Jones and Brown: Owners of NFL Teams, Yet Still Leagues Apart-PART I

After taking ownership of their teams within two years of each other, the career paths of Mike Brown and Jerry Jones could not look more different. Jones is the outspoken, always public, owner of America's Team, the Dallas Cowboys. Brown is the reclusive, mostly private, owner of America's Nightmare, the Cincinnati Bengals. Personally, I have never been a big fan of Jerry Jones, but I found myself envious of Cowboys fans recently because it must be nice to have a real NFL team to cheer for. Instead, I am left to watch the perpetual implosion that is the Cincinnati Bengals as they torment me Sunday after Sunday, year after year. Everyone by now is familiar with the way that Mike Brown runs his organization, but I decided to take a deeper look to see just how different these two men truly are.

The Beginnings
Jerry Jones purchased the Cowboys in 1989 from then owner Bum Bright for $150 million. There is a cool story about how Jones walked into Texas Stadium for the first time as Cowboys owner. He had the stadium lit up, and he walked around the field, and laid down on the middle of that big blue star on the 50 yard line. http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/football/cowboys/stories/090408dnspojerryjones.1fa1216.html?npc.
Throughout his tenure as Cowboys owner, Jones has rubbed some people the wrong way, made his fair share of mistakes, and battled it out with other owners in their annual meetings. Despite all of this, there is one underlying quality that Jones possesses which Mike Brown does not, a burning desire to win. One of Jones' first moves as owner was to fire legendary coach Tom Landry in a bitter dispute that had many fans in Dallas fuming. Jones hired an old buddy of his from his days at Arkansas, a man who had turned the Miami Hurricanes into a college dynasty. That man was Jimmy Johnson. Another one of Jones' first decisions was one that shocked the football world, and ultimately led to the Cowboys' domination in the early 90s. On October 12, 1989, Jones traded Herschel Walker to the Vikings for five players, six conditional draft picks, and a 1992 first round pick. Jones was willing to deal the franchise's marquee player in order to build a team around rookie quarterback Troy Aikman. Some of the players that Jones was able to acquire with those picks include the likes of Emmitt Smith, Russell Maryland, Kevin Smith, and Darren Woodson. The 1989 Cowboys wound up 1-15, but Jones' willingness to make a bold move paid dividends down the road.

Mike Brown took over the Bengals when his father, the founder of the organization, Paul Brown, passed away in 1991. The team was coming off of a divisional playoff loss to the Raiders, and it appeared that the Bengals would remain a playoff contender for years to come. That all changed when Brown made one of his first executive decisions, firing head coach Sam Wyche. Wyche had led the Bengals to a Super Bowl loss to Joe Montana's 49ers, and his no-huddle offense had transcended the offensive landscape of the NFL. Despite all of this, Brown felt the need to go in a different direction in a move that was highly controversial for a number of reasons. At the time Wyche and the Bengals parted ways, Brown and the team's brass insisted that Wyche had resigned. This was all news to Wyche and his lawyers who claimed that Brown had fired Wyche. Why would Brown claim that Wyche resigned? It was so he would not have to pay the remainder of Wyche's salary that he would be owed if he was fired. Now, this is also a good reason for Wyche to claim the opposite, since he would want the salary he would not get if he resigned. It is difficult to determine who to believe, unless of course you take into account the penny-pinching moves Brown would make over the next decade and a half. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CEFDE163DF936A15751C1A967958260 With his first major move as owner, Brown laid the groundwork for the type of ownership Bengals' fans would have to endure in the future.

The Coaches: My Way or the Highway
Both Brown and Jones are men set in their ways, and they expect their coaches to tow the company line and do as their told. The major difference, however, is that Jones is willing to surround his coaches with the personnel and facilities to give them the best chance of winning. Brown expects his coaches to work with what he gives them, surrounding them with the bare necessities. Jones has shown over time that he can adapt and change direction when things are not working. Brown is more than willing to stick with a coach, no matter how bad, as long as he is making money, a trend that reappears in every aspect of the Bengals organization.

