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Hue Jackson talks to The Unsealed Community about racism in the NFL and more.
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May 13, 2025
Were you set up to lose? Did the Browns set the team up to fail? Did the NFL cover it up? Are you joining the lawsuit with Brian Flores? Is college football any better? Former Browns Head Coach Hue Jackson talks to The Unsealed community about racism in the NFL and more. For the full hour-long interview check out TheUnsealed.com.
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do you think
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that as someone who was a black head
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coach in the nfl
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the experience was the same the
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opportunity was the same were you
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treated the same were you given the same
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um
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chances or the same opportunities as a
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white head coach is it a different
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experience as a black head coach oh
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absolutely first time you say your mom
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and dad
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but it's much harder when you're a
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minority coach because you carry the
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weight of all the other minority coaches
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because you need to do well you need to
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win if you don't uh to me it just makes
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it harder for the next minority coach
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that's coming up behind you
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i was in oakland you know one year as
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they head coach there
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eight and eight eight eight coaches
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normally don't get fired but i did but i
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understood that because al davis had
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passed the person that hired me his son
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took over
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i knew he probably wanted to do
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different so you can understand that you
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go to cleveland you become pro
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football's writers coach of the year
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you're told they're going to do
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everything that makes you successful
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they're going to give you everything you
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need to to have a great team
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all people got to do is go check the
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press conference and see what i said
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um i made it very clear that i came
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there to change the organization to get
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it to winning uh within a month and a
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half of being there we stripped the team
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down i never knew that was going to
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happen
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i never knew what the plan was i was
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locked out of things i was not
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led to see things i didn't have any
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input
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so that was hard so what kind of jobs
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should be locked out of
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well formerly a head coach would be let
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be allowed to be important the thing
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that deals with your team anytime you're
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building a football team the head coach
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wants to know what's being put on this
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team so i was locked out of the
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information that led to
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how the team was being put together how
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we were going to draft the team how
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we're going what players we're going to
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draft and then
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i i constantly had to fight on those
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things and because that began to show me
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that this was not
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what i had signed up for do you think
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you were hired to lose
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well absolutely i think that's obvious i
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mean no minority coach takes a job
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or puts himself in a position to lose
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you can't especially a two-time head
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coach after being fired at eight and
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eight so i'm definitely gonna take
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another job that's gonna lead me to
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losing uh so there's no question that i
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think they strategically target
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to be the face of what they were looking
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for
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and that's how that that's how that came
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about
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you were
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1 in 31 and then you were offered an
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extension
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yes i was offered an extension that
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nobody else knew but you would have to
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ask the haslams about that i can i
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couldn't tell you that
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i couldn't tell you i was off an
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extension
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but i was
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and i think i was getting extension uh
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to
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slow things down i think people knew
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that i was very disappointed
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uh it was a hard time
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for me personally
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i
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sat there with my wife while mr haslam
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him and his wife in front of my agent
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said we hate what we did to you
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put you in a tough spot and we're trying
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to make it right so here is a contract
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extension and we're going to do this
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right but when you look at it it was
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never told to the public nobody ever
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knew
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and so to me that was that's like hush
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money in my opinion
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that was to get me quiet and not say
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anything but at the time when you're
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going through those type of dramatic
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things
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you want to believe that people say okay
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we are going to fix this we are going to
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do the right thing and people forget
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there's a lot of coaches and coaches
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families that i'm responsible for so
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it's not like you could just get up and
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quit it's not like you can just leave
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they
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they don't have the same security that i
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had so you feel like you need to fight
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some things out and if people are
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telling you that hey look we're going to
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try to get this right we're going to put
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some things in place to make it better
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they made some changes within the
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executive staff you started to say you
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probably feel like there's a little hope
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but there's also a little concern that
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it's not going to get right a lot of
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people are stuck on this idea that
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the the browns and the dolphins wanted
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to lose what kind of things did the
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browns do
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to try and lose
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well you don't understand when people
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say try to lose you got to make it look
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right right i mean you can't like that's
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tanking is illegal
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you know that's a
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quote-unquote uh slap against the shield
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and so it's all hyped up and so what
