Daily Dawg Tags: Revisiting Nick Saban and Bill Belichick
By Thomas Moore
The Cleveland Browns have seen a pair of former coaches go on to great success. Too bad that the Browns had no role in the coaches leaving town.
Alabama head coach Nick Saban won his sixth national title on Monday night when the Crimson Tide beat the Georgia Bulldogs in overtime.
On Saturday night, New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick will start the quest for his sixth Super Bowl championship.
So, of course, that makes today a day for national writers to bag on the Cleveland Browns.
In the year that the Browns go 0-16, their ex-head coach will vie for his sixth Super Bowl title and his Cleveland DC just won his sixth national title.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) January 9, 2018
For anyone who doesn’t remember, Belichick was the head coach of the Browns from 1991 to 1994 and Saban served as his defensive coordinator. It was a difficult time for the Browns as they were transitioning from the Bernie Kosar-led teams of the 1980s, which made it to three AFC Championship Games.
Belichick and company had the unpleasant task of fixing an aging roster and having to move on from some of the most popular players who have ever worn a Browns uniform.
That time period has become romanticized by some because of the staff and management team that Belichick put together, a group that in addition to Saban included future head coaches Eric Mangini, Jim Schwartz and Kirk Ferentz, along with future front office executives Scott Pioli, Ozzie Newsome and Tom Dimitroff.
Belichick’s 1994 team remains the last Browns team to win a playoff game and people still believe Belichick would have built the Browns into a dynasty given the time. (Just don’t ask those people to explain how the Browns were going to do that with Eric Zeier at quarterback.)
We never had the opportunity to find out, of course, because Art Modell, the only owner to ever go bankrupt twice in the NFL, moved the Browns to Baltimore following the 1995 season.
Saban had already left town, taking over as head coach at Michigan State following the 1994 season, but Belichick was still in place. And in a footnote that we can’t believe we still have to repeat 22 years later, the franchise had already relocated to Baltimore when Modell fired Belichick.
So, in hindsight, it would be save to say that the Ravens should have done more to keep Belichick and found a way to get Saban back from the college game.
Browns news:
Browns front office taking on a green-and-gold tint
Cleveland Browns general manager has been a busy man since taking over in December. And because of his work the Browns front office is starting to take on a green and gold tint.
Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson is the recipient of an open letter looking for answers about what went wrong.
How the Browns were frozen out of the Jimmy Garoppolo deal (cleveland.com)
"The Jimmy Garoppolo trade to the San Francisco 49ers never made much sense. The 49ers traded a second-round pick, a rather modest price for the New England Patriots highly-regarded backup quarterback. But the strange part was the Browns were willing to offer more for Garoppolo."
Why the Browns made a mistake with the Senior Bowl (ohio.com)
"With the worst record in the NFL this season, the Cleveland Browns had an opportunity to coach at the Senior Bowl later this month for the second year in a row. Despite coach Hue Jackson initially saying he’d coach at the event, the Browns ultimately turned it down."
NFL news:
Here’s the bold move Dolphins’ front office can make to lift the team from mediocrity (Miami Herald)
"In a quarterback-rich 2018 draft this April, if Miami believes it can get somebody better than Ryan Tannehill with the 11th overall pick (or with a strategic trade down), then by all means do it."
No head coaching experience for Matt Nagy is nothing new for Bears (Chicago Sun Times)
"Even by assistant coach standards, Matt Nagy comes to the Bears with little experience. He’ll fit right in. The Bears have now hired 16 head coaches in a franchise history that dates to 1920. Of those, only two had ever previously served as a head coach – Paddy Driscoll, who took over for George Halas for two years, from 1956-57, and John Fox."
A.J. Bouye to Big Ben: ‘Be careful what you wish for’ (NFL.com)
"Ben Roethlisberger said last week he hoped to face the Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC’s Divisional Round to make up for a five-interception game in Week 5. Jags corner A.J. Bouye has a word of warning for the Steelers QB."