Not only did Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam deny Hue Jackson’s allegation that he was asked to lose games, but Haslem took shots at the former head coach on Thursday, too.
Earlier this week, in the wake of Brian Flores filing a lawsuit alleging that the Dolphins owner offered to pay him to lose games during his time as Miami’s head coach, Jackson maintained that the same scenario occurred with him in Cleveland.
Haslem responded in an interview with the Knoxville News Sentinel.
“Hue Jackson has never, ever accepted any responsibility for our record during that time period,” Haslam said. “He’s been masterful at pointing fingers but has never accepted any blame. I have accepted a ton of blame, and rightfully so.
“There are a lot of things I could’ve done better. Hue has never accepted blame for one thing. …
“Unequivocally, Hue Jackson was never paid to lose games. That is an absolute falsehood. And it’s also an absolute falsehood that I laughed while we were losing.”
Jackson produced a 3-36-1 record in his 2 1/2 seasons as the Browns’ head coach from 2016-18.
Haslam added, “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. 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 responded as a team to Jackson’s allegations on Wednesday, saying in a statement, “The recent comments by Hue Jackson and his representatives relating to his tenure as our head coach are completely fabricated. Any accusation that any member of our organization was incentivized to deliberately lose games is categorically false.”
–Field Level Media
