When Hue Jackson got fired as head coach of the Cleveland Browns, the fan base was excited and other people around the country couldn’t understand why it took so long, but they also took pleasure him finally getting the boot.
On October 29th, Hue Jackson saw his life fall apart when he was told he was being let go, so he lashed out and told his team’s owner and general manager to “get the f— out” of his office. He would grab a bit of his belongings and drive home with the windows up and the radio off.
Things got bad immediately.
Via SI:
“He called his wife of 24 years, Michelle, and filled her in. At home he went down to their basement, turned off the lights in the guest room and stayed there. For three days. “I could have laid there for months,” he says.
Half a year later—an NFL eternity—Jackson still hurts. He hurts worse than when his heart literally gave up, five years ago; worse than when his mom deteriorated past the point of being able to recognize him; worse than when he watched so many family members pass away.
Jackson says he’d never experienced depression before last fall, never descended so deeply into unending gloom. He refused to turn on the television, knowing he might stumble across the ridicule. He ate only when Michelle delivered him meals. He worried about his three daughters, his mentors, even his old team. He was certain he had failed all of them.”
He would often reply “Stop texting me” to numerous texts from friends and family who tried their best to cheer him up. He’ll forever have to live with the fact that he went 3-36-1 with the Browns.
“I’m not a loser,” he says. “So that bothers me. I’m not built that way. I hate losing, and it hurt every day. It ground me down every freakin’ week.”
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What helped Hue at that time was being hired by the Cincinnati Bengals soon after.
“I needed that jolt,” Jackson said. “Marvin Lewis helped me. What he did wasn’t about football. I don’t know what would have happened had he not.”
