Sports News From Cleveland

The Cleveland Browns had a problem.

Head coach Hue Jackson and offensive coordinator Todd Haley were seemingly at odds and their differences were hurting a team that has no margin for error.

If Jackson was going to get rid of Haley, he waited too long. On Monday the Browns, 2-5-1 this season, fired both Jackson and Haley.

“We’re not going to put up with internal discord,” owner Jimmy Haslam said, though he apparently was willing to put up with a 1-31 record over the previous two years without dismissing Jackson.

This follows the weekend oddity of the NBA Cavaliers dumping coach Tyronn Lue due to their 0-6 start. As if that record were totally with the loss of LeBron James.

Jackson never won with the Browns. He had no players, no front office until this year (and look how that worked out), nada. Lue (well, really, LeBron) took the Cavs to three straight NBA Finals and a title in 2015-16.

The Cavs are trying to make Larry Drew their new coach, but he’s balking just a bit so that he can get a better contract. This is almost unheard of, but it’s also Cleveland.

The Browns named defensive coordinator Gregg Williams as the interim head coach. Williams is well-traveled in the NFL and had previously been a head coach in Buffalo, where the Bills went 17-31 in his three seasons (2001-03). Williams was also the subject of an NFL investigation for offering his team bounties for injuring opposing players while he was the New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator.

There’s something to be said for becoming the top man on a team at the bottom. There’s only one direction to go – except in Cleveland that direction is out.

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman