Mike Holmgren has left his post as President of the team after their win today against the Pittsburgh Steelers a team spokesman told at Associated Press.
The Browns were sold to new owner Jimmy Haslam and he hired former Philadelphia CEO/President Joe Banner which left no role for Holmgren. The original plan was for Holmgren to stay until the end of the season in an advisory role to ensure an easy transition from the old regime to the new.
Holmgren’s time in Cleveland can be summed up in one work; disappointing. He was viewed as the offensive guru who was going to bring the Cleveland Browns back to prominence. Instead all he has brought is is 3 losing seasons, and a coach that looks overwhelmed and undeserving of the job he has. The most excitement Holmgren has brought to town is from a press conference when he blew up on the media and told them not to ask him for playoff tickets.
Well Holmgren doesn’t have to worry about that, as the Browns haven’t come close to the playoffs during his time as President, and when they do he won’t be the guy to to pound his chest and lay claim to orchestrating it all.
Holmgren was paid a lot of money to do a job that with the benefit of hindsight he was unqualified for. He’s a coach, a hall of fame one at that, but as an executive, he’s proven to be nothing more than an equivalent to a guy on the practice squad. From not signing any legitimate free agents on the offensive side of the ball to give his rookie quarterback some weapons to not pulling the trigger on trading up to draft stellar rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III, he’ll be more remembered for not firing Eric Mangini and wasting a year in the rebuilding process preaching a process of patience while routinely there are teams in the NFL that go from worse to playoff contention every year.
Fitting that Holmgren would leave the Browns after beating the Steelers, a feat they haven’t accomplished since December 2009 before today. Let this be a cautionary tale for other teams. There are no such things as saviors in the front office, it’s the players on the field who win and lose games.
You must be logged in to post a comment.