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The Jimmy Haslam Thread

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Apparently he is bad at running teams cause he has a strange face :dunno:



I would imagine it's Flying J side, I can't see anything from the Browns side that would force him to spend more time with Flying J, likely the guy they hired wasn't as awesome as they expected or had some health problems or something.

Hell it could be as simple as he realized owning a team is pretty damn boring after he hired everyone and wants to get back to work.

Yeah, I'm taking him at his word until I hear something more definitive - sounds like he basically hired an outsider to run the family business and realized he still wanted to be running it.
 
I heard the Pepsi guy was doing Coke.......
 
You think running an NFL team would be more fun than pumping gas.
 
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Robert Kraft is still the CEO and Chairman of the Kraft Group.

He still owns a pretty good team.
 
You'd think this would go over more understandably.

Jimmy wants to work for the company he helped grow. He wasn't going to step down at first, but thought it'd be a wise decision when trying to focus on the business side of things and the coach/front office. All of the business people are in place, the Browns have a coach and a GM underneath the CEO with a scouting department in place doing their jobs as we speak. Jimmy is still going to be at every game and will step in when big decisions need to be made. For now, the people he's hired are doing their jobs and I'm sure he expressed his desires for the future of the Browns to them. For him, the vacation to football has come to a tentative end. Relax, folks.
 
Robert Kraft is still the CEO and Chairman of the Kraft Group.

He still owns a pretty good team.

I dont think this effects the Browns, but it does mean something might be going on at the Flying J.
 
I don't really understand why this is a big deal.

Dan Gilbert is still the chairman of Quicken Loans and is involved in dozens of other business venture (including revitalizing downtown Detroit and plans to do the same with Cleveland), but I don't think anyone would accuse him of being an absentee owner.

Plus, it's not like the CEO of a company can't spend his Sundays watching the football team he owns.
 
always interesting to see how many people hated that randy lerner owned a soccer team, but haslam going back to pilot J and people jump to his defense.

either way something is definitely up, something which involves the owner of this team on a personal level, thats not good
 
always interesting to see how many people hated that randy lerner owned a soccer team, but haslam going back to pilot J and people jump to his defense.

either way something is definitely up, something which involves the owner of this team on a personal level, thats not good

People hated that Lerner was an absentee owner who hired people to go to the owner meetings, not because he had another interest. We also know that when you skip basic ownership matters because you're in England, your interest isn't as high as it should be. Truth is, just about every owner has diverse interests. Our owner is involved in the oil business, its his bread and butter and what has made him.

This isn't evidence that something is up, you're just being neurotic.
 
always interesting to see how many people hated that randy lerner owned a soccer team, but haslam going back to pilot J and people jump to his defense.

either way something is definitely up, something which involves the owner of this team on a personal level, thats not good

Lerner inherited the team, decided it wasn't his cup of tea, and pretty much left the team to Holmgren, so much so that Holmgren went to the owners meetings instead of Lerner. He then sold the team the 1st chance he could (Al said in his will the team couldn't be sold until at least 10 years after his death, and is was exactly 10 years in which Lerner sold them).

Haslam was already the Pilot CEO, then paid $1 Billion for the franchise.

Completely different situations. Not even close to being similar.
 
always interesting to see how many people hated that randy lerner owned a soccer team, but haslam going back to pilot J and people jump to his defense.

either way something is definitely up, something which involves the owner of this team on a personal level, thats not good

As others have said, there's a difference between being an absentee owner who doesn't actually care about the team (Lerner) and an owner who has a career and life outside of sports but still clearly is involved with and cares about the team (Gilbert). Expecting these guys to make being an NFL (or NBA) owner their only career is naive. They hire people to run these teams for them and their job as an owner is to make the right hires, stay involved but not be overbearing, and partake in key decisions.

I'm not defending Haslam because I don't know which kind of owner he's going to be yet. What I don't understand is people already ripping the guy apart for having a job outside of the NFL like basically every other owner does. If he turns into Lerner I will be the first to turn against him, but it's way too early to jump to conclusions.
 
