Hue Jackson Named Cleveland Browns Head Coach

The coaching carousel in Cleveland has come to another temporary stop, following the announcement that former Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Hue Jackson has taken the top job with the Browns.

The writing was on the wall as soon as the Cleveland brass scheduled a second interview with Jackson, the only candidate to be invited back to the Browns facility.

After fielding offers from both the New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers, Jackson will instead be staying within the AFC North as he attempts to finally build a winning culture as the face of a franchise that has been a model of instability since re-entering the league in 1999.

Jackson made his bones with the Bengals, moving up the chain of command for several seasons before earning another shot at being a head coach. After being ousted from Oakland in 2011, Jackson took over as Cincy’s special teams coach, then running backs coach, and finally offensive coordinator.

In 2013, he earned the respect of many neutral fans on Hard Knocks, where his no-nonsense, tough love approach to coaching was on full display. For an offseason so far characterised by analytics and “numbers guys”, it’s refreshing to see the Browns hire a “player’s coach” with football firmly in his blood.

With the head coach position settled for at least another season, many are expecting the hard-nosed Jackson to do away with Johnny Manziel and his shenanigans. Fox Sports’ NFL insider Mike Garafolo tweeted: “I was told Hue made it clear he wants to move on from Johnny.”

The last the league had heard of Manziel, he was decked in sunglasses and a blonde wig somewhere in Vegas. Already holding the second overall pick in the draft, cutting ties with the disruptive youngster will probably be one of the easier decisions of Cleveland’s offseason, as it gears up to once again chance it’s luck with a prospective franchise quarterback in April’s draft.

The Bengals, meanwhile, have been absolutely gutted by a coaching exile since losing yet another playoff game. Cincy has lost Jackson, as well as both DB coach Vance Joseph and LB coach Matt Burke to the Dolphins. Though it seems likely that the team will retain defensive coordinator Paul Guenther as it prepares for another painful offseason.