At the zenith of his career at Ohio State, Jim Tressel entered the discussion as a potential coach of the Browns.
View full sizeOn Sept. 19, 2009, Jim Tressel led the Buckeyes onto the field at Cleveland Browns Stadium for a game against Toledo. Three years earlier, the Browns had taken the initial steps to explore whether Tressel could be a head coach of the NFL team.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- At the zenith of his career at Ohio State, Jim Tressel entered the discussion as a potential coach of the Browns.
It never got past the exploration stage. But in an indirect way, discussion about Tressel led to the present configuration of the Browns' organization.
"There was talk about him," confirmed a source involved in the Browns' inner circle at the time.
A source close to Tressel said the Browns explored his interest through a third party, but Tressel "just wasn't ready" to try the NFL. Even though Tressel once said the Browns would be the only job that might lure him away from Ohio State, the prospect "never intrigued him," said the source.
The timeframe was late in 2006. Tressel had one national championship at OSU under his belt and was pursuing another. The Browns were imbedded in a second consecutive season of 10 or more losses under first-time head coach Romeo Crennel.
The Browns were not sure how long they could stay with Crennel. GM Phil Savage, who had won a power struggle with President John Collins the year before, was assembling a list of potential coach candidates. This was a natural task for a GM, even though firing Crennel was not on the front burner at the time.
Savage was linked personally and professionally to Kirk Ferentz of Iowa. Another name discussed was Florida's Urban Meyer, who was on a collision course with Ohio State in the national championship game that season.
"There was a lot of talk about Kirk Ferentz," said the Browns' source. "And [the reaction was], 'Well, what's he done?' Urban Meyer, too. Then some people said, 'Wouldn't Tressel be great?'"
According to one of the sources, Jim Brown, then an executive adviser to owner Randy Lerner, contacted somebody on Tressel's side to gauge his interest. When it came back lukewarm, the Browns re-appraised the situation.
"Tressel had the sex appeal of everybody in Ohio liking him," said one source. "But when he goes 4-12, he won't be that exciting anymore. I don't know if Jim [Brown], in fact, reached out, but I do know those were the three (names) in discussion."
Keep in mind that these discussions were taking place two years after the Butch Davis era ended in flames. Davis was at the zenith of his career at University of Miami in 2001 when the Browns scored what was hailed as a coup in signing him to be their second coach, the successor to Chris Palmer. Unlike Tressel, at least Davis had previous experience as an NFL assistant coach under Jimmy Johnson.
Lerner now was searching for the formula to save his organization from sinking further.
The Browns' source said: "The other side of it was, 'We can't hire another college coach. I don't care what you do, you've got to hire somebody with experience. You've done the rookie head coach [Crennel]. None of these college coaches are making it. You've got to hire somebody with experience, Randy, or you're going to get killed. The odds are [college route] is not going to work.'"
Nick Saban was in his second season with the Miami Dolphins. The going was rough enough for Saban to retreat back to the college ranks at Alabama after season's end.
With the college coaches eliminated, the Browns decided to give Crennel another year. Savage hired Rob Chudzinski to re-invent the offense. Chudzinski parlayed Derek Anderson's arm and the playmaking of Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow II into a 10-6 season. The surprise season earned lucrative contract extensions for Savage, Crennel, Chudzinski and Anderson.
But when the team faltered again to 12 losses in 2008, Lerner went back to square one. He fired Savage and Crennel. One of the first men he talked to about rebuilding the organization was Mike Holmgren.
Holmgren responded by saying he intended to take a year off. Importantly, though, the lines of communication with the Browns were opened. Bill Cowher gave a similar response.
Strapped for a credible replacement, Lerner heeded the advice that he needed to hire a coach with NFL experience. When the Jets fired Eric Mangini, Lerner hired him almost on the spot of their day-long interview.
Mangini's honeymoon lasted one season, of course. By then, Holmgren was itching to return to the NFL and Lerner's invitation to rebuild the organization as president with "total authority" was too much for Holmgren to resist. Holmgren fired Mangini after one year together and replaced him with Pat Shurmur. And that's where we are today.
If Tressel had expressed an interest in the Browns' courtship, would he have gotten the job? We will never know.
Source: http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2011/06/what_might_have_been_cleveland.html
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