01-27-2023, 12:01 PM
(01-27-2023, 11:43 AM)Soonerpeace Wrote: His vision and plan had Arizona heavily interested and Denver as well but Denver had a lot of stipulations. The Browns history of loyalty and the fact he and his wife loved the city turned him to Cincy.
Yeah…he mentioned he had been courted by other teams, although during the interview he didn’t mention who they were. And yes, he said his wife loves (loved?) Cincinnati from their time here before UC fired him. You would think that would have left them with a bad taste.
But, he said his wife made a lot of friends in that 9 month period in Cincinnati. Given they were in LA for 2 years, that’s pretty telling.
It was good revisiting that interview. It gave insight to how this all transpired and how we are where we are today. He said he was fired from UC via text while he was watching a Bengals game at PBS (now Paycor).
He said it happened pretty quickly. While he was still in LA, there was some sort of what he called a “slip” that coaches are given telling them who wants to interview them and for what positions. He interviewed but had to make his mind up quickly because once you linger, NFL teams move on to their next candidates pretty quickly. He said he accepted the Bengals job immediately because of the reputation of the Brown family for being loyal, patient (he knew the turnaround was going to take a bit), and honest. Plus, as mentioned, his wife loved it here.
I think he said it was a round table discussion interview with Mike Brown, his brother, Katie, her husband, and Duke Tobin. Who knows what they spoke about. But, I can imagine it was a look into the future without Dalton and/or AJ Green, as well as some of the others from the previous “regime’”. I doubt they had any inkling Burrow would have turned into the #1 pick at that time as the incredible season he had at LSU hadn’t happened yet. But, he knew there would be some incredible QB talent coming out of that class….Tua, Justin Herbert, Jordan Love, etc.
I remember being in Miami the summer before that draft. I had an UBER pick up me and my GF to take us to the cruise terminal. That was when the “Tank for Tua” was at its height. And, the debate was raging about Sewell vs Burrow here. UBER driver was a huge Dolphins fan and a Tua fan. Telling him I was from Cincinnati, he wondered if we would draft Tua or Joe or Sewell. Told him I’d rather have Joe. He disagreed and wanted Tua.
The rest, as they say, is history.
