CSNbbs

By Chris Mortensen
ESPN

Butch Davis is on the verge of being fired as coach of the Cleveland Browns, league and team sources said Monday. Davis' job status was the subject of discussion Sunday night by Browns owner Randy Lerner after the team lost 10-7 to the New York Jets earlier in the day, the sources said. It was the fourth straight defeat for Cleveland (3-7).


Lerner contemplated dismissing Davis on Monday but decided to give the Browns another week to show signs of life. The Browns play the Bengals in Cincinnati on Sunday, and the sources agreed that a defeat likely would result in the coach's dismissal. It is believed Browns defensive coordinator Dave Campo would be the interim coach, although offensive coordinator Terry Robiskie has served previously as an interim head coach with the Washington Redskins.


Neither Lerner or Davis was available for comment Monday night.


Lerner has been committed to restructuring the football operations of the organization, which would include the hiring of a general manager. Davis currently has the authority for all football decisions.


Davis, 52, is in his fourth season as the Browns coach. He inherited an expansion team that was 5-27 under its first coach, Chris Palmer. Davis' career record is 23-35, including a playoff season in 2002. However, the Browns have been a franchise marked by numerous injuries to players, poor drafts and player development, significant turnover in the front office and the death of owner Al Lerner.


Lerner's son, Randy, actually signed Davis to a two-year contract extension before the 2004 season got underway, through the 2007 season.


"Randy Lerner is pretty determined to start over and get this thing fixed," a league source said.


If Davis is fired soon, it wouldn't surprise some of his friends if he pursued the vacant University of Florida job. Davis restored the University of Miami program to national prominence after being named the Hurricane coach in 1995.

Interesting. Would be quite a scramble to see him back down in Fla.

Why wait? Fire him now!


I just hope my Brownies don't make the same mistake twice and hire another college Coach(Saban)
I would wait and hope the Titans fire Jeff Fisher and go after him.

Urban Meyer has pretty much got the Florida job wrapped up. Florida's president, Bernard Machen, came to UF from Utah and hired Urban Meyer to coach the Utes. It's pretty much in the bag there.

I'll give you a quick prediction though: Tyson will pull out as a sponsor of the Browns if they fire Davis. Butch Davis and John Tyson were best friends growing up, and Tyson became a big sponsor of Browns football when Davis was hired. When Houston Nutt was being courted by Nebraska, UA AD Frank Broyles said he had a "huge-name coach" waiting if Nutt left for Lincoln. It was no secret that if Nutt had left, Davis would've come back home to coach UA, and Tyson would've easily footed the $2 million/year salary for him to coach there.

Davis won't have a shot for the UA job for awhile. He might try for Florida. Chris Mortensen lives just outside the UA campus (his son is a redshirt freshman QB for UA), so if he talked to Tyson, he might have the scoop. I doubt he'll get it though.

herdya Wrote:Why wait? Fire him now!


I just hope my Brownies don't make the same mistake twice and hire another college Coach(Saban)
I would wait and hope the Titans fire Jeff Fisher and go after him.

Why would you be opposed to Saban? I know he doesn't have any HC experience in the NFL, but he's got plenty of experience there as an assistant. He left after one year at Toledo to be the DC for a pro team (the Browns??....can't remember for sure). He came to Toledo from the pro ranks.

The Browns should hire Wayne Fontes.

herdya Wrote:I would wait and hope the Titans fire Jeff Fisher and go after him.

Why? Fisher is a terrible HC. He just runs players into the ground (George, McNair, Kearse).

He has a bad year, gets a couple of high draft picks...has a good year w/ them...then they fall apart in their 2nd year.

Fisher is bad.

Oddball Wrote:The Browns should hire Wayne Fontes.

oh look! a Lions fan! :chair:

Oddball Wrote:The Browns should hire Wayne Fontes.

Now that's funny!

I agree, that is whom they should hire.
And they get drilled Sunday in Cincy, BTW.

DrTorch Wrote:Fisher is bad.

Fisher led the Titans to four playoff appearances (1999, 2000, 2002, 2003), two Division titles (2000 & 2002), two AFC Championship Games (1999, 2002) and one Super Bowl berth (XXXIV). He has presided over the most victorious (56 wins) and successful five-year period in the franchise's 44-year history.

Last year, he became the fourth youngest coach (45) to win 80 regular season games since 1960. Only Don Shula (40), John Madden (40) and Bill Cowher (43) were faster to 80 wins. He also ranks second, behind Cowher, in seniority among current NFL head coaches. This year he can become the 33rd coach to reach 100 career wins and eighth among active coaches. He also can become just the 16th coach to reach the mark with one team.Last year saw the Titans reach the Divisional round of the playoffs for the fourth time in five years after earning a Wild Card berth with their 12-4 mark

I would rather have someone like him than Saban.I just think it's to risky to hire another college coach after Spurrier,Pete Carrol,Davis,etc....


Hell,Bring back Marty

Jeff Fisher is not going anywhere......

Why would anyone think such a thing?

HerdKixButt Wrote:Jeff Fisher is not going anywhere......

Why would anyone think such a thing?

Your right, he isn't :( but this Browns' fan will keep his fingers crossed :)

I could go outside here in downtown cleveland and find 2 bums that would be able to evaluate personnel and coach better than Davis.

The farther he goes from Cleveland the better.

As for Jeff Fisher i'd take him in a heartbeat.