The Cleveland Browns are reportedly interested in hiring Urban Meyer to be their next head coach, which is hardly a surprise to CBS NFL insider Jason La Canfora. In fact, La Canfora reported that the Browns made the most NFL sense for Meyer, who won three national championships while coaching Florida and Ohio State.
“Jimmy Haslam and Urban Meyer are way closer than most people had any inkling of,” La Canfora said on Ferrall on the Bench. “They’re close confidants, and for years, Haslam has had the straight dope on Ohio State players more than any other organization because of that relationship. It was clear that Jimmy Haslam wanted to go in a direction that is a 180 from Freddie Kitchens in terms of a disciplinarian sense, in terms of an experience sense, in terms of just the demeanor and personality sense. Urban Meyer is a 180.”
Meyer, 55, went 187-32 in college, including 83-9 at Ohio State. The Browns will reportedly interview Greg Roman, Brian Daboll, Robert Saleh and Josh McDaniels, but Meyer remains a distinct possibility.
“I got news for you: If [Haslam] talks to five or six guys and isn’t wowed, he can work it out with Urban over the phone in an hour,” La Canfora said. “It doesn’t have to be an interview. You want me, I want you, here’s your $10 million a year – come and get it. Urban is from Ohio, there’s a lot of natural connections there, and Urban clearly wants to keep coaching. I don’t think that’s in doubt. . . . and I’m not sure Jimmy Haslam is going to fall in love with the people who are put in front of him, almost all of whom he could have hired 11-and-a-half months ago if he wanted to. So we’ll see.”
The Browns, who went 6-10 this past season, haven’t made the playoffs since 2002.