Ex-Browns Head Coach Hue Jackson Reflects on Cleveland Tenure: 'It Hurt Every Day'

Jackson was fired in October 2018 after going 3–36 with the Browns.

Hue Jackson didn't have a great run with the Browns and went 3–36 in three seasons as Cleveland's head coach before he was fired in October 2018. 

The failed head coach was drawn ire of many throughout the league for his struggles–including from Cleveland QB Baker Mayfield–but Jackson took time to explain his side of the story with Sports Illustrated's Greg Bishop in a piece released on Thursday. 

“I’m not a loser,” Jackson said. “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.”

Bishop detailed the days following Jackson's firing from the Browns in October 2018, with the news casting "a dark shadow" around Jackson. 

"[Jackson] called his wife of 24 years, Michelle, and filled her in, Bishop wrote. "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."

Jackson briefly rejoined the coaching ranks in November after he was hired by the Bengals as a special assistant to head coach Marvin Lewis. Jackson was Cincinnati's offensive coordinator in 2014-15. 

The 53-year-old coach sports an 11–44 career record. He is not with an NFL team entering the 2019 season.