How good of a head coach is the Browns’ Hue Jackson right now?
More importantly, how good of a head coach can he become?
I’d say he is a decent coach at this point but has the potential to be a pretty good one. I really do, despite last season’s nightmarish 1-15 record in his first year on the job.
But all that is conjecture. We’re just going to have to wait and see.
In the interim, here’s what I will say: if Jackson becomes anywhere close to as good of a head coach as the Indians’ Terry “Tito” Francona is a manager, then the Browns should be thrilled.
Delighted.
Ecstatic.
Happy beyond their wildest dreams.
All of the above.
I have the utmost respect and admiration for Francona. Without question, I think he is the best manager in baseball. I think he was the best when he was changing history with the Boston Red Sox, and I don’t think he’s lost a step since then.
In fact, I think he’s better here because of what he’s done with the small-market Indians. Money was never a worry in Boston. The Red Sox just spend their way out of mistakes. The Indians can’t do that. They don’t have the funds. If they mess up, then they have to live with it for at least a while.
If you don’t believe that Francona is the best manager there is in the game today, then do the eye test and also the gut test.
That is, when you watch Francona make moves, do you like them? Do they make sense? Do they usually work?
And does your gut allow you to trust him, even when you don’t understand what he’s doing, or why he’s doing it? That’s because he’s a heckuva lot smarter about baseball than any of us are.
Plus, more importantly, Francona completely understands his players, specifically with what they can do, and can’t. He uses that to put them into the best position to succeed. The players know and appreciate that. They trust his moves, even when they don’t agree with them all the time, because they know that what he’s doing is best for the team. They want to win, and they’re well aware that having Francona as the manager gives them the best chance to do that.
That’s the way it is with any great manager or head coach in any sport at any level.
Can Hue Jackson raise his job performance level to anything approaching that?
If he can, then the Browns will have a much, much better chance of getting themselves turned around and becoming a consistent winner.
