Len Pasquarelli has some excellent insights into how Butch Davis failed in Cleveland. Not that many of these things will be news to most Browns fans, it's just that Pasquarelli expresses them so well. He has spent some time with Randy Lerner, and he thinks Lerner has a feel for what needs to be done to reconnect the team to the city. Here's hoping. An excerpt:
There is a palpable sense when Lerner speaks, occasionally in salty language, that his overriding priority is the fans. He fully understood the disconnect that existed between Davis and the community. He suspected there was a similar divide between the coach and his players......Davis neither engendered loyalty among his veteran players nor nurtured trust, and Lerner was keenly aware of those deficiencies. So when such obvious shortcomings carried over to the field -- where Davis compiled a 24-36 record and took the Browns to just one playoff appearance, a one-and-done visit in 2002 -- his fate was sealed.
Lerner is a far more hands-on owner than his late father. His dad bought the franchise, hired former San Francisco team president Carmen Policy to run it, and then retired to the owner's box. Randy Lerner bought out Policy's share of team, shortly after inheriting the franchise, and owns the Browns lock, stock and kicking tees. And when Policy exited back to the West Coast, to open a Napa Valley winery, it not only permitted Lerner to do things his way, but also removed the man who had hired Davis in 2001.
That should have put Davis on notice. Instead, he still attempted to run the team as if it was his name on the deed. His lack of perspective, a flawed sense that he was answerable only to himself on football matters, helped speed his demise. And, despite his brilliant resurrection of the Miami program, there was always a belief that Davis was never a great X's and O's coach.
What will help Lerner, perhaps, in his quest to reshape the franchise is his knowledge that the Browns belong to more than just him. This is an historic and celebrated franchise, a team woven into the tapestry of the NFL, a club whose fans know the game and know, as well, a flawed coach when they see one.
Got that right.
Posted by dan at November 30, 2004 01:42 PM