There was an episode of the TV show “Happy Days” back in the early 1970s in which Fonzie revealed he had a checklist for women.
A woman had to meet all his requirements before Fonzie would date her.
As stupid as it may sound, I thought about that episode from over 40 years ago when I heard the news today that the Browns had hired Hue Jackson as their head coach.
Just like Fonzie, the Browns had a wish list for the man they wanted to bring on board. Perhaps they couldn’t be as picky as The Fonz – come one, no one was cooler than he was – but the Browns still were looking for certain characteristics.
They preferred that he have a good understanding of offense, since the Cleveland offense last year was one of the worst in franchise history.
Check the box next to Jackson’s name on that one.
The Browns preferred that he have a good understanding of quarterbacks, since they’ve been looking – unsuccessfully so — for a competent QB from the very beginning of the expansion era.
Check the box next to Jackson’s name on that one.
They preferred that he have previous head-coaching experience on the NFL level, since, after the likes of Mike Pettine, Pat Shurmur, Rob Chudzinski, Romeo Crennel, Butch Davis and Chris Palmer, they’ve had their fill with first-timers and all the mistakes they tend to make. They wanted someone who had committed those rookie faux pas on someone else’s time.
Check the box next to Jackson’s name on that one.
The Browns preferred that, regardless of his head-coaching experience, he be a little older and as such perhaps a little more mature, a little wiser and more level-headed.
Check the box next to Jackson’s name on that one.
They preferred that he have knowledge of the AFC North, so, again after the likes of Shurmur, Crennel, Davis and Palmer, they were fed up with having to give their hires a crash course on the division.
Check the box next to Jackson’s name on that one.
They preferred that he come from a winning organization so as to not drag more losing into the building, since there’s enough there already.
Check the box next to Jackson’s name on that one.
And they preferred that be a good communicator who could relate to the players and understand how to get through to them, but at the same could dig his heels in when he had to and be tough, ready to close up the place that became known as Pettine Country Club.
Check the box next to Jackson’s name on that one as well.
This, then, was a hire that made sense in so many ways. Now, it doesn’t guarantee that Jackson will be successful – there are no such guarantees anywhere in the NFL – but it does guarantee that, unlike too many times previously, the Browns didn’t try to prove that they were the smartest guys in the room by going off the beaten path and reinventing the wheel.
They simply did the smart thing by hiring the guy who, at least on paper, seems to be a great fit for where this franchise is right now.
And that’s all you can ask.
By Steve King
