CLEVELAND — *EDITOR'S NOTE: The above video is from a previous report.
Former Browns head coach Hue Jackson made headlines this week when he implied team co-owner Jimmy Haslam paid him to lose games during the 2016 and '17 seasons.
On Thursday, Haslam strongly fired back.
In an interview with the Knoxville News Sentinel from his native Tennessee, Haslam said Jackson "was never paid to lose" during his tenure with Cleveland. Going further, Haslam asserted Jackson "has never ever accepted any responsibility" for the team's dismal 3-36-1 record during that time.
"He's been masterful at pointing fingers but has never accepted any blame," Haslam told reporter Adam Sparks. "I have accepted a ton of blame, and rightfully so."
Jackson was hired in 2016 with much fanfare, lauded as one of the best offensive minds in the game after his work as a coordinator with the Cincinnati Bengals. But coming off a 3-13 season, new general manager Sashi Brown continued to strip down the roster, and Jackson claimed Haslam offered him bonuses that seemed to incentivize "tanking."
"There was a four-year plan that was crafted and I have documentation of that that I think any coach would cringe if he saw it because it talked about thing that had nothing to do with winning — aggregate rankings, being the youngest team, having so many draft picks — none of those things are what lead to winning," Jackson told ESPN.
Earlier this week, former Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores filed a racial discrimination lawsuit alleging, among other things, owner Stephen Ross offered to pay him $100,000 per loss in order to get the team a higher draft pick. Flores says he refused, and Miami ended up finishing a respectable 5-11 during his first season in 2019. This purportedly angered Ross, and Flores says it played a role in his unexpected firing last month after back-to-back winning seasons.
After news of the lawsuit became public, Hue Jackson Foundation Director Kimberly Diemert took to Twitter to claim Jackson was offered a similar arrangement during his time with the Browns, something Jackson later gave oxygen to with his own posts on social media. Jackson later clarified that such payments weren't explicit like the alleged ones involving Flores and the Dolphins, but stood by his original message and believes he was made the scapegoat for Cleveland's failures during his time on the sidelines.
"The way the team was built, there was no chance to win and win at a high level," he said. "You're in a situation where what you have to do is do the best you can."
But on Thursday, Haslam "unequivocally" dismissed Jackson's claims as "absolute falsehoods." He also took issue with Jackson saying he was apparently happy as the Browns racked up losses.
"Most people who know me would say, 'That's not how Jimmy would react to losing," Haslam added.
The Browns finished 1-15 during Jackson's inaugural 2016 season, prompting the then-coach to infamously declare he would "be swimming in the lake" if the team ever finished with that poor a record again. The organization appeared to take steps to improve the roster that offseason, signing free agents like J.C. Tretter and Kenny Britt as well as drafting Myles Garrett with the No. 1 overall pick.
Yet in 2017, things hit rock-bottom, as Cleveland finished with just the second 0-16 record in NFL history. Sashi Brown was fired with four games left, but despite the pleas of fans and analysts, Jackson was retained for the next and apparently given a secret contract extension.
After several more roster additions, the Browns started 2-5-1 in 2018, but Jackson and offensive coordinator Todd Haley were both fired following a public spat between the two. With interim head coach Gregg Williams at the helm, the team rallied to go 5-3 in the second half of the season, helping springboard their playoff run two years later.
"I can't think of any individual that I've worked with over the past 45 years that I spent as much time trying to help be successful as I did Hue Jackson," Haslam said of his apparent patience with his former coach. "His third year, when our roster began to pretty dramatically improve, the eight games he coached we were 2-5-1. After Hue was dismissed, we went 5-3."
The Browns organization also denied Jackson's contentions in a separate statement. The NFL has said it will investigate Flores' claims against Ross and the Dolphins.