Greg Schiano helped lead Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam to fire Joe Banner
By Josh Hill
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were apparently never on the phone with now former Cleveland Browns CEO Joe Banner, as they could have told him to avoid former head coach Greg Schiano like the bubonic plague. Banner actually did avoid Schiano and that, ironically, seemed to be his undoing with the Browns.
While we don’t know exactly why Joe Banner was fired, Peter King stated in his MMQB that the consideration of Greg Schiano for head coach in Cleveland was likely the straw that broke Jimmy Haslam’s back. It’s not that Schiano being considered caused the rift, it was that Haslam wanted Schiano as head coach but Banner burned bridges by being cold to him in the official interview.
"Haslam was intrigued with him after the over-the-top recommendation from Belichick. The group flew to Tampa to interview Schiano, and one source said Banner was cold to Schiano, not participating much in the interview. Banner likely thought Schiano would be a disastrous hire, given all the negatives in recent Cleveland history. He was probably right, but the owner was open to it, and when the owner’s open to it, the man running football operations should at least consider it."
King also states that Banner was essentially cursed out by Ken Whisenhunt when he was called in for an interview, after Banner questioned his ability to put together a championship coaching staff. The brash attitude we saw Banner display to the media following the firing of Rob Chudzinski apparently wasn’t an act and seems to be not only the reason he was fired but the reason no one wanted to coach in Cleveland.