According to a website I’ve never heard of, the Cleveland Browns are poised to offer Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer the most lucrative deal in NFL history to turn around their fortunes.
OK, I know it could be some kid in his basement, but Chatsports.com says Browns owner Jimmy Haslam is prepared to offer Meyer more than $10 million a year, nearly doubling his annual salary, to become Cleveland’s fifth head coach in eight years.
Meyer supposedly also would be given full roster control and an ownership stake in the team.
True or not, it makes sense for the Browns, who bring a 2-9 record into Sunday’s home game against the Bengals, haven’t had a winning season since 2007 and seem destined to cashier Mike Pettine at season’s end.
In short, what have they got to lose, except more games and fans?
The offer, if there is one, might be too good to refuse, but what a headache Meyer would inherit.
Especially since health problems allegedly caused him to walk away from Florida several years ago, the OSU coach might want to check with Butch Davis before accepting. Davis, who in 2002 took the Browns to their only playoff appearance of the expansion era, started having panic attacks less than two years later as the team’s record sagged. He quit — or was forced out — late in the 2004 season, ushering in the mostly dreadful Romeo Crennel era.
Then again, with three national championships to his credit, Meyer has nothing left to prove at the college level.
Meyer is from Ashtabula, east of Cleveland, and has expressed a fondness for the Browns on occasion. If not that, I think it will be the challenge of succeeding in the NFL, more than the money and power, that ultimately lures him out of Columbus if he wants to leave.
Because what Dayton needs is another soccer team
Don’t look now, but there’s another soccer team in Dayton as the city continues to act as a magnet for minor-league enterprises.
We’ve sure seen plenty of teams in a variety of sports come and go over the years. The new Dayton Dynamo, introduced Thursday, had been the Cincinnati Saints until owner David Satterwhite decided — oh, I don’t know — that he wanted to be closer to the Pine Club? Who leaves Cincinnati for Dayton?
If Dynamo sounds vaguely familiar, it should. An indoor team by that name trod these grounds from 1988 until 1995 before, ironically enough, relocating to Cincinnati to become the Sliverbacks.
Confused yet?
Well, don’t forget about the other soccer team in town. The Dayton Dutch Lions continue to play their games at West Carrollton High School.
The Dynamo plan to play at Welcome Stadium for a year before settling into the new field at Chaminade Julienne.
Buckeyes learning style points actually do matter
At Ohio State, thoughts this week turned to where it all went wrong.
But it’s simple, and this paragraph from a cleveland.com analysis sums it up best:
“Imagine if that Illinois win had been 45-3. Imagine if the Northern Illinois win had been 40-13 instead of 20-13. Imagine if Minnesota had been 49-14 instead of 28-14, if Indiana had been 55-27 instead of 34-27.”
Had all that occurred, the College Football Playoff committee, chaired by Kettering native Jeff Long, would have had no choice but to include the Buckeyes even after the troubling loss to Michigan State.
And it still could happen with an upset or two over the weekend.