The Cleveland Browns have had some bad coaches, but these five coaches set the tone on how not to win ballgames and will forever be considered among the worst in team history
The Cleveland Browns have had 22 head coaches in their franchise history. There have only been five head coaches including their current coach Kevin Stefanski that have had winning records. So that means there are many more coaches that have had losing records.
Several of these coaches have only made it a year in Cleveland. Some haven’t made it through a whole season.
For today’s list of worst coaches, I took a look at coaches that had at least two seasons in town, which limited our list a bit. We had several one-hit wonders that only got a year or less.
Let’s not forget Rod Chudzinski who coached in 2013. The Ohio native just couldn’t get it done as his team finished with a record of 4-12. Two years ago, we had Freddie Kitchens only make it one season with a record of 6-10. That team and its hype had everyone cheering on the Browns but the season ended with a thud.
So with that let’s dig a bit deeper and discuss a few more coaches that have certainly made a name for themselves and not necessarily in a good way.
While some of these coaches have had greater success elsewhere, when they were the Cleveland coach they struggled mightily.
Cleveland Browns No. 5 worst coach: Chris Palmer
We’ll start with the coach that started back with the team when they rebooted in 1999. So with that, we’ll give Chris Palmer a bit of a pass on being a horrible coach because his team was more like a practice team squad at the start.
His final record was 5-27. The teams he coached struggled on offense and even with a quarterback like Tim Couch who was the No. 1 draft pick of 1999, they just couldn’t win.
It was a harsh reality for fans to watch their team lose so much after a previous decade of success. Palmer went on to coach other teams like the Houston Texans and Tennessee Titans in lesser capacities like an offensive coordinator. While he struggled as the Browns coach, someone had to take the gut-wrenching job after the team came back in 1999.
Cleveland Browns No. 4 worst coach: Mike Pettine
There was so much about the hiring of Mike Pettine back in 2014 that was screaming red flags. He had been a high school coach for years and then made the dramatic jump to the NFL as an assistant with the Baltimore Ravens. When he got to Cleveland he had an immediate quarterback controversy on his hands as the Browns had just drafted Johnny Manziel to compete against Brian Hoyer.
It was a daily soap opera in Berea and the organization was asking a coach with no previous head coaching experience in the NFL to try and lead them to success. He managed to hang on for two seasons going 10-22 overall.
Since his head coaching stint in Cleveland, he’s continued in the league but as an assistant — which based on the horrors of those two seasons as the Browns coach is probably a much better fit for him.
Cleveland Browns No. 3 worst coach: Eric Mangini
Eric Mangini was a rising star in the NFL and was a hot name back in 2008 when the Browns hired him as their head coach. He had some modest success before he arrived in Cleveland. He was the head coach of the New York Jets for three seasons where those teams had two campaigns of winning records.
There was some excitement around the hire but that initial feeling soon faded as the Browns started the year at 1-11. The team seemed to rally around their coach as they won four games in a row to finish the season on a high note. Mangini managed to get one more season with the team but that went poorly as well as they finished with another 5-11 record.
Cleveland Browns No. 2 worst coach: Pat Shurmur
Once Mangini was fired after the 2010 season, the Browns brought in Pat Shurmur, who was known for his offensive talents as a coach. He had worked with the St. Louis Rams in 2010 as their offensive coordinator and that team had some decent improvement.
So the thought in Cleveland at the time was that they would get better as Shurmur helped a young quarterback named Colt McCoy lead the offense. But the Browns struggled and finished with a 4-12 record.
Shurmur just never caught on in Cleveland as a head coach. He was fired after the 2012 season and went back to being an assistant coach.
His latest coaching job was in Denver with the Broncos where he was recently fired again because the offenses he coached weren’t doing well.
Cleveland Browns No. 1 worst coach: Hue Jackson
Hue Jackson should have a special room in the halls of Browns headquarters for showcasing how not to coach a team. Jackson’s time as the Cleveland head coach was simply awful.
His overall record ended up being 3-36-1. He coached the only Browns team to go 0-16 and not win a game. Between the 2016 and 2017 seasons, his team’s only won one game.
Jackson’s tenure in Cleveland ended in 2018 after he started the season but was fired after another slow start and new quarterback Baker Mayfield taking over. That poor relationship was another reason for Jackson’s departure.
The biggest problem with Jackson beyond the obvious horrible coaching record was that during that time — and even recently — the coach likes to think he was better than he actually was. Jackson blamed everyone else for the shortcomings and still doesn’t take much responsibility for what happened during his tenure.
Jackson will likely go down as one of the worst NFL coaches in history. It’s the type of claim to fans that nobody wants but it suits Jackson well.