Jones and Johnson combined to lead the Cowboys to back-to-back Super Bowl wins in 1992-1993. Although the team was winning, tensions flared between the two men regarding control over personnel decisions. They went their separate ways following that '93 season, and Jones became General Manager at that time, a position he holds to this day. Jones brought in Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer to run things, and the team won its third straight NFC East crown in 1994. Dallas was unable to three-peat, however, as the 49ers wound up defeating the Chargers in the Super Bowl that season. Switzer and company regrouped the following year, finishing with the club's third straight 12-4 campaign, and its fourth straight NFC East crown. The team made it back to the grand stage, and won its third Super Bowl in four years, beating the Neil O'Donnell led Steelers. Switzer was able to win Dallas' fifth straight NFC East title the following season, going 10-6, but they failed to make it back to the Super Bowl, and following a 6-10 season in '97, Jones felt it was time to go in a different direction. The next two coaches Jones brought in were not big names, and they would give Jones much less tension over personnel decisions. They were Chan Gailey and Dave Campo. Gailey only lasted two seasons, compiling a record of 18-14, including the NFC East title in '98. Campo took over in 2000, and he led the Cowboys to three straight disappointing seasons of 5-11. At this time, Jones realized that he needed to change his approach, and he brought in Bill Parcells. Parcells would have valuable input on the make-up of the roster, and this resulted in the building of the team that is dominating today. A match of egos like Jones and Parcells could only last so long, and they split up prior to the '07 season when Wade Phillips took over. Phillips led Dallas to a 13-3 season last year, before a disappointing loss to the Giants in the playoffs. He has the team off to a fast start this year, and they are the front runners to take home yet another ring.

Mike Brown has taken a similar, yet different approach towards coaches over the years. After firing Wyche, Brown hired 32 year old Dave Shula who had no head coaching experience. Dave is the son of legendary coach Don Shula, but that is where the similarities end. Shula was in over his head from day one, and his teams were embarrassed on a weekly basis. This did not stop Brown from keeping Shula around for 4+ seasons, during which time Shula compiled an underwhelming record of 19-52. While many owners would have pulled the plug much earlier, Brown stayed loyal to Shula as long as Shula stayed loyal to him. This, combined with not wanting to pay someone for not working, has led Brown to keep coaches around well past their expiration date. Shula was replaced in the middle of the '96 season by offensive coordinator Bruce Coslet. Coslet led the Bengals on a resurgence during the final nine games that year, finishing the season 7-2 during that span. Unfortunately, this left the team at only 8-8 overall after a 1-6 start to the season. Coslet lasted until the third week of the 2000 campaign, finishing his reign with the Bengals at 21-39. Coslet's resignation came following an incident when running back Corey Dillon refused to go back into a game even though Coslet had told him to do so. Coslet realized that he had no support from Brown in these situations, and he decided it was best to move on from a can't win situation. Coslet was replaced by defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, whose time as head coach was one of the true low points of the organization. LeBeau only lasted through the 2002 season, finishing with a horrific record of 12-33 over that time. With the seats empty and public support at an all-time low, Brown finally decided to look outside of the organization for help.

He hired Redskins defensive coordinator Marvin Lewis prior to the '03 season, and the move signaled a change of major proportions to many. It appeared as though Lewis would have more of a say over personnel decisions, and fans hoped this would translate into better drafting and higher quality free agents. Lewis translated that into the most successful run the Bengals have had under Brown's ownership, culminating in the 2005 season when the team went 11-5 and won the AFC North. Following a first round playoff loss to rival Pittsburgh, fans believed that the best was yet to come. Sadly, they were clearly mistaken, as Brown's unwillingness to upgrade in much needed areas kept the team from taking the next step. While Lewis may have more power than the previous coaches, his powers are still severely limited, as was demonstrated this off season with the re-signing of much maligned wide receiver Chris Henry. Lewis was adamant in his position that the team would have no part of Henry again, but Brown went behind his back and signed Henry to a two year deal. Lewis' public trust was shot, and it was again evident who was calling the shots in the Queen City.

Front Offices: Night and Day
The Bengals front office and scouting department is truly what separates them not only from Dallas, but from the rest of the league as well. Unfortunately, this is not a good thing. Mike Brown has taken his father's teachings to heart, and he has assembled a front office consisting of family members and their spouses. All one has to do is look at the list of people in the front office and their titles, and you can see that losing truly is a family tradition in Cincinnati. Here it is:

Mike Brown-President
Katie Blackburn-Executive Vice President
Pete Brown-Senior Vice President-Player Personnel
Paul Brown-Vice President-Player Personnel
John Sawyer-Vice President
Troy Blackburn-Vice President

Katie is Mike's daughter, and she is next in line to inherit the team when Mike passes. Currently, she is actively involved in not only negotiating contracts, but looking at film and scouting to determine how to negotiate those contracts. There is a scary article that describes her role in the process, and it is amazing to me that while other teams have trained football minds making deals, the Bengals have the daughter of the owner doing the same thing. Here is a quote from Katie from: http://www.offthekuff.com/mt/archives/002930.html "The fun part of the business is football, like knowing the personnel and who all the draft picks are and how they're playing," Blackburn says. "My feeling is that they tie together, especially if you're doing contracts, and you really have to know a little bit about the personnel side and be involved in order to be negotiating and understanding where they're coming from."

