The Cleveland Browns have decided to part ways with head coach Freddie Kitchens after just one tumultuous season on the job.
Everyone saw this coming. The Cleveland Browns have fired Freddie Kitchens.
Kitchens told Ian Rapoport over the phone. As Rapoport later tweeted, Kitchens believed he had support from the team.
John Dorsey and Jimmy Haslam met with Kitchens after returning from Sunday’s loss to the Bengals. As anyone knows, meeting late at night with your employer is rarely a good sign. Once the news of a meeting of Sunday night broke, his fate was known to pretty much everyone.
Freddie Kitchens went 6-10 in his only season as the head coach of the Browns. Kitchens is the second head coach this decade fired by Cleveland after just one year on the job. The first was Rob Chudzinski. Kitchens time in Cleveland will not be remembered fondly. Constant distractions and bad decision making led the team to their lackluster finish. Mysterious inactive listings, players displaying a lack of self control on and off the field and of course, the infamous t-shirt. Freddie Kitchens was in over the head from the start.
More changes on the horizon?
The possibility of Kitchens being fired after only one season gained serious traction on Saturday. Mike Lombardi said that he heard from sources that Kitchens could be on his way out. Lombardi’s sources were right. There is also the part where Lombardi mentioned the job status of John Dorsey. Right now, Dorsey is still the general manger of the Cleveland Browns. The question is will Haslam let Dorsey conduct another coaching search? Dorsey led the last coaching search. Dorsey compiled the talent on the roster and there are holes everywhere. The roster is in pretty rough shape once you get past the top end talent.
Jimmy Haslam is definitely a wild card when it comes to firing coaches and front office executives. It is very possible that Haslam wants to start fresh with a clean slate, firing both Kitchens and Dorsey. Start fresh from top to bottom and give a new regime their shot at running the show. He’s done it before, who says he won’t do it again?
