Managing and Principal Partner Jimmy Haslam (2.3.26)
Opening Statement:
“Good afternoon. I’ll just make a couple of remarks. I thought Andrew (Berry) did a really nice job in the introduction for Coach (Todd) Monken, but I can’t tell you how excited we are to have Monk in the building. And I think that you probably got a little taste of him there. But I think it was obvious we were looking for a strong leader, someone who would hold the players accountable, someone who was tough, had a great work ethic, and quite frankly, had experience. And when you combine that with the fact that he’s won with the following quarterbacks: Nick Mullens, Jameis Winston, Stetson Bennett IV and Lamar Jackson, all of whom have entirely different skill sets. And he’s won running the ball. He’s won passing the ball – made Todd a really attractive candidate. So excited to have in the building. I think he’s off to a good start, building and rebuilding the staff. And I really, truly believe that good things are ahead. So happy to take any questions you have.”
Jimmy, could you shed light on the future of Jim Schwartz with the team?
“Yeah, I think this. First of all, I think Todd made it clear. Andrew’s made it clear. I think I made it clear back on January 5th. We think the world of Coach Schwartz. I think Jim and Jim’s future is a subject for another day.”
And just like I asked Todd about that, do you guys feel like, regardless of what happens with Jim, you will still have one of the most dominant defenses in the NFL and you can assure your players of that as well?
“I do. I feel really good. We have really good players, okay. And it starts there. Obviously it helps to have a great coordinator and a great staff. We also have a great staff. And I think Jim would tell you the four leaders of the d-line, linebackers, cornerbacks and safeties are all outstanding coaches. So, we’re excited moving forward.”
Jimmy, why can’t you shed light on what’s going to happen with Jim now?
“Those conversations are ongoing. We’ll talk about that at a later day. Today is to introduce Todd Monken as the new head coach.”
Jimmy, when did you, along the process, begin to think that Monken was rising to the top? And you talked kind of in general terms about the toughness. What else about it? So, when and what?
“You go through a search process, and I think we started out with, like, 20-25 candidates. I think we interviewed nine. I might be off by one there. And a search is, you know, it’s a little bit like this, it’s a little bit of a roller coaster. Somebody drops out, somebody comes in, you get better references or better test results on someone or worse. So, it’s a little bit of roller coaster. I would say Todd was at the top of the list the entire time. I think our search lasted 20 days. And I’d say he was leading the pack or in the front pack the whole time, Terry (Pluto).”
What did you learn on your other coaching searches that affected you picking Todd?
“First of all, I didn’t pick him, okay. We picked him. But I say that we, capital WE. And I want to thank Andrew and our team in terms of process. And process is extremely important in these searches because they’re very emotional. There are all kinds of information out there, and in all due respect, a lot of it is not accurate. And so, by having an organized disciplined process, which we stuck to, and I think whoever hires the first coach or the second coach is not necessarily the winner. Two years from now, nobody will remember whether Todd was the seventh or eighth coach hired, whatever he was. What counts is did we get the right guy? And I think our team laid out a good process and I think we were disciplined throughout that process the entire time up to last Wednesday when we announced Todd as our head coach.”
Jimmy, you talked about his experience with the quarterbacks, and obviously Andrew before had mentioned whoever you guys hired as head coach would have a lot of input there. Like how confident are you with Todd’s experience that he can help give a long-term answer at that position?
“Like highly confident. Highly confident. Andrew’s got to help him, we need players. But I’m highly confident.”
How much did interactions you had with players over the course of the process, I mean Myles (Garrett), Denzel (Ward), any of the veteran leaders.
“Yeah, I’ll be honest, during the process, and Andrew might have been a little bit different, I didn’t talk to any players. But JW (Johnson), who’s in the back of the room there, and myself interviewed 30 or 40 players postseason and post the announcement of Kevin (Stefanski). And I think we got really good feedback offensively and defensively about what was needed.”
Jimmy, two of the attributes that have been just repeated with Todd Monken is accountability and player development. Why were those two so important to this organization, specifically to you guys in this search?
“I think all of us who have run organizations understand you have to have accountability. And as I mentioned when JW and I interviewed or spent time with 30 or 40 of our players, if you said, give me one common word, it is we need more accountability. So that stuck with us. And then player development, I believe, we will have the youngest team next year in the NFL. So obviously, you need to have somebody who appreciates and is good at player development.”
Jimmy, Todd was the first external candidate that you guys interviewed. Was that just logistics?
“Yes. Yes.”
It didn’t tip off who you were heavy to?
“Yeah, and remember, you’re dealing with lots of things. You’re dealing with the Rooney Rule, okay. You’re dealing with teams in the playoffs. The NFL has a much more controlled process than they’ve ever had before. As you’ll remember, we were dealing with severe weather. So, we’re dealing with lots of different things. I wouldn’t read the fact that we hired Todd because he was the second guy we interviewed. It’s just that’s how it fell out.”