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people don't understand tanking no
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player
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is gonna intentionally go to a game and
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not try to play his best he would get
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hurt so i get a little disappointed when
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people use the word tanking because it's
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not tanking for players you can't tell a
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player to tank you can't tell a coach to
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tank because nowhere in a player's
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contract or his value
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is that going to work for him is it
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going to work for a coach but when uh
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organization has a strategic plan
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to build a team that doesn't have the
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best chance to be competitive
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okay when they don't have the best team
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to put them in position to win
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that's truly what that's all about and
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so
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that's how those things work you you
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build a team that doesn't have the best
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chance to win week in week out
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they know exactly what those things are
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that you need in order to be successful
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and you play and you compete and you're
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in games which is very hard to win games
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you know and people don't people act
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like they don't get that all you gotta
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do is really look at the team and look
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at the veterans and key positions and
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you'll figure it out pretty quickly i
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mean 2017 we had three quarterbacks that
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were on a roster that never won an nfl
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game in their career
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so that's got to tell you something were
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there any sort of incentives to make the
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team worse
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there was an incentivized plan there was
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a four-year plan that i did not
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understand
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that was brought to me
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i have been there for about a month and
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a half but it's presented as a bonus
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structure
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all coaches head coaches get some type
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of bonus whether it's
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perks or bonus to this bonus for that
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you know and you can't you're not
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supposed to pay coaches international
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football league bonuses for wins and
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losses that's what your contract does
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uh but this was put together in an
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incentivized plan based on things that
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didn't have anything to do with winning
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in the first two years aggregate coach
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aggregate rankings um
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situations where you
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you could uh
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uh
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and then all bonuses must be nfl
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approved and this wasn't
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but more so than that i mean the things
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that were on this particular list had
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nothing to do in my opinion with winning
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and losing and winning and losing was
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not talked about in the first two years
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but yet
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winning and losing is talked about in
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year
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three and four so that's got to tell you
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something so if you're not asked to win
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here one and two how can you expect to
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win in your three and four that have
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this big number for winning so
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when i knew about this i immediately
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pushed back because i didn't understand
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it uh to me it had nothing to do with
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football in the first two years
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aggregate rankings i mean in order for
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you to be a pretty good team you got to
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be ranked pretty high in some some of
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the rankings and we were supposed to be
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in the bottom half of the league so
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all those things told me and i you got
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to put all these things together and it
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took me a little time because this is a
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bonus structure i've never seen before
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and i told myself after i saw the team
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started to understand a little bit more
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then wait a minute this is
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it's not about winning this is about
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guys staying together
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uh probably not me pushing back against
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them because i'm trying to win
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i again i'd take you back to my press
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conference everything i said because i
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came there to turn cleveland around i
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didn't come to the league so
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here i am sitting here
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in this opportunity which i thought was
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going to be a tremendous opportunity for
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me my family and all the coaches
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families that i brought and here i am in
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this
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unbelievable nightmare so you do
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everything you can to push back up
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against it and fight it i went on record
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with jimmy and saying i don't want this
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i don't want your money it's not about a
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bonus for me who gets a bonus
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after going 1-15 if anything you get a
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pink slip and you go out the door and he
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told me i'll never forget it he said
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this had to be the toughest year of your
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life but you did an incredible job and
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i'm looking at him going we mean an
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incredible job 1-15 is not an incredible
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job
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and um on we went you know where we i
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proceeded to push them on some things
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that needed to change if i was gonna be
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around because i didn't think there's no
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way a coach is gonna be around if you
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continue to lose at the rate that we
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were losing did you fight back after you
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were let go
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absolutely i did i um
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you for my first thing was but during
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the time when this was all going on i
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let the league know that i think that
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the browns wasn't trying to win because
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again like i said i was a second time
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nfl head coach and that needed to win
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yeah i fired at eight and eight so i'm
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sure not gonna sit there at oh and
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whatever and think things are going
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great so i called
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the commissioner's office and told him i
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didn't think they were trying to win and
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he said hey look i'll i'll take a look
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into this well there wasn't much look
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into it in my opinion i just think it's
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slip service and so
