Over the past week or so, it seemed that the Cleveland Browns had a slam dunk in their search for a new head coach. Regardless of their slow approach to the Rooney Rule and how Mike McDaniel may have left the team scrambling, and even despite other candidates pulling out of the race, it always felt like they had their guy.
The Browns met with Los Angeles Rams pass game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase on Monday, and it felt like a deal was imminent. Then, disaster struck. Scheelhaase left the meeting without a deal and interviewed virtually with the Buffalo Bills right after.
With Grant Udinski — who was believed to be the other frontrunner to land the job — also withdrawing his name from consideration, it now feels like the Browns will just promote defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz to head coach.
According to SB Nation's Jared Mueller, that's because of Jimmy Haslam's meddling. The latest rumor (of many) circulating around Cleveland's search is that the owner's insistence on keeping Schwartz as at least the defensive coordinator is creating hesitancy within the Browns' pool of outside candidates.
The Browns coaching search keeps imploding and fans know exactly why
Granted, Schwartz has earned the benefit of the doubt and plenty of respect in the building. That being said, that's just not the way to conduct business in this industry. Head coaches want to build their own coaching staffs and surround themselves with the guys they trust and share a vision with.
Of course, keeping someone with previous head coaching experience like Schwartz would probably be a smart move for any first-time head coach. But if they had different candidates in mind, they should've been given a legitimate chance to put together their own staffs.
Moreover, if keeping Schwartz was a deal-breaker, then it didn't make any sense to hold onto Kevin Stefanski until the end of last season. If anything, they should've fired him midway through the year to give Schwartz a test run as interim head coach.
If Scheelhaase takes the Bills' job or decides to return to the Los Angeles Rams, the Browns will be down to Schwartz, Todd Monken, and Anthony Lynn, who only met with them once. It's hard to envision a scenario where that doesn't lead to Schwartz taking the reins of the team.
Once again, it's not about the result as much as it is about the process. Jimmy Haslam's heart is in the right place, but this is not the way to run a football operation, and it should've been painfully evident to him at this point.
This just proves that those who didn't seem to want anything to do with the Browns, their meddling owner and a micromanaging general manager were right all along.