May 18, 2013

Cabot: Shurmur, Heckert “Expected To Be Fired” Following Pittsburgh Game

December 29, 2012 by 17 Comments

The Plain Dealer’s Mary Kay Cabot is reporting that league sources inform her that the Cleveland Browns will indeed be parting ways with head coach Pat Shurmur and general manager Tom Heckert following tomorrow’s regular season finale against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

When Haslam agreed to buy the team in August and Banner took over in October, it was almost a foregone conclusion that the two would want to hit the ground running with their own people. Banner made it clear in an interview with The Plain Dealer in November that he had excellent candidates in mind at all positions to take the Browns to a championship level.

He also stressed that he wouldn’t be one to stock the Browns with people he’s worked with before, and that he’d rely on all the relationships he’d developed over the years.

Heading into today’s game, Heckert and Shurmur both knew they’d be gone afterward even though they hadn’t been informed yet, sources said.

Mary Kay points out that the last two regimes (Romeo Crennel and Phil Savage in 2008 and Eric Mangini in 2010) were both dismissed following a Pittsburgh finale as well.

Shurmur is 9-22 in his two seasons as Browns head coach heading into the finale. Heckert has added the likes of Joe Haden, T.J. Ward, Phil Taylor, Jabaal Sheard, Greg Little, Trent Richardson, Josh Gordon, and Mitchell Schwartz to the roster to name a few over the course of three drafts.

Related: 2012 Sucked; Four Reasons Why 2013 Might Be Better

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  • Tron

    Sadly at this point of being a Browns fan a regime change is same old same old.

  • Ritz

    I am fine with this… All Heckert has done is draft lots of guys that start on a bad team. The roster he assembled for his third season as GM has won 5 games. Thus, although the players Heckert has drafted and signed start on this team, they haven’t won many games.

  • humboldt

    “All Heckert has done is draft lots of guys that start on a bad team.”

    Well said. His 2012 draft was the best, but the previous two years were pretty underwhelming. I’m fine with a reboot. The margins between success/failure in the NFL are so thin that one A+ draft and a quality coach could get us in the playoffs next year.

  • FearThRoo

    Might as well just fire them right now. The game tomorrow is already a lost cause. Do they expect to beat the Steelers with Thad Lewis and Hardesty? This will be the ugliest game in Browns history…

  • humboldt

    Charlie Frye circa September 2007 disagrees

  • Kildawg

    Why wasn’t Shurmur fired at the bye week? At least Heckert will find a GM job soon. Think Carolina, San Diego, Jacksonville, and New York Jets are hiring.

  • Lunch

    “Banner made it clear in an interview with The Plain Dealer in November that he had excellent candidates in mind at all positions to take the Browns to a championship level.”

    Hopefully these candidates are contenders, not pretenders. Or else it will be more of the same Browns football that we have seen over the last X years. This will be Banner’s true test to see if he can build a winning organization that produces results and super bowl championships.

    To Heckert and Shurmur, good luck with your next endeavors. Make Banner regret his decisions on both of you. :)

  • https://twitter.com/jimkanicki jimkanicki

    this analysis is silly in its simplicity. you cant ignore the coach.

  • Ivan

    Shurmer is reporting that Mary Kay Cabot be fired on Monday

  • humboldt

    Well, what can you say – she battled

  • FearTheRoo

    I would like to recommend Rob Ianello as the next head coach of the Cleveland Browns.

  • BROSEPH

    Incredibly selective memory. Mangini’s team was one of the oldest in the league (second oldest if remember correctly, maybe third), now they are the close to the youngest. That means the majority of the roster has been rebuilt, not just the starters. And I think any Browns fan will agree that this year has been much better than the last two, judging not by wins/losses but by the quality/entertainment of games played. Every game was competitive even with the trials of a rookie laden team. Losses this season can be attributed to a young team that will make some mistakes and coaching which has been questionable at times (also injuries/suspensions).

    People who believe Heckert deserves to be fired must not pay attention to other teams’ transactions in the draft/free agency. EVERY team has misses in the draft. We’ve found some solid depth/role players deep in the draft and some undrafted FA as well. The only things I’d question are QB (Holmgren’s doing) and I guess Marecic, but honestly, if you watched that kid play at Stanford you would have thought he was just a natural, textbook football player.

    Look at some of the other perennial bottom feeders, the Browns are in a much better position than most all of them. We have major pieces of an offense coming together and a young, intense defense that is a couple of players away from being upper tier in the NFL.

  • Ritz

    I think the Browns are better, yes. But that does not mean Heckert is as good as it gets. For whatever reasons, the roster he assembled this year, his third on the job, has won just 5 games.

  • Ritz

    I would say the two are both very important. Shurmur had been just awful, but it’s not like the roster is stacked with pro bowl players.

  • Roosevelt

    Participating in the debate on WFNY about the job Heckert has done, I am aware that he has not been incredibly awesome so I wondered why I feel such foreboding about his firing. Then it occurred to me. In the fourteen years since the Browns have been back, they’ve been through by my count 17 upper managers. At most two of them have shown some sustained competence – Butch Davis and Tom Heckert. I understand that the new regime wants their own people, but as Browns fans our assumption is that we have about a 10% chance of getting someone with a NFL level base line of competence – so why get rid of a known commodity in exchange for that?

  • Vindictive_Pat

    Is Chris Palmer available? I want a true reboot… reboot back to the beginning of the New Browns and let’s try it again!

    No but for real… I have no idea who I want for either coach or GM. I thought Heckert did a fantastic job, but it’s obvious he’s being canned. Don’t care one bit about losing Shurmur. I have no solutions for Banner to implement… I just hope he has the wits to find solid replacements. The continued losing for all of our Cleveland teams gets overwhelming at times and I’m not sure how much longer I can keep putting up with it.

  • Bruce Gradkowski

    I take umbrage with your statement good sir.