Tag: Haslam

Browns fire two-time Coach of the Year Kevin Stefanski, retain GM

Posted on | by Field Level Media

Browns general manager Andrew Berry was spared but head coach Kevin Stefanski is out in Cleveland.

Franchise owner Jimmy Haslam confirmed the move Monday after the Browns ended the 2025 season with a 5-12 record.

“This was a difficult decision and today is a tough day for our organization because of the impact Kevin has had and the deep, meaningful relationships he has built across our building,” said Berry, who also holds the title of executive vice president of football operations. “We have great respect for Kevin, who has led our organization through both unique and challenging circumstances over his six seasons. Over that time, he has been more than a coach but also a partner, friend and stabilizing force for our team.

“… I am disappointed that we could not accomplish more together and the collective underperformance of our group is something I own. “

Stefanski, 43, had a 45-56 record over six seasons, but said in a statement on Monday he will depart with a “sense of gratitude.”

“When I arrived in January of 2020, this organization, this community and Browns fans embraced me and my family with open arms. I cannot express properly in words how good we have been treated. A sincere ‘Thank You’ to everyone who I have been so blessed to work for and with over these six seasons. I’d like to especially thank my coaching staff and the players who did everything that was ever asked of them. They fought through injury and adversity, while always putting the TEAM FIRST. I wish all of you nothing but success.”

Haslam also voiced gratitude for Stefanski’s leadership in a tenure that was disrupted months after his hire by the COVID-19 pandemic and genuine care for his personnel.

“He is a good football coach and an even better person. We appreciate all his hard work and dedication to our organization, but our results over the last two seasons have not been satisfactory, and we believe a change at the head coaching position is necessary,” Haslam and his wife, Dee, said in a statement Monday.

Hired in January 2020, Stefanski won 11 games in his first season and led the team to two playoff appearances and two 11-win seasons. and is one of 16 coaches in the history of the NFL Coach of the Year award (established 1957) to win it twice.

Stefanski and Pro Football Hall of Fame member Paul Brown (1951 and 1953) as the only coaches in team history to record multiple seasons with at least 11 regular-season wins.

–Field Level Media

Sep 8, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Browns managing and principal partner Jimmy Haslam walks on to the field before the game against the Dallas Cowboys at Huntington Bank Field. Mandatory Credit: Scott Galvin-Imagn Images

Browns plan to leave Cleveland, build domed stadium in suburbs

Posted on | by Field Level Media

The Cleveland Browns plan to leave their lakefront stadium in the city for a domed field in suburban Brook Park, Cleveland mayor Justin Bibb said Thursday.

Bibb called a news conference to announce that Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam informed him Wednesday night of their intention to locate the franchise elsewhere. The two sides had been working toward drafting an agreement to renovate Huntington Bank Stadium, which opened in 1999 on the shores of Lake Erie in the city’s downtown.

“The Haslams’ choice to move the team away from the city is frustrating and profoundly disheartening,” Bibb said. “Over the past three years this administration made relentless efforts to craft solutions that advance HSG’s (Haslam Sports Group) objectives and long-term interest of our residents and the broader community.”

The Browns proposed a public-private partnership to pay for $1 billion in renovations to the current stadium, with each side paying half. Cleveland.com reported Bibb offered $367 million plus funding for future maintenance, but the Haslams chose Brook Park instead.

Bibb apparently wasn’t going to budge if a proposal wasn’t in the best interests of the people of Cleveland.

“Haslam Sports Group may want a roof over their heads, but it is my responsibility as mayor of great city to ensure Cleveland residents have a roof over theirs,” Bibb said.

A statement issued Thursday afternoon by the Haslams said Brook Park offers the Browns — and the region — the best option.

“We have had positive, productive, and collaborative dialogue with the Mayor and his staff, working together to find the optimal long-term solution for our stadium,” the Haslams said.

“We pursued many possibilities, with our initial focus on renovating the current stadium and engaged design, construction and engineering experts to develop a plan to do so. We also explored building a new stadium on multiple sites, both within and outside of Cleveland. We’ve learned through our exhaustive work that renovating our current stadium will simply not solve many operational issues and would be a short-term approach. With more time to reflect, we have also realized that without a dome, we will not attract the type of large-scale events and year-round activity to justify the magnitude of this public-private partnership. The transformational economic opportunities created by a dome far outweigh what a renovated stadium could produce with around ten events per year.”

The Browns are proposing to build a domed complex in Brook Park, a suburb about 15 miles southwest of Cleveland and near Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. The estimated cost is $2.4 billion, and the Haslams said they favor to split the cost with the public through the sale of bonds.

“With the funding mechanisms we continue to work on, this stadium will not use existing taxpayer-funded streams that would divert resources from other more pressing needs,” they said. “Instead, the over $2 billion private investment, together with the public investment, will create a major economic development project that will drive the activity necessary to pay the public bond debt service through future project-generated and Browns-generated revenue.”

The office of Cuyahoga County executive Chris Ronayne — the county includes both Brook Park and Cleveland — issued a brief statement on his behalf Thursday, saying Ronayne “has made his position clear: the Browns stadium should remain Downtown. Today he is focused on the business of Cuyahoga County and cheering for a Guardians win tonight (over the New York Yankees).”

