Bill Belichick

[Celtsfan1980]

Obviously a different sport, but seeing Francona succeed with two teams as manager puts Belichick's failures in Cleveland in proper perspective. If he leaves when Brady leaves he is showing no confidence in his abilities. If he continues coaching New England after Brady leaves and fails it doesn't help him either. In your own words what makes Belichick great? Why did he fail in Cleveland?

[Otis Driftwood]

Seems like there was a lot more going on in Cleveland with all the Modell "moving" crap. I'm not sure anyone could have succeeded with that circus taking place.

[RavenMad31]

Obviously a different sport, but seeing Francona succeed with two teams as manager puts Belichick's failures in Cleveland in proper perspective. If he leaves when Brady leaves he is showing no confidence in his abilities. If he continues coaching New England after Brady leaves and fails it doesn't help him either. In your own words what makes Belichick great? Why did he fail in Cleveland?

Before we can call his stint in Cleveland a "failure", let's look at his record there in the context of their recent history.
He took over in 1991 and coached five years. He ended up four games under .500. If any coach since then delivered those results, Browns fans would have wet themselves. This included a 5-11 lame duck season with the move to Baltimore looming over the team and Eric Zeier getting significant playing time at QB. Give him a mulligan on that season and he'd be 2 games under .500. He was the last coach in Cleveland to win a playoff game. The next one to do so will be in their ring of honor. If Modell's claims were anywhere close to true (debatable), the Browns were not financially in a position to compete in the new world of free agency.
So comparing him to his successors, they finished, 22, 6 (or more), 16, 12, 14, 8, 12 and 12 games under .500 respectively. Even his predecessor was 7 under. Ultimately, it could also be that he wasn't ready to be a head coach yet. Maybe the Browns talent level at the time wasn't that good. No great coach became great with bad players. I can speak for the talent level because when that mess moved to Baltimore, it took 3 years to become respectable.

[JaxMagic]

I couldn't imagine what it would feel like for a Browns' fan to watch their coaching staff go to New England and put together a dynasty and watch their front office staff go to Baltimore and put together a Super Bowl team.

In some alternate universe, there was a Cleveland Brown dynasty lead by Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, Jon Ogden, and Ray Lewis. lol

[therealbig3]

Bitter Browns fan is bitter.

[Otis Driftwood]

Bitter Browns fan is bitter.

Can't imagine why.

[Celtsfan1980]

Again, what makes him great?