They say hindsight is 20/20 and recently former Cleveland Browns' president Mike Holmgren reflected back on what he should have been doing to benefit the organization.
"I really just should have coached the team, but (former owner Randy Lerner) didn't want me to," Holmgren recently said in regard to his time in Cleveland.
Mike Holmgren served as the president of the Browns from 2010 to 2012, but never was able to help get the team over 0.500. In that same time, the team saw two different coaches (Eric Mangini then Pat Shurmur) as well as a ridiculous revolving door of quarterbacks. Although he is best known as a Super Bowl winning coach for the Green Bay Packers and later taking Seattle Seahawks to the big game in 2006, Holmgren was not able to translate that success as team president of the Browns. Faltering in his evaluation of the first round draft picks of running back Trent Richardson and quarterback Brandon Weeden in 2012. Both of whom have already been traded off the team. Richardson to the Colts for the 26th overall draft pick in 2014 and Weeden as a backup in Dallas.
"Now-and this is very important, once he's with you, you never, ever let anyone believe he's not the right guy, not the quarterback of the future," Holmgren claimed as the right way to stick with your picks.
It's clear that Mike Holmgren's strengths lie with his on the field coaching abilities and not his in the office executive ones. What is not so clear is whether coaching the Browns instead of running them would have made much of a difference since many of the team's problems centered around their inability to get the right players on the field to play on Sunday.
Personally I don't think it would have made a difference. While the defense is good enough the offense wasn't. He may have won a couple more games but that would have been about it. No quarterback to run his offense.
All Holmgren did was add to the clusterfuck that was/is the Cleveland Browns. Seems like they are in a better place, heading in a better direction without him.
He wasn't that great a coach either…not enough to make that team better. Brett Favre made him in Green Bay and he's lived off that…
Unless he has complete control on personal hiring too, than I say NO to him coaching. That would not be worth the headache to me.