First and 10
Eric Mangini appears all but hired as the Browns coach, and I've gone back and forth in my own pathetic head about his hiring. At first I didn't like it, then I was OK, then I wasn't sure, then I thought he fit what the team wants so give him a shot and then I wondered what it mattered what I thought since I don't work for the Browns, so I decided to watch re-runs of F Troop.
How does a pathetic, rambling mind work? This way:
1) Mangini to me was a stretch when the Jets hired him, a guy who got hired merely because he had worked with Bill Belichick. These days, anyone who pays a toll within 15 miles of Foxboro appears to be a head coaching candidate in the NFL.
Then Mangini won 10 games his first year. Pretty good. (And one of those losses was when his team got jobbed by a late call ruling a touchdown pass out of bounds in Cleveland.) Then they had a bad second season. Not good. Then they started 8-3 this past season. Pretty good. Then they lost to three losing teams in the final weeks and missed the playoffs by finishing 9-7. Not good. The only win? A gift from Buffalo, which fumbled trying to run out the clock, a fumble the Jets returned for a touchdown. Really not good.
Big picture: The Jets fired a guy who had two winning seasons in three years, which would make my patience level seem absurd. Randy Lerner wasted no time going after Mangini. He fit his profile: A young coach who had experience who would learn from said experience but would still be growing into the job. Sort of like a fourth-year player who is a free agent. He's got some years in the league, but he still can improve.
2) You hear all the right buzz words about Mangini – bright, energetic, made a cameo in The Sopranos, etc. You also hear he's a tyrant to work for, a guy who keeps his players from being open with the media and who runs one of those closed shops.
This makes me shiver. I just do not believe the Browns need that kind of approach with their fans right now. They need as straight a shooter as they can find, as open a guy as they can find. Mangini is not that way, or at least he wasn't in New York. Maybe he'll change in Cleveland.
Yes, the argument exists that Mangini probably could wear tuxedos every day to practice and call a toe injury a broken finger and nobody would care if he wins. But all this hush-hush stuff about NFL football and fudging injury reports and acting like they're guarding state secrets … sometimes I just wish they'd all get over themselves. It's football. Fans enjoy it. Relax, be honest, be open, coach them up and go win the game.
Alas, I digress.
3) I got a little more excited about Mangini when I learned more about the qualifications Lerner was seeking. But those qualifications did limit the pool a bit. You wonder why no other team has gone after Mangini if he was "all that," but then it's become pretty accepted in NFL circles that this job is Mangini's. You hear that he's so closed, but then you also hear that he had a bunch of players visit him after the season to say they were angry he was fired.
4) A lot of fingers have been pointed at Brett Favre for the way he played down the stretch in New York. I like Favre, but he didn't help the cause much. Favre was playing through a torn biceps tendon and had nothing on the ball. The results were predictable: He threw nine interceptions his last five games and had a passer rating of 61.4. Favre did hurt the team, but blaming him seems pretty disingenuous, especially when one of Mangini's right-hand men started doing so in the papers. Has it reached the point where a Hall of Famer has to be trashed to save a friend's reputation? Don't folks think others are smart enough to see what happened without taking a guy down that way? In August, the city of New York gave Favre a key to the city; now he's yesterday's flotsam. Kind of falls under the same heading that bothered me during the Browns season: Win as a team, lose as a team.
5) Mangini seems to have walked right into the Browns opening – to the point that he was supposedly talking to assistant coaches the past couple days (and yes, there are rumors he may keep Rob Chudzinski and may even keep Mel Tucker in some capacity). The Browns maintain that Mangini is a far different coach and person than Romeo Crennel, that Crennel was a Bill Parcells guy and Mangini is a Belichick guy. But the two do seem to have some of the approaches and philosophy.
6) My concern is the leadership in the front office that the Browns also sorely need. If George Kokinis has risen to the preferred choice, that's odd. Because he wasn't getting a lot of play for any leadership role until Mangini evidently told Randy Lerner he could work with him, and he wanted to work with him.