Jimmy you said when you fired Kevin that you expected this team was going to win more than eight games in the last two years. So even though, as you said, you anticipate having one of the younger teams, is the expectation that this team is going to win a lot more this year than they did last year?
“Well, let’s be careful with a lot more, Daryl (Ruiter). But do I expect we’ll win more games? I do. And I think we’ll have a better football team. And what’s Terry (Pluto) say? ‘They’re ugly to watch sometimes.’ We’re not going to be ugly to watch, okay. And I actually take that seriously. I mean, we want it to be a fun team to watch, a team that plays hard, plays smart and most of all, wins.”
Todd’s got a lot of personality. I mean, up there today, he cried, he was joking, he was cursing. How do you think that influences coaching style? What do you make of his personality?
“You know, I think players, and really all of us, want to see real guys. And what you saw today, that’s how Todd is. It wasn’t like, well, he might cuss a little more, but that’s really what Todd is like, okay? And you see the emotion, you see the faith, you see the drive, the work ethic, the confidence. What you saw for the 25 minutes he was up there today, that’s Todd Monken.”
Jimmy, I know that you mentioned the process and you mentioned the tests, and you guys, I think, took some grief for how you conduct your process. First of all, do you think it’s that different than what everybody else does in the league?
“I have no idea, to be honest. I have no idea.”
And what do you like about the way that you do it that includes the test?
“I think you have to be really careful to just weigh everything on the interview, okay. Because sometimes strong personalities sell better than other personalities. And I think we put a lot of confidence in references, and we probably had 30 references on everybody. And obviously you put more confidence in some references by how high they are up the totem pole, okay. So, I think that’s important. I think the testing we put them through is important. The body of work and then the interview. And those are the four things, we didn’t short circuit, everybody did the same, and I think it served us well.”
Jimmy, I know that crews are about to start digging the hole for the dome. How concerned are you with lawsuits still pending? The lawsuit over unclaimed funds? The lawsuit filed by former Mayor (Dennis) Kucinich?
“Yeah. Let’s put it this way. Four weeks from yesterday, we’re going to start the largest construction job in Cuyahoga County history. So I think that would tell you how confident we are.”
And how important is it, too? Because with the (Columbus) Crew getting the Olympics there, how important is it to have the dome here and hopefully get some of those types of events?
“Yeah, I don’t know if everybody read it, but the Olympics are actually going to take place in Columbus, Ohio, which seems a little strange since they’re in Los Angeles. But there’s so many soccer games. They need lots of venues. And so, Columbus will have somewhere between four and eight Olympic soccer games. And I just think that shows you, with world-class venues, what opportunities you will have. We will have that starting in ’29 with the new Huntington Bank Stadium.”
Jimmy, two questions really quick. First of all, what did you make of Myles Garrett’s reaction, and have you talked to him ever since he posted that thing on Instagram?
“Yeah, listen, I love Myles, okay? I haven’t talked to him since the day after the season, but I’m highly confident Myles will come in here and break the sack record again and be the Defensive Player (of the Year), he hasn’t been named it (yet), but I’ll be shocked if he isn’t and will be a leader of our team.”
Okay, and then the Deshaun Watson question is, do you guys feel like if Deshaun Watson is healthy, you have a potentially three time Pro Bowl-caliber quarterback to offer to Todd Monken as he evaluates your quarterback room?
“I think that somebody asked a question about quarterback today. And I think Todd knows a little bit from playing us, but really, he’s an offensive coach and he’ll start looking at that and that’ll be Todd’s call. We have three quarterbacks on the roster, and we’ll let Todd give us advice and he and Andrew will work from there.”
Jimmy, I know we’re doing Browns today, but Giannis (Antetokounmpo) obviously is the talking point in the NBA. Do you expect a Giannis trade?
” I would say this, Jason (Lloyd). Giannis is, I don’t know, top three, top four players in the world. He brought Milwaukee (Bucks) its first championship in 50 years, several years ago. And he’s a really good person, too. He’s no problem. He’s a great leader, tries hard. And I think Giannis and the Bucks, and this goes back to before we were involved, have always worked closely to see what’s best for Giannis and what’s best for the Bucks, and will continue to do so.”
What’s a successful trade look like?
“I can’t. That’s a question for Jon Horst.”
Todd said he wanted to keep the same defensive system, you made reference to all the good assistant coaches you have on defense. Should we assume that they will be back definitively?
“Yeah, we would hope so. We would hope so. I can’t say definitively, but we would hope to have, by and large, we have a couple free agents, the same players, okay, which is a great place to start, right. And then the same basic coaching staff.”
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