Bibb said Cleveland will listen if the Brook Park site falls through.

“My team and I stand ready to re-engage with the Haslams if the Brook Park option does not prove viable,” he said.

“And should the Haslams reconsider, we are ready to return to the table and continue working towards a solution that keeps the Browns in the city that has stood by them for decades, and decades, and decades — Cleveland, Ohio.”

Under former owner Art Modell, the Browns left Cleveland before the 1996 season and relocated to Baltimore, with Modell dissatisfied with the conditions at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Under an agreement with the NFL, Modell was granted a new franchise, which became the Ravens, with the Browns name and franchise history remaining in Cleveland.

What now is known as Huntington Bank Field was built by the city and opened in 1999, the year the Browns returned to the NFL.

–Field Level Media

Dec 9, 2018; Carson, CA, USA; Cincinnati Bengals special assistant to the head coach Hue Jackson watches from the sidelines in the second quarter against the Los Angeles Chargers at StubHub Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

NFL: No evidence to support Hue Jackson’s claims of Browns tanking

Posted on | by Field Level Media

An independent review into former Cleveland Browns coach Hue Jackson’s allegations that the team incentivized him to intentionally lose games found “no evidence” to back the claims, the NFL announced Monday.

Former U.S. Attorney and Securities and Exchange Commission chair Mary Jo White led a team of lawyers on an investigation that lasted 60 days, in response to Jackson writing on social media in February that the Browns paid him bonuses to tank in 2016 and 2017.

“The investigation found no evidence to suggest that the Browns’ Four-Year Plan or the club’s ownership or football personnel sought to lose or incentivized losses and made no decisions deliberately to weaken the team to secure a more favorable draft position,” the NFL said in a press release.

The league added that Jackson, now the coach of Grambling State, initially agreed to meet with White’s team but failed to follow through.

According to the league, the Browns produced “thousands of pages” worth of emails, memos and other documents from the time period in question, which did not turn up any potential evidence of tanking.

Jackson compiled a 3-36-1 record in two-plus seasons as Cleveland’s head coach, including a 1-15 mark in 2016 (his first year on the job) and 0-16 the following year. Those dreadful records helped the Browns earn the first overall picks in consecutive drafts, which they used to select edge rusher Myles Garrett and quarterback Baker Mayfield.

In February, in the wake of Brian Flores’ racial discrimination lawsuit against the NFL and several teams, Jackson implied in multiple social media posts that Browns owner Jimmy Haslam paid him bonuses to lose, at one point writing, “Trust me, it was a good number!”

He backpedaled on those specific accusations later in the week in interviews with ESPN and CNN, instead saying that his situation had “similarities” to Flores’ with the Miami Dolphins. Haslam, meanwhile, denied the allegations.

“We appreciate the independent investigation led by Mary Jo White and the Debevoise (law firm) team which brings closure to these allegations that Hue Jackson publicly recanted shortly after they were made and that we’ve known all along are categorically false,” the Browns said in a statement Monday. “As we’ve previously stated, we welcomed this investigation because the integrity of our game is something that should not be taken lightly and an independent review was crucial in bringing a conclusion to this matter.”

White was also appointed by the NFL to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct against Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder, which was later expanded to include finance-related allegations against the team. That probe is ongoing.

–Field Level Media

Cleveland Browns Managing and Principal Partner Jimmy Haslam watches his team warmup before an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 31, 2021, in Cleveland, Ohio. [Jeff Lange/Beacon Journal] Browns Pregame 2

Browns owner denies Hue Jackson’s allegations

Posted on | by Field Level Media

Not only did Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam deny Hue Jackson’s allegation that he was asked to lose games, but Haslem took shots at the former head coach on Thursday, too.

Earlier this week, in the wake of Brian Flores filing a lawsuit alleging that the Dolphins owner offered to pay him to lose games during his time as Miami’s head coach, Jackson maintained that the same scenario occurred with him in Cleveland.

Haslem responded in an interview with the Knoxville News Sentinel.

“Hue Jackson has never, ever accepted any responsibility for our record during that time period,” Haslam said. “He’s been masterful at pointing fingers but has never accepted any blame. I have accepted a ton of blame, and rightfully so.

“There are a lot of things I could’ve done better. Hue has never accepted blame for one thing. …

“Unequivocally, Hue Jackson was never paid to lose games. That is an absolute falsehood. And it’s also an absolute falsehood that I laughed while we were losing.”

Jackson produced a 3-36-1 record in his 2 1/2 seasons as the Browns’ head coach from 2016-18.

Haslam added, “I can’t think of any individual that I’ve worked with over the past 45 years that I spent as much time trying to help be successful as I did Hue Jackson. His third year, when our roster began to pretty dramatically improve, the eight games he coached, we were 2-5-1. After Hue was dismissed, we went 5-3.”

The Browns responded as a team to Jackson’s allegations on Wednesday, saying in a statement, “The recent comments by Hue Jackson and his representatives relating to his tenure as our head coach are completely fabricated. Any accusation that any member of our organization was incentivized to deliberately lose games is categorically false.”

–Field Level Media