Hue Jackson Archives - Head Coach Ranking

Assessing the Eight NFL Head Coaches That Were Fired in 2018

By HCR Staff | Jan. 3, 2019

“Black Monday,” as they call it, is a sad day in the NFL. No one in the profession likes to see another coach lose his job. When an owner makes the decision to terminate a head coach, that decision has consequences far beyond the head coach. It affects a lot of families, and even the careers of many players, as those players’ styles of play may be particularly suited to that head coach. For each team hiring a new head coach, it is a good bet that nearly 60 percent of its roster will be turned over within the next two years.

Here is our assessment of each of the eight head coaches that were terminated in 2018:

Hue Jackson, Cleveland Browns
Most coaches feel that Jackson is a good, experienced coach — deposed Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis went out of his way to extol Jackson’s virtues during his own final press conference. Our primary criticism of Jackson would be that he seems to have a penchant for creating drama whenever he receives some measure of authority. For example, when he was head coach of the Raiders, owner Al Davis passed away during Jackson’s tenure. As soon as that happened, Jackson went full “Al Haig” (for those readers under the age of 50, here’s the reference), and it was highly unbecoming. Over the last two years as head coach of the Browns, Jackson seemed to have a new gimmick every week. On one occasion, it was something about jumping into Lake Erie. On another occasion, it was about withholding the stripe decal for the players’ helmets until they accomplished something in training camp. If Jackson gets another opportunity to be a head coach, our advice would be to keep the focus on the game, as opposed to himself.

Conclusion: Turn down the drama, Hue.

Steve Wilks, Arizona Cardinals
We believe that every head coach, with few exceptions, should be given more than one year to show progress. Wilks confronted a series of obstacles that he did not create and had no control over (e.g., rookie quarterback, a general manager who was arrested and suspended, a rash of injuries, the installation of a new system that did not fit the existing personnel, etc). We obviously don’t know how Wilks would have done in a second year, but based on what we observed this year, he did appear to have a longer learning curve than others.

Conclusion: Just a few more years experience as a coordinatorbefore next head coaching job.

Vance Joseph, Denver Broncos
We definitely saw progress with Vance Joseph in 2018. In his rookie season, he made far too many errors and his team seemed unprepared on too many occasions. This year, however, we saw significant progress, and that did play out on the field as the Broncos were a tough out for some of the best teams in the league. Like many defensive-minded head coaches, however, Joseph struggled with his offensive choices. While he was shortening his learning curve as a head coach, however, for whatever reason, Broncos general manager John Elway didn’t want to wait any longer. Based on the progress that we saw, however, we believe Joseph still has room to grow as a head coach in the future.

Conclusion: Have better offensive coordinator choices available to you in your next head coaching opportunity.

Dirk Koetter, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
We have watched Koetter as a head coach at Boise State, Arizona State, and now Tampa Bay. Our conclusion is that he is a good offensive coordinator.

Conclusion: Best of luck to you in your next offensive coordinator position.

Mike McCarthy, Green Bay Packers
We strongly believe McCarthy will be a success wherever he goes next. Clearly, the relationship between McCarthy and quarterback Aaron Rodgers had changed somewhat, and perhaps, they simply had been together too long. That doesn’t mean anyone did anything wrong, but sometimes in the coaching profession, the dynamic can get a bit stale and, like anything else, needs some new energy and refreshment.

Conclusion: Simple change of scenery is all that’s needed for McCarthy.

Marvin Lewis, Cincinnati Bengals
Marvin Lewis is a terrific coach and we believe he, too, will see success if he chooses to pursue being a head coach again. Our only constructive criticism would be that his teams tended to play tight and undisciplined at the same time. Having said that, it should be emphasized that Lewis had one of the most difficult head-coaching jobs in the league working for the Brown family in Cincinnati. This is an organization that lacks resources and just does not operate like most of the other franchises (and not in a good way). We feel Lewis did an unbelievable job covering up a lot of the ills in this organization. Finally, losing Jay Gruden as an offensive coordinator was a big blow to Lewis, and Gruden’s successors simply did not measure up.