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when this was all over i immediately uh
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wanted to
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use the constitution and bylaws of the
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league i tried to do everything the
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right way i tried to use what they said
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the process you should go through in
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order to report
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things that were
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fraudulent because i thought from again
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it was i thought my contract everything
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that i was told was totally different
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than what it was going to be
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everything that i was dealing with as
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far as reporting things to the league
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and what they're supposed to do because
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it says if you bring fraud
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to the league then the league is to
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investigate it you can go read that in
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their constitution and bylaws
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and what i found that
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they was not going to investigate we
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they immediately
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pushed everything over into arbitration
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where i lost the case in arbitration
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do you think that was a cover-up
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well i mean in my mind absolutely i mean
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they're not going to admit um their
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wrongdoing but like i said i back up my
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disappointment is today i hear that
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they're going to investigate
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the situation for brian flores which i
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think is great
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but
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this is totally different i brought them
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information there is a paper trail i
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have
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documentation i have anything and
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everything that a person would want and
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need to look at to say wow
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i mean between conversations uh
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emails you name it everything and said
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here
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and i get no opportunity to even have
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them go find out what i'm saying is true
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so that's got to tell you something
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right there
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do you
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plan on or have you talked to brian's
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lawyers and also do you plan on joining
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his lawsuit
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i'd rather not comment on that at this
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time do you think that the last two
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years they've made
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when they've stated that they support
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these movements and they are fighting
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for for diversity and against injustice
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do you think any of that is genuine
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well i think some of it is but you've
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got to start where you are first right i
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mean if you want to show that you're
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being really genuine you would start to
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fix the biggest and the major problem
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that everybody sees which is in your own
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house
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is these the comment on everybody else's
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things and and fix and make comments
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because it doesn't touch you right it's
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very easy to
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kind of hide behind that but if you were
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to start where you are and fix it and
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show people that i'm going to make a
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difference part of your job as a coach
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on the collegiate level is not just to
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coach football but also to inspire these
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these young men to be the best young men
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they can be and also to go after their
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dreams and
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you're a living breathing example of
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somebody who went after their dreams
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but for lack of a better term
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got screwed
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how do you have and
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racism seems to play a role in that how
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do you have that conversation with these
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young men how do you tell them like hey
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it's going to be harder for you hey it
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is was harder for me but like go after
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your dreams go try to be an nfl coach go
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do these things how do you tell them
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that when what they're seeing in front
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of them is that the world is not fair
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for them and and they see it they see it
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through the experiences of people they
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can touch and people they know in their
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own coach
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and that is a great point lauren but you
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have to have hope right
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um you have to without hope
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what is life right so
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i'm never going to tell a young man not
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to go chase
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his his aspiration or the goal that he
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knows that he wants especially if it's
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coaching or whatever
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because i think you have to do that but
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at the same time you also have to
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understand
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the pitfalls you know you have to listen
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to the experience and make sure you
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don't make the same mistakes if i could
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go back
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and be the younger hugh there's a lot of
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things i would do different
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i wouldn't be as trusting i probably
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wouldn't be as
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bullish as i am about my skill because
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what happens with coaches
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and you just watch the jobs that the
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minority coaches get
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when we take it we are such alphas we
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have that mentality that we're going to
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show you
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we're going to go get it done but i
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would say to every coach
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make sure you you channel that a little
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bit because if the contract's not right
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you may not have the chance to
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dictate how to
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make it work
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and so there's so many things that i've
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learned
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going through this process that would
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never happen to me again that way
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but at the same time you have to make
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sure that
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you're put in a situation where
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everybody is trying to help you win yeah
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and that's what it's supposed to be when
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you become a head coach the people you
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work for
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they're about yeah
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yeah and having you be successful and
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having your values soar because that
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means they soar they're not trying to
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bring they shouldn't be trying to bring
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you down
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