From the PD:

Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam vows he'll still be involved in all key decisions, including free agency and the draft

CLEVELAND -- Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, who reassumed his title as CEO of Pilot Flying J on Monday, assured Browns fans in an interview with the Plain Dealer today that he'll still be heavily involved with running the team, including key decisions in free agency and the draft.

Here are some excerpts from that interview:

* On if he'll still spend as much time with the Browns: "I think that's a very fair question. I would just ask everyone to think back to Aug. 3 when we were announced in Berea and I was CEO of Pilot Flying J from Aug. 2 until Dec. 31st, which was essentially the entire football season. I'm sure there are some decisions we could've made better, but I don't think anyone would question our passion, effort, intensity, devotion to the Cleveland Browns and candidly to Northeast Ohio.''

* On if he'll be in Cleveland as much as he would've been: "It's not going to change at all. I did it last year and the amount of time we spend up there varies depending on what's going on. During the season we're there a day or two a week and we're there on weekends or wherever we're playing. We'll be very active and very visible during training camp and we're obviously going to be there a lot during the free agency and draft periods which are obviously so important to the future of the Browns. We're going to be there as much as we need to be to insure success. We feel great about the team we've put in place but we're still going to be highly involved and I think you saw how much we were there from August to December. We've actually been up there a lot in the last five or six weeks with all of the changes we've made and we're going to have a big presence in Cleveland.''

* On if he'll attend the NFL Combine next week: "I probably will not go to the Combine, but I wasn't planning on going before this so that hasn't changed anything. We'll have plenty of representatives there. I will be there the day before the Combine. We're going to have an all-day meeting on our free agent plans. I'll be there after the Combine when we analyze the Combine, and finalize our free agent plans which I believe the key dates are Mar. 12-16. The next really two and a half months, free agency and the draft are vitally important to the Cleveland Browns and we're going to be heavily involved.

* On if he'll help decide on all key acquisitions: "Absolutely and (CEO Joe Banner) and I had an hour and a half conversation last night. I was driving back from Nashville after visiting stores all day and we went through where we are on all the key personnel, both coaches, players, etc. and we'll continue to be very involved. I know people always ask who has the final say, and this is going to be a collaborative effort just like we've described before and I'll be heavily involved in those decisions.''

* On if he'll make draft visits or be part of the visits here: "Absolutely and we've already had those conversations. And when we bring in key free agents, I've got the dates blocked out that I need to be up there and when zero in on who our key draft picks are going to be, especially our first round pick, we'll be heavily involved in meeting those individuals to make sure we not only get a great player but the kind of person we want to represent the Cleveland Browns.''

* On if he still thinks the Browns won't make a huge splash in free agency: "The coaches and Mike (Lombbardi)and his staff are going through and looking at our roster first, they're looking at the free agent candidates second and we'll have a series of meetings and then we'll finalize those plans. My instincts are strongly the same as we said on Aug. 3rd in Berea, that we'll continue to build through the draft and use free agency to supplement our team and improve our team where advantageous without mortgaging our future.''

* On all the speculation of the big-name players they'll go after: "I've seen some of the rumors of who we're going to sign and that's what makes the NFL so exciting. I'm glad a lot of people are covering it and a lot of people are interested.''

* On not shortchanging the Browns: "Our family has a tremendous investment and we want to win as bad as anybody does up there and we're going to do whatever it takes to win.''

http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2013/02/cleveland_browns_owner_jimmy_h_8.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
 
Meh. I don't think anyone can really read what the ramifications are for the Browns on this, good or bad, because we have no idea at this point if more Haslam is better than less Haslam. We simply don't know.

What bothers me about it is that it comes across as flaky on his part. He went through the effort of pulling this new CEO away from the company he had been with for years, just to come back in after a month? This is a Jay Leno move. If anything, it makes me wonder a little more about Haslam. I think the reflection this move has on who he is holds more water than if his absence from Berea on a day-to-day basis has on the running of the football team.
 

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