The coaching carousel has been kicked into motion with the firing of Cleveland Browns head coach Rob Chudzinski. After a 4-12 season the first-year coach was let go, despite multiple injuries at the quarterback position and the trade of franchise running back Trent Richardson.
"We appreciate Chud's passion for the Browns, and we have great respect for him both personally and professionally," the team said in a statement. "We needed to see progress with this football team. We needed to see development and improvement as the season evolved and, unfortunately, we took a concerning step backward in the second half of the year."
On November 3rd, the Browns were 4-5 and had real postseason aspirations, but failed to win any more games, despite monster performances from wide receiver Josh Gordon. In the same statement in which Cleveland thanked him for his effort, it was clear that lengthy slide did him in.
"Our fans deserve to see a consistently competitive team. We have high standards, and there's an urgency for success. When we believed we were not positioned to achieve significant progress in 2014, we knew we had to admit that a change was needed, and move forward. Browns fans are the most loyal and passionate supporters in the NFL. We're fully committed to bringing them the winning football team they deserve."
Still, the firing was surprising given the turnover at quarterback and running back. The Browns seemed to have found lightning in a bottle when they replaced the struggling Brandon Weeden with Brian Hoyer, only to have Hoyer tear his ACL a few weeks into his run. Jason Campbell also had a stretch leading the offense, but he too was in an out of the lineup with injuries.
The players seemed eager to keep Chudzinski, but clearly to no avail.
"I think he's done a good job," Pro Bowl tackle Joe Thomas said, "and if you fire coaches after one bad season, it's not like we won the Super Bowl last year, and we were coming back with the same offense. We had tremendous changes philosophy-wise, offense, defense, and so many different players that we brought in. To get that consistent winning is by having consistency in the coaching staff and the philosophy of management, to me, that's how you become a winner."
© Copyright 2024 Sports World News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
