to you to make the best possible decision (especially on quarterbacks). It seems with Weeden the opposite approach was taken, and again a “gut” decision was made.

So this is why I was weary of another “gut” decision being made when it came to who the new head coach is of the Cleveland Browns. Then last night a report surfaces that Bill Cowher DOES in fact want to return to the sidelines. New owner Jimmy Haslam has been adamant about building this team the Steeler way. Which as a Browns fan, yes I hate the Steelers, but I also respect them as being exactly what they are, and that is the model of consistency as an NFL franchise, not only with wins and losses, but their coaches and stability which are all things that have been missing for the Browns. So currently Bill Cowher wants to return to coaching again, the Browns do not currently have a GM, and Haslam has said repeatedly that he wants his Head Coach to play a huge role in those football decisions, and I’ll do you one better, we all know that Cowher, in his second stint as an NFL head coach will not be around forever, so you bring Ken Whisenhunt back in with him, and set the plan in place, almost as you would in college, for him to be Cowher’s successor in Cleveland. How fantastic would that be for Browns fans if all along this is what Jimmy Haslam had in his brilliant mind, and how refreshing would it be to have someone in Cleveland making decisions with his mind, as opposed to his “gut.”

Richard “Pork Chop” Rodawalt