Cleveland Browns: Is Hue Jackson the worst coach in all major sports?
By Randy Gurzi
In an ESPN ranking of coaches for all the major sports, Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson came in dead last. So, is he the worst coach in every sport?
One of the quickest ways to fire up the Cleveland Browns fan base is to mention head coach Hue Jackson. Some will get angry about the record he’s boasting as the shot caller in Cleveland. That’s understandable as his mark of 3-34-1 is nothing to brag about.
Others will defend him, saying that he hasn’t had the players to win with. That’s also understandable as the front office was stockpiling future draft picks and missed on several of the ones they did keep.
Still, there are worse rosters than what Jackson has had the past couple seasons and they’ve managed to get more than the one win he had in 2016 and 2017 combined (see the current Buffalo Bills team who somehow has two wins despite their roster).
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It’s a tough debate because fans want the best and there’s something to be said for hoping the coach turns it around. There’s also no shame in wanting more from the leader of your franchise. But which side of the debate is correct? Is Jackson a good coach with a bad roster? Or is he the reason they can’t put together enough wins to be a respectable franchise?
Well if ESPN has anything to say about it, those who are anti-Hue are the winners of this debate. In a recent article, they rank the coaches all across the major sports world and poor Hue Jackson comes in dead last at No. 118 out of 118.
That feels a bit harsh, but is it wrong? Part of what makes Jackson such a lightning rod is his penchant for saying the wrong thing — which often includes throwing his players under the proverbial bus.
He did that this past week when asked about a touchdown catch from tight end David Njoku. Rather than simply say the play was good, Jackson had to remind us all of the times Njoku failed to make similar plays. This isn’t the first time Jackson has done such a thing as he famously tried to pour ice water on a big play from former running back Isaiah Crowell in 2017 as well.
Good leaders don’t do that. Good leaders should praise in public and correct in private. And it’s comments like those that make people see Jackson as a bad coach.
Other issues that plague Jackson are his inability to manage the game, the fact that he struggles to find ways to get playmakers like Duke Johnson and Nick Chubb on the field (despite saying over and over he will get them snaps) and his beef (perceived or real) with offensive coordinator Todd Haley.
The two seemed to have issues on ‘Hard Knocks,‘ they couldn’t get on the same page about starting Josh Gordon in Week 1, and there was the great “we didn’t steal it,” “yes we did” battle when they both discussed Baker Mayfield catching a pass on the ‘Philly Special.’
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Does all that mean Jackson is the worst coach in all sports? Does he deserve to be No. 118 out of 118? That’s a debate we can all continue to hash out, but the real question is whether or not the Browns front office agrees. Jackson is surely on thin ice and if they believe this ranking is true, he may not be on that list at all in 2019.