The CheckerBoard

1 billion of their 3. A)They did not just throw their entire life savings into the Browns B)It will be more than Jim and Jimmy in this conversation, they are just the leaders. I would say there are 4-5 people(donors) heavily involved in the process. If they all put in $2 million it is like a lot of people putting $20 in the hat.

Well, I've been saying for a month that IF you can get Gruden, you need to, IF you can afford him, and with the two ifs combined, I think our chances of getting him are very, very (I think I've always added at least 2 "verys" as qualifiers) slim.

That said, I've never said it was impossible. I don't know how you define "Grudenite," but I don't think every one of us who'd like to get him thinks we have more than a 20:1, 5% shot. That's plenty enough chance for you to TRY to get it done if you're Hart, but not anywhere near enough for me to get excited about the possibilities as a fan.

Moving now from the OP to the rest of the responses: Sure the Haslams, Thunder Thornton, and their ilk COULD chip in and pay a guaranteed $50 mill. over 5 years to a prospective coach, and yes, they could easily afford it, IF they all chipped in after passing the hat, but you've got a ton of ifs to overcome.

A goodly number of you don't get just how cheap multi-millionaires are. I'm very close to a man who is worth well into the double digit millions and yet eats employees' unwanted, sometimes even spoiled food out of the refrigerator to avoid spending money on lunch, and wears picked polyester slacks from the 70s to save money on clothes. He's no dummy and gives Brooks Brothers clothes as gifts and takes business associates out to eat at Ruth's Chris or Morton's, but he considers it money he needs to spend to make money. He drives a luxo-sport brand car, but he bought it used and drives all his cars until they have 250k - 300k miles on them. Yes, he's small change compared to the Haslams and owns no private planes, but he's typical of many of the "lesser" rich donors. The "tightwad" mentality is indeed both how they got it and why they don't lose it. They're generous, too, but it's a lot easier to get money out of them for starving children than helping their football team win.

I've said it before, but comedian James Gregory describes his experience with very wealthy Southern, country guys in a story of him growing up: "Mommy, why is that man on the front porch of his trailer nekkid?" "It's OK, honey, he's got $50 million."

Among this ilk, while they try to put on a different facade, weird (based on normal guys like us) IS the normal. That's not always, but usually, why THEY have that much money and WE don't.

IF (there's that word again) Hart can successfully negotiate the shark-filled waters of academics-only Jimmy the Cheek, the BoT, and then put together a "syndicate" of the wealthy to buy out the current staff and pay whatever it takes to get the splash hire, I'll be incredibly impressed and happy, both.

But I'm not lying; I don't see it happening. Getting a group of big-$$ donors who often don't agree with one another to agree not only on a change but everything else that goes along with it, and then pony up the bucks, is akin to herding cats.

Moreover, our big money donors just don't have the history of spending like they'd sell their souls to Satan to win (see, for e.g., Bama, Ala).

Now, if we lose a couple more games, the cats may very well be of a mind to be more easily herded, but not yet. I'd LOVE to eat crow if Gruden is announced as our next coach, but there are an AWFUL LOT of obstacles to overcome that most people think are easier to overcome than they are.

On the other hand, if we fire Dooley only to replace him with someone in the same "price range"? Yawn. I predict we'll be in for more of the same, if not worse.