Browns general manager George Kokinis was ousted Monday, but the team confirmed only that he is no longer "actively involved with the organization."
Kokinis' departure appeared to come under contentious circumstances, but it is unclear whether he resigned or was forced out. ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported that the Browns were trying to work out a settlement with Kokinis in which he would resign, but that Kokinis had refused.
A statement released by the Browns denied reports that Kokinis was escorted out of the building.
"In the interest of protecting the parties involved, we will withhold further comment," the statement said.
A witness said Kokinis, carrying a travel bag, came down the stairs and was met by an administrative staffer. The staffer was joined by a high-ranking official and both watched Kokinis walk to his car on the team's security cameras.
Kokinis is the second to go in recent days, following director of football operations Erin O'Brien, who served as coach Eric Mangini's personal assistant with the New York Jets. The moves do not bode well for Mangini's future, even though owner Randy Lerner said Sunday that Mangini would not be fired this week during the Browns' bye.
But this move comes a day after Lerner said he wanted to hire a "strong, credible, serious leader" to guide the football operations and characterized it as a high priority.
Kokinis was hired Jan. 23 from the Baltimore Ravens, where he worked for 18 years, including the last six as director of pro personnel. But Mangini was hired by Lerner first and clearly had all the power, even though Kokinis said at his introductory press conference that he had final say on the 53-man roster.
Something about the Browns' arrangement clearly angered Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome, who would never talk about Kokinis with old friends in Cleveland.
Kokinis watched road games in Pittsburgh and Chicago from the press box, conversing with friends but not the media. On Oct. 18 at Pittsburgh, Kokinis appeared very unhappy when he left the Browns' locker room after the game, spending about two minutes there.
Mangini will be next
BRING BACK ART MODELL NEXT.
Is this a real attempt at making the Browns a professional quality team, or is it public relations damage control by Randy Lerner to avoid the "Brown out"? Personally, I would like to see all season ticket holders band together in a class action suit for refunds, as they have paid for a "professional" team, and have yet to see that product on the field.
YAWN!
Wrong guy, Randy. Make it a clean sweep. Clean house now, you're on a roll and finally doing what needs to be done. Yes, it's painful, but absolutely necessary. Get Mangini out of Cleveland, out of our lives, away from your team….if you have any hopes whatsoever of rebuilding this thing. Mangini was fool's gold without the gold.
An extra set of eyes in the organization. Ha Ha. Go get em Bernie!
FIRE THE STAFF – RELEASE THE PLAYERS – BURN THE UNIFORMS – START FROM SCRATCH
hey fire fagini
Kokinis could not make any player moves unless mangini gave his approval the coach was running the g.m. think about it the browns have two rookies wideouts and one veteran ? oneeeeeeeee ! why not bring in another veteran ? to go with all the rookies ? since they traded b.e. stone hands to the jets ?
Kokinis just dial 911 to get back in the building to see mangini lol" WE ARE A NATIONAL JOKEEEEEEEEEEEEE !
The problem is fixed–let's move on!
When your born into the "Lucky Gene Pool"— and Daddy leaves you Billions—– BUT, you do not have any common sense—this is what happens. Next big mistake Bernie "Bankrupt" Kosar.
He will be the next guy on the Learner gravy train to no where. Art Modell come home!
One down, one to go!!! Let's get rid of Man-(not) genius too. Why not bring Schottenheimer as coach???
I didn't even know that Kokinis had started with the Browns yet.
marla, i'm no writer but i read enough to know that this statement ("Something about the Browns' arrangement clearly angered Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome, who would never talk about Kokinis with old friends in Cleveland.") needs a little more context.
I had to read this twice because I forgot we had a guy named Kokinis as a general manager. What has he done? I guess absolutely nothing. Forget about doing anything else except moving on and winning for a change! Go Browns!
Macaroni you are NEXT!!!
Kosar is not the answer!!
If you want a National Joke, it's the Tampa Bay Bucs. They are 0 & 7 and after the Packers finish with them, they'll be 0 & 8. They could easily end up 0 & 16 but if you criticize Coach Raheem, you are considered an extremist. He could go 0 & 16 for years but won't get fired. Gruden lost 4 in a row, last year, and you can catch him on ESPN.
I've been wondering where George has been lately.
"Kokinis was hired Jan. 23 from the Baltimore Ravens, where he worked for 18 years…" I don't think so; the dirty birds haven't been around that long. Any hope that Ozzie will come back? I know; wishful thinking.
The solution is to sell the team to Edward DeBartlo Jr, an Ohio Native. He will hire Schotty as VP, Cower as General manager and Bob Stoops (Ohio Native) as Head Coach. Bo Pelini (Ohio Native and coach of Neb) as Defensive Coord.
CHRISC: It's a sad comment on how low the Browns have fallen when we believe that only people with an existing OH connection would want to be involved with the Browns.
Lerner should sell before he spends all of his inheritance on stupid mistakes. He just hired this guy. He's fired already. And it looks like he'll fire Mangini soon too. He needs to pick a football man to run the franchise and let him make ALL decisions on team personnel.
This is totally unbelievable!
I see this as a positive. kokonuts was just a figurehead while Mangini served as his own GM, much like Butch Davis did. If a GM is added that will actually be his boss, as it should be, then this is a good change. He needs to answer to someone.
It would incredibly refreshing if the Beacon Journal's Browns beat writer would just once, not steal a local story from other writers, most of whom don't even live in Ohio. It's now gone beyond ridiculous. All these years, and she still has not developed one single solitary reliable Browns source of her own? What' the point of the Beacon Journal even having a Browns beat writer? Really. Any sneaky intelligent junior high school kid can copy stuff from other writers. And often does. But this ain't junior high school anymore, Toto. You're just playing out the string until the newspaper finally dies. A sub-zero work ethic. What a shame.
IT's time for an all-out fan BROWN-OUT Nov. 16! Don't get sucked back into your seat to prove your loyality. Sit the kick-off OUT because the team & coaches don't get it yet that we want a winner!
Wow, this'll help. I heard they walked out the guy who buys the beer cups. Here's my choice as a replacement….. Penn and Teller. At least the post game would be entertaining.