Does Mangini have the credibility, the resume, to make that kind of call? I don't know the answer to that. My gut tells me no, but I was not involved in the interview.
7) I do know this. The Browns badly lacked a leader in their front office the past year. They need a strong, solid, consistent voice, someone who can step out and represent the team and make people believe in what they are doing. It's why I liked the idea of hiring Scott Pioli and loved the idea of hiring Rich McKay. Strong individuals, strong leaders. Hire one of them and add a Kokinis and a Mangini and my mindset might be a lot different.
Mangini comes from the system where the coach is that voice, and that's fine if he wins. But if he doesn't win and he's not a strong voice … well it would be déjà vu all over again. But to be fair, Pioli comes from that system too. Had Pioli joined the Browns, he would have made the coach the voice – he'd have led behind the scenes, but he would not have been a strong public presence.
I do get, though, the owner's thinking in one regard. No matter who he hired first, coach or GM, the question for the other role was going to be: Who do you want to work with? It's why when Lerner was asked which he'd hire first, he said it depended on the skills of the coach or GM he hired.
A GM would hire his coach. If the coach is such a strong candidate that he is hired first, he deserves the same consideration, to have someone in the front office role he can work with. That's logical.
9) But I still wonder if the Browns don't need someone else, a "President of Football" who could work with these guys and be a leader. Then again, Agarn made it work even though that guard tower kept getting knocked over all the time.
The Ravens threw a pretty big pipe wrench into the Browns plan by informing the Browns they would only allow Kokinis to leave Baltimore if he signed a contract that gave him full authority over all personnel decisions. Are the Browns ready to grant that to a guy who's never run a draft? Or is Kokinis such a strong personality and smart individual that he could step in and fill these roles? I honestly don't know. I've dealt with him a couple times, and he was open, kind, thoughtful and savvy about the game. He seemed like a good guy, a very good guy, and Ozzie Newsome doesn't hire many dopes. That's good. Perhaps he can step in and do the job.
10) Bottom line is nobody knows how it will work out. Bill Cowher might have failed here. I'd have looked hard at Brian Billick. I'd wait for Mike Shanahan. The Browns appear headed to Mangini at the least, and perhaps adding Kokinis as well. Who knows? Mike Smith and Tom Dimitroff in Atlanta a year ago weren't exactly knock-your-socks-off hires. Nor was John Harbaugh in Baltimore. Both went to the playoffs, and Harbaugh has a legitimate shot at the Super Bowl.
This season they're both smart and wise hires. Because they won. Next year if they lose? They won't be so smart.
Which is the bottom line for Mangini and whoever else joins him: Gotta win, baby.
{ 33 comments… read them below or add one }
You have to be pretty long in the tooth to remember "F Troop". The comparison to the Browns is spot on, however.
A quarterback with diminishing skills, a top secret mentality about the team, and guarding the injury report sounds to me like Eric Mangini time in NY and Bill Belichick's time in Cleveland are a mirror image.
i pretty much feel the same way as points 1-10. my choices are shanahan and marty. and if i had to settle for marty he had better turn the team around quick or i make cowher the offer in 2010. i have no idea why lerner is supposedly so set on mangini. but like you said pat, "gotta win, baby".
I'm not sure what watching re-runs of a TV show has to do with being "long in the tooth." I just finished watching a Three Stooges short made in 1934, but that doesn't make me 75. Not yet, at least.
Randy Lerner, straight out of the Dan Gilbert School of Doing Things Ass-Backwards. Pick your coach, then pick your coach's boss. How can this coach's boss really be the coach's boss if this coach is involved in the decision-making process of who his boss is going to be? Sorry, I don't get it. Hey, I would have loved to have been involved in the picking of my own boss. If that had happened, then maybe I wouldn't be unemployed now.
With respect to point 2 in the post, perhaps this means the Northeast Ohio sports media will finally have to report the news the old-fashioned way, and actually develop, nurture and mine their own sources instead of sitting on their duffs and waiting for the news, fabricated and otherwise, to come to them. Wishful thinking, I suppose. The Cavaliers also run a closed shop, but instead of developing, nurturing and mining their own credible sources, the local sports media simply opens up a copy of the New York Post, the Daily News, the Chicago Sun-Times, the L.A. Times and espn.com, and then does a cut-and-paste. Or otherwise simply rely on bogus sources who repeatedly use them like a 70s pimp uses a street whore.
Bottom line, Pat, dust off that old rotary-dial phone, those old PF Flyers, and start feeling the pavement. Old-school.
You beat me to the punch, alan t.; the thought occurred to me that the New York media are different animals – jackals compared to the thoughtful, knowledgeable sportswriters from the Beacon Journal (like Pat) who cover the Browns.
I am VERY concerned about point 9, though. Why should the Ravens have a say in Browns front office decisions? (Besides the obvious answer that they can, because Kokinis is under contract with them.) Two sinister thoughts: (1) either that was Kokinis' idea to gain better bargaining leverage with Randy Lerner, or (2) the Ravens think so poorly of Kokinis that they're trying to sabotage the Browns' personnel decisions. Maybe Ozzie Newsome doesn't hire many dopes, but that doesn't mean he hasn't hired at least one. The alarms are going off on this one. Help me, oh wise sportswriter Pat.
Earth to Pat: Fans don't care whether a coach is media friendly or not, or whether a GM is a 'strong' PR presence. To say that's what is needed for the fans is a little myopic.
As far as the coach hiring the GM, it sounds like more organizational confusion to me. Didn't Savage have a public power struggle with an exec (Collins) a couple years ago? And didn't it get a little ugly with him throwing Romeo under the bus this last season? That stuff happens because the owner doesn't delineate authority in the organization and it looks like it's going to happen again.
you people need a life since you know so much why you have $8 n hour job and not running a superball team like you think you can do.
What is a superball team?
now randy has to split his time between the browns, aston villa and a superball team???? sell the team randy! cleveland is NOT a superball town!
Lerner needs to hire an experienced NFL coach. The guys mentioned Cowher and others decided to take a year off.
Why he did not interview Marty S., I do not know. I thought he would be high on the list. If not to get the job, at least get some feedback on his team.
Mangini is young and developing. The Browns are currently a passive 3-4 defensive scheme. Hopefully, with a good draft and a few free agents, the Browns can become an aggressive 3-4 defensive team.
Good luck to the Browns fans and Happy New Year Pat! Say hi to the twins for me!
You write some great articles but I will never understand your fascination with Billick. The best thing the guy ever did in Baltimore was to stay out of that defenses way and it won him a super bowl.
Name me one accomplishment the Baltimore offense had under Billick (other than trying out 12 different QB's, all of which were hand picked by Billick), where he was the supposed genius? Plus the owner even had to tell him to crack down on the in-mates there or he'd fire him, which is exactly what he ended up doing? So where's all this Billick love coming from?
Actually one of the very ew good things to come out of '99 was missing out on BB and not getting him then, if only we could have missed out on Clark as well.
Is there anybody over the age of 45 who doesn't love Super Balls? Super Balls were great. Super Balls, Duncan Yo-Yos and Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots.
I like the idea of hiring Mangini. In contrast to ROC his teams are well-prepared and fundamentally solid. And he knows how to manage the clock.
Is anyone ever going to invent a cordless extension cord?
Regardless of who or what Mangini is, the fact that Randy Lerner is making the biggest football decision that any team makes gives me zero confidence in this move.
This is the same Randy Lerner who said he was going to do it differently this time by hiring a football man to make all the major decisions. One week later, ADD Randy junks that idea and hires the head coach himself.
I'm sorry. My mistake. Actually, it sounds like Randy actually made this decision at the same time he was saying that he would let a football man make the decision. Because in that secret press conference he held to announce that he was going to find a great football man, it was reported by every outlet that his eyes started spinning like a slot machine when one of the reporters told him Mangenius had been fired.
Ohhhh . . . shiny!!! I. MUST. HAVE.
John Harbaugh worked? Well, who made that hire? Ozzie Newsome and a lot of other football men who have been around the game for a long time.
Mike Smith worked? Well, who made that call? Rich McKay.
Eric Mangini? Well, who is making that call? Randy Lerner.
Excuse me for a moment while I throw up into my mouth.
Randy Lerner is making the call on the head coach. That head coach will then make the call on the GM, which means that essentially Randy is also making the call on the GM. And he did all of this in essentially one week, or perhaps in only one minute after he heard the name Mangini.
Well, at least he took his time, eh?
So Randy, and pretty much Randy alone, is making the major football decisions for this team. The same Randy who extended Butch for no reason. The same Randy who extended Phil and Romeo and Chud for REALLY no reason. The same Randy who fired Phil, the unfired him one day later.
I'll believe this is all a good idea when we are 12-4 and winning multiple playoff games. Until then, pardon me if I keep my wallet welded to my pocket and watch the games on TV instead of at the stadium.
Schmokey – you are right on about Lerner. But that doesn't mean Mangini can't be a good coach.
There's still a chance Parcells might leave (I hope!). Today's Kansas City Star has a news video (http://videos.kansascity.com/v…edia?id=2763929 ) reporting that Carl Peterson, formerly…as of today…of the Chiefs, is likely going to the Dolphins in some capacity. The vid shows him on the sideline of the Dolphins during the Ravens playoff game, wearing a fin pin, and referring to the fin team as "we". Now, whether he comes to Miami to handle the business side and the tuna stays with the football side is the unknown. Or is the tuna waiting for the right bait, huge Lerner $$$s, to bolt the fins with his $9 million payout and go to the Browns???
Don't ever count the big tuna out. He's kind of like Michael Jordon….never say never…especially when big money is the prize.
Wow, where did you find reruns of F Troop?!
I don't want Mangini! I know its not up to me so too bad. I guess if Mr. Lerner wants to replace one loser with another, its his team.
I was hoping someone like Kosar might get Randy's ear and give him good advice. I guess not. The Browns need discipline for sure but a gag order is not called for. Mangini also let Favre stand on the field and throw INTs all day and never benched him for the sake of the team. Shades of Romeo and DA.
As to Kokinis, we don't need Baltimore cast off control freak that is pretty much an unknown. We don't need Pioli either. McKay would fit and so would several others.
There is still a chance. Aliens could abduct Randy! Randy could see the Wizard and get a brain. Nah, probably not. We're stuck with it.
to be fair to mangini, when the choices for getting you to the playoffs is go with kellen clemens or wait for favre to pull a rabbit out of his ass you are going to put your money on favre. the guy walked the fine line between greatness and total crap his entire career. he made his name on winning games after 3 1/2 quarters of bad passes and interceptions.
Precisely what advice could Kosar, of all people, possibly give Lerner? "Randy, put a little grapefruit juice in your screwdriver if the orange gets too tangy and sweet. And if you ever decide to get yourself a perm and then decide you want to go back to what God gave you, then take a page out of the Bernie playbook and make Brylcreem your bitch. Oh, and if you want to shamelessly promote yourself because your ego will wither and die if you're not in a spotlight, any spotlight, then try to buy a 1% interest in any sports franchise, and I mean any sports franchise, and then strut around with your pointy nose held high and pretend you own the whole franchise. It works for me!"
Wow Comaguy….Kosar happen to rebuff your sexual advances back in the day or what? Just passing out some friendly advice again – before you die and go to that great big coma in the sky, you might want to get rid of all this anger you have over everything, but particularly all things Cleveland.
just because somebody works for someone successful doesnt make them succesful in their own right, that has to come from the person themself. all these connections to Billichick are disturbing as these guys might have risen as far as they were desitned to go…a supportive role. to think someone a leader just becuase they are in a supportive role to a 'leader' is ridiculous. there is an old saying – a herd of deer led by a lion will defeat a pride of lions led by a deer. what are we getting in this move by Lerner?
i dont rate Mangini at all and our fate seems to be continually to frustrate rather than achieve – is that our Browns destiny?
and until we find that GUY on the field, i.e., Ed Reed, Ray Lewis, Troy P, Tom Brady….we are going nowhere…and that is a fact.
Taking "friendly advice" from an Internet stalker is like getting free dental work from a proctologist. Thanks, but I'll pass.
alan, bernie's going to be pissed that you left out wearing gold chains in his advice to lerner.
I don't know how I overlooked the ultra-fabulous Bernie bling. And the sunglasses resting on top of his head, not over his eyes. Lerner definitely should emulate the look.
As I read Mr. McManamon's columns, two common threads run through them: his feel for this team and how they react to situations, and the couple of "need to get a life" dummies, such as Terje, for example, who respond to his comments. I may be just a female executive in a boys' world, but I do know sports, and a response from an uninformed person when I see one. It's Mr. Lerner's money and his call, so I say, get behind Coach Mangini. I'm sure the coach wouldn't have an opinion on how Mr. Terje and his ilk in these forums run their paper routes and pizza delivery businesses! Good reporting, Patrick! J.
Thanks for taking time out of your busy lady executive schedule to comment j-smile.
You're amazing–how do you do it?
lady executive? would that be at the executive's den on the east side of cleveland?
Sarge, I could be wrong, but from what I've heard, Mangini wasn't allowed to bench Favre even if he wanted to. The fact that Favre played the last 5 games with a torn biceps is the main reason for the Jets downfall. Now, I'm not sure why his arm/shoulder wasn't examined further. Was it Favre just telling everyone that his arm was just a little bit sore and it'd be OK, or was it the GM/owner that gave the directive to keep playing him and not look into the arm problem until after the season?
It seems to me that if Lerner thinks Mangini is his guy, then why bother with the Kokinis as GM thing then? Just let Mangini have control over the 53 man roster and promote the current Player Personnel director (McWright or whatever his name is) to GM and have him work with Mangini to find Mangini the players he wants and also have him do the contract stuff. We would then have a structure similiar to what Philly has with Reid controlling the roster. If Kokinis gets the job, he'll supposed to have the final say on the roster, but it's already apparent that the plan is for Mangini to really have the final say and Kokinis will be out there just getting Mangini the players he wants.
Favre was throwing inaccurately and really stupid long before he got that purported "torn biceps tendon." If that injury was really serious, he'd have had trouble picking up a can opener, let alone throwing a football down a football field. It's an excuse for his bad performance, and a poor one. Favre is a white Evander Holyfield. Hang it up, already, before you get yourself killed.
I'm a lot smarter since I started wearing this:
http://littlurl.com/kx9r4
Slapped in the face by the obvious:
* It's Randy Lerner's team. It's his money. It's his call. Remember, Lerner fired Crennel and Savage even though he has yet to pay them more money than most of us will earn in our lives.
* We haven't sat in on the interviews. We don't know the questions Lerner asked. We haven't heard the answers. We have no idea what plan Mangini offered. How did he impress Lerner so much?
* As we go about our jobs and lives, we might feel that we are better equipped to run a team and make decisions. But this is a big part of Lerner's life. He's done research, he's consulted other teams and experts, he's well aware of the importance of what he's doing. For him the team's success or failure means real money as well as the satisfaction and status that all owners seek.
Bottom line: Lerner's the owner, he's the boss, he's making the call. Ultimately he's responsible and he