Not to be outdone, Troy Blackburn, Katie's husband, helps out on the business side of things for the team. He was intricate in the team's fleecing of Hamilton County in the stadium deal a few years back. Pete and Paul Brown are both involved in personnel decisions, and this is again worrisome because their views most likely coincide with Mike's, giving the Bengals a lack of diverse opinions in their front office.

Next, the comparison between the player personnel departments between the two teams is laughable. The Bengals have as follows:

Jim Lippincott-Director of Football Operations; Duke Tobin-Director of Player Personnel; Greg Seamon-Scout; Earl Biederman, John Cooper, Bill Tobin-Scouting Consultants

Did I forget to copy the rest of the list? Nope, that is it, that's the list. The entire player personnel department of the Cincinnati Bengals NFL team consists of six people, and only one full-time scout. It gets better. Jim Lippincott, the director of football operations, his job before taking this one was as athletic director at Moeller High School in Cincinnati from 1988-1992. For some reason, Mike Brown thought it would be a good idea to put a high school AD in charge of his football operations. This again demonstrates the lack of understanding Brown has for how today's NFL works. His refusal to put more money into the scouting and player development of the team puts the Bengals at a competitive disadvantage each and every week before they even step on the field. What makes matters worse is the fact that Brown actually believes that his system has been successful in finding the necessary talent to compete each week.

"We get the information on players. I think the information that we get is as good as every team's got," Brown said. "The record indicates that's the case. We have more players through the draft, more starters than any but one or two teams.

"That is what I call a theme. You guys (in the media) develop themes. They have legs of their own and they run for a while. I don't apologize for our scouting efforts. I think we do well in that department."

http://bengals.enquirer.com/2003/01/05/wwwben1a5.html

The entire article is a great read, and it is from back before Brown had even hired Lewis to take over the job. John Clayton of ESPN also provides some interesting insight into what other teams do by comparison. At the end of the day, Brown has final say on all roster decisions. This has resulted in such great selections as David Klingler, trading up to get Ki-Jana Carter, and Akili Smith. The Smith selection was even more frustrating because that was the year that Mike Ditka offered Brown the entire stockpile of Saints draft picks in order to move up and get Ricky Williams. Despite urging from Bruce Coslet to make the deal, Brown sat pat and took Smith who had only played one season of Division I football. These are the types of moves a man makes when he does not have all of the information available to him. The Bengals free agent signings have also suffered from this. Without active PRO scouts, it is impossible to evaluate with the depth necessary to determine which free agents would best fit your system. These are certainly the types of decisions that a full-time general manager would excel at, but Brown has made it very clear that he has no intentions of hiring a GM anytime soon.

While Jerry Jones also makes all of the final decisions regarding player personnel, he is able to do so with a much greater resource of information than Brown has. Just look at the Cowboys personnel department:
Tom Ciskowski - Director of College and Pro Scouting; Chris Hall - College Scouting Coordinator; Drew Fabianich - National Scout; Walter Juliff - National Scout; Bill Dekraker - Midwest Area Scout; Sam Garza - Southwest Area Scout; Mitch LaPoint - Southeast Area Scout; Henry Sroka - West Area Scout; John Wojciechowski - Northeast Area Scout; Judd Garrett - Assistant Director of Pro Scouting; Will McClay - Pro Scout; Keith O'Quinn - Pro Scout; Jim Dodson - Pro Scouting Assistant; Rich Behm - Scouting Assistant

I think the money and resources Jones has put in clearly shows how much he wants to win. Jones will spare no expense at putting a winner on the field, and he certainly is not going to cut corners when it comes to evaluating the talent the team is going to bring in.

Part II Coming Later in the Week: Featuring Facilities, Character Players, and Free Agency.