Conclusion: Like McCarthy, Lewis will succeed with a change of scenery.

Todd Bowles, New York Jets
We believe Todd Bowles has significant promise as a head coach. However, he has a couple of prominent blind spots. The first is that, like many defensive-minded head coaches, he seems to lack a direction on what he really wants out of an offense, other than to simply not screw it up. The second blind spot would be his ability to evaluate players. There was a lot of hit-and-miss during his tenure as head coach, but we are sure much of that also was the responsibility of general manager Mike Maccagnan. If Bowles were paired with a more prominent general manager than Maccagnan, we believe he has a chance to be a winning head coach.

Conclusion: Get paired with a great general manager, and stay out of his way.

Adam Gase, Miami Dolphins
Obviously, Adam Gase is a good coach. Peyton Manning is as good an authority as any of us will ever see, and he is convinced of Gase’s ability. And that’s good enough for us. So what is the problem here? Based on some of the reports we’ve seen, Gase may have a problem relating to players of a certain ilk. That’s obviously not good. Another problem may not have been Gase’s fault at all: Simply put, he may have not been ready to be a head coach. Still only 40 years old, Gase had never been in a position where he was the ultimate decision-maker prior to the Dolphins job. All we know is that his Dolphins teams exhibited wild inconsistency and puzzling lack of energy at times. That is a reflection on the head coach.

Conclusion: With just a bit more maturity and better personal relationships, Gase will be a winning head coach.

Head Coach Rankings for NFL Week 8

By HCR Staff | Oct. 30, 2018

As we close the file on Week 8 in the NFL, we also bid farewell to ousted Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson. It was a difficult two-and-a-half seasons, to say the least, as Jackson leaves Cleveland with a record of 3-36-1 with the Browns.

Things unraveled quickly over the last three weeks after Cleveland started the season 2-2-1 and played several down-to-the-wire contests. Jackson certainly had issues, both on the field and in the coaches’ room with offensive coordinator Todd Haley, who was also let go. But when it comes to his Head Coach Ranking, Jackson was actually showing improvement.

Jackson finished 2017 tied for last with an HCR grade of 5.8. In 2018, he ended his eight-game run with an HCR grade of 6.8 – tied for 21st. We’ll see how interim head coach Gregg Williams fares when he takes over after Cleveland’s Week 9 bye.

Some other observations:

• Andy Reid and Sean McVay continue their streak of being the only two coaches who have ranked in the top 10 every week of the season – though this week it was close. Reid and McVay both finished with a grade of 7.6 – in a six-way tie for sixth. McVay is first overall with an HCR grade of 8.3, with Reid right behind him at 8.2.

• First-year head coaches went 3-3 this week – which is pretty good considering how rough the previous two weeks were. The Colts’ Frank Reich continues to impress, and he actually had the highest grade of Week 8 – tied with the Saints’ Sean Payton with an 8.4 after the Colts took care of the Raiders. One other first-year coach earned a top 10 grade this week – Matt Nagy earned a 7.6 grade for the Bears’ easy win over the Jets. With an overall grade of 7.5 this season, Nagy is sixth in Head Coach Ranking — the only first-year coach in the top 10.

• Only one losing coach in Week 8 earned a top 10 grade. That was Denver’s Vance Joseph, whose Broncos played tough in Kansas City.

HCR’s top 11 coaches for Week 8:

Frank Reich, Colts – 8.4
Sean Payton, Saints – 8.4
Jay Gruden, Redskins – 8.2
Bill Belichick, Patriots – 8,2
Ron Rivera, Panthers – 8.0
Doug Pederson, Eagles – 7.6
Matt Nagy, Bears – 7.6
Mike Tomlin, Steelers – 7.6
Sean McVay, Rams – 7.6
Andy Reid, Chiefs – 7.6
Vance Joseph, Broncos – 7.6

Click here for the Complete Head Coach Rankings

Click here for the Week 8 Game Posts

Pittsburgh Steelers 33, Cleveland Browns 18 – Oct. 28, 2018

At Pittsburgh
1:00 p.m. ET
48 degrees, rain

TEAM	PLAY CALLING	PERSONNEL	GAME PLANNING	IN-GAME ADJ	CLOCK MGMT	HCR
CLE	6	7	7	5	7	6.4
PIT	7	8	7	8	8	7.6

Key Decision #1: (PIT ball, leading 7-6 / fourth-and-1, CLE 3 / 0:15 Q2)
• Pittsburgh has all its timeouts left. They choose to go for it, converting and ultimately scoring a TD that gives the Steelers a 14-6 lead at halftime.

• It worked out for Pittsburgh this time, but we did not favor that decision by Mike Tomlin. The Steelers had not played well offensively in the first half. They were getting the ball first in the second half, so settling for a FG here and taking a 10-6 halftime lead before getting the ball first in the third quarter would not have been a bad call.

Key Observations:

• The Browns opened up this game with more energy than the Steelers and had QB Baker Mayfield getting the ball out quick for successful results. The Browns should continue with this; their OL just isn’t consistent with the slower developing plays.

• Pittsburgh continues to be much more aggressive on defense this year with its blitz packages.

• Pittsburgh made good key adjustments at halftime; they came out with much better tempo and energy in the second half, and found better balance with RB James Conner getting touches in the ground game.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 26, Cleveland Browns 23 – Oct. 21, 2018

At Tampa Bay
1:00pm ET
80 degrees, clear

TEAM	PLAY CALLING	PERSONNEL	GAME PLANNING	IN-GAME ADJ	CLOCK MGMT	HCR
CLE	2	7	8	8	7	6.4
TB	7	7	8	7	7	7.2

Key Coaching Decisions 1: (CLE Ball, trailing 16-2 / Fourth and 2 / :26 Q2)

• Down only two touchdowns with the second half left to play, Hue Jackson elected to attempt a fourth down conversion instead of kicking a field goal.

Key Coaching Decision 2: (CLE Ball, trailing 23-16 / Fourth and 1 / 5:02 Q4)

• Trailing by seven, the Browns attempt and fail to convert a 4th & Goal. They would go on to score a touchdown on their next possession to tie the game, which provides evidence of the fact that kicking a field goal instead of attempting the fourth & goal likely would have put them in a position to win.

Key Observations

• Hue Jackson passed up on six points in this matchup through these decisions. In a game that was tied and ultimately decided by three points, it can be argued that these decisions lost the game for the Browns, and therefore Cleveland’s play calling score was reduced to only two points.

• The offensive schemes for both teams looked quite effective for stretches of this game, earning each coach a score of eight in the game planning category. Cleveland earned the edge for in-game adjustments by virtue of their late scoring drives that overcame a 16-23 deficit to send the game to overtime.

Los Angeles Chargers 38, Cleveland Browns 14 – Oct. 14, 2018

At Cleveland
1:00pm ET
55 degrees, clear skies

TEAM	PLAY CALLING	PERSONNEL	GAME PLANNING	IN-GAME ADJ	CLOCK MGMT	HCR
LAC	8	9	9	7	5	7.6
CLE	4	7	6	6	7	6.0

Key Observations:

• The Chargers scored a touchdown on their opening possession of the game. Credit to their game planning for this initial script.

• Chargers exhibited some errors with game clock management, specifically needing to use a timeout early in the second half and committing a delay of game midway through the third quarter.

Key Coaching Decision:

• Cleveland attempted to convert a Fourth & 2 from the opponent 23-yard line at 2:25 left in the first half instead of kicking a field goal and taking the points. They were only down 14-3 at the time. This decision did not have a proper risk to reward ratio and resulted in leaving points on the board and providing Los Angeles with a significant momentum swing.

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