Not everyone agrees with my Sunday column, in which I said the Browns should make a run at Bill Cowher, but keep Romeo Crennel and Phil Savage if they can't land the Golden Jaw.
Below are a couple of representative e-mails responding to that column:
John:
After reading your Sunday column headline today, I had to laugh. Cowher or stay with Romeo? Please. ... I can't think of another more incompetent coach than Romeo.
Thanks for the laugh though!
Gary
Hi John,
Keep Crennel – you have to be kidding! The Browns should keep Savage. He has to find some new recruits – free agents and draftees, primarily the latter, not over-the-hill free agents. He needs offensive and defensive linemen, wide receivers, defense linebackers – all draftees.
Any football oriented guy can stand on the sidelines and pretend to be the Coach. Crennell has no laminated sheet listing the plays the team knows; has no pen to record notes on underachieving players or to note plays not to execute again; shows no emotion and remains mute most of the game. He must have a photographic memory. Ha! Where did he find his assistant coaching staff? His Offensive Coordinator appears to only know 8 plays: run thru the line, run around end, reverse, screen pass, pass to tight end, pass downfield to anyone open, field goal, punt.
Trade or release: Edwards, Winslow, Stallworth – none know any moves and are unreliable.
Rename the Browns as the Cleveland-Clinic Browns! The staph infection some of the players had was really a “staff infection.”
If they can’t lure Cowher back into coaching, consider Tommy Tuberville. Some college coaches might know how to train young players and put together a good cohesive offense and defense assistant coaching staff.
Merry Christmas!
T.J.
Thanks for the notes.
Actually, I am serious about Crennel. I'm sticking with my argument that if the Browns can't land Cowher, anything else runs the risk of being a lateral move.
Can you honestly get excited about Mike Holmgren? Marty Schottenheimer? Jim Fassel? Mike Nolan?
The Browns have done the hot shot college coach thing (Butch Davis) and the hot shot coordinator thing (Chris Palmer, Crennel), and in both cases those kinds of guys would seem to lack the toughness and credibility it will take to turn the Browns into a winner.
Remember, no Browns coach since the team re-joined the league has a track record for winning as a head coach in the NFL. Nobody. At a time when players seem to play hard some weeks and for some coaches and not other weeks or for other coaches, I think the Browns need someone who will light a fire.
Cowher is that guy, and if the Browns can't get him, they're better off paying Crennel for another season to coach, rather than paying him to sit at home and paying someone else who might not be any better to replace him.
-- John Dudley