Marla Ridenour

The Akron Beacon Journal

It’s not Johnny Manziel, Baker Mayfield and Odell Beckham Jr. who have kept the circus going under the Browns’ big top.

It is co-owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam.

In the seven years since they took over the franchise in October 2012, the Haslams have proved to be as incapable of making a decision on their own as vilified former owner Art Modell.

Like Modell, they listen to many other voices and are easily swayed. Their whims and moods change like the winds off Lake Erie. One day it’s general manager John Dorsey who has their ear, the next it’s chief strategy officer John DePodesta. One day they’re handing the reins of the football operations to Joe Banner and Mike Lombardi, the next they’re listening to a homeless man telling them to draft Manziel.

At least the late Modell had a trusted circle of longtime aides he relied upon. Under the Haslams, the trusted circle has a short shelf life.

That proved to be the case Tuesday when Dorsey and the Haslams parted ways when they could not come to an agreement on Dorsey’s role within the organization. That decision came less than 48 hours after they fired overmatched Freddie Kitchens, the only coach Dorsey had ever hired.

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Although Dorsey had a huge hand in the 6-10 season, the Haslams are virtually starting over from square one again. But they’re building on an unstable foundation — themselves.

They’ve fired nearly as many football men as they have coaches. Mike Holmgren/Tom Heckert, whom they inherited. Joe Banner/Mike Lombardi. Ray Farmer. Sashi Brown. Dorsey.

Analytics guru DePodesta, who joined the Browns from the New York Mets and spent 20 years in Major League Baseball, has been with the franchise since January 2016, an eternity in Haslam years (Northeast Ohio’s equivalent of dog years).

The parade of coaches under the Haslams is even longer. Pat Shurmur (also inherited). Rob Chudzinski (another one-and-done). Mike Pettine. Hue Jackson. Interim coach Gregg Williams. Kitchens.

“If you look at how we run our business, it’s not one where we make personnel decisions frequently and we understand the importance of continuity,” Jimmy Haslam said in December 2013 in reference to Pilot Flying J, then under FBI investigation for rebate fraud.

Since then three more football men and five more coaches (counting Williams) have been shown the door.

“We know the road of our tenure as stewards of this franchise has been a test of patience,” the Haslams said in a statement released Tuesday.

If they thought it could help, Browns fans would bombard NFL headquarters with emails like they did with faxes in 1995 when Modell announced he was moving the Browns to Baltimore. This time they would beg commissioner Roger Goodell to find another owner to buy the franchise and relieve them of their misery that is the Haslams.

That won’t happen, but there may be a scenario that would end the circus. But it requires finding a coach who is smart, tough, capable and demands and earns respect, one who has staying power, along with that “strong, credible leader” Jimmy Haslam has been seeking since 2012.

Perhaps Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, a Canton McKinley product, and one of his John Carroll University pals or friends from his 16 seasons in New England will fit the bill. Haslam is reportedly infatuated with McDaniels, who interviewed with the Browns in 2014 but took himself out of the running because he wasn’t ready to leave the Patriots.

Hiring McDaniels after he stiffed the Indianapolis Colts and GM Chris Ballard, Dorsey’s right-hand man in Kansas City, in February 2018 surely would not have been acceptable to Dorsey.

The Haslams want their next coach to form a partnership with the GM or head of football operations. That’s a strong plan, in theory, if the choices are competent.

But as they continue to write checks to the departed, the Haslams should reorganize the organization and step aside, the only real way to change the rotten culture.

Or, in this case, they should take the advice of another former Browns GM and "Go root for the Columbus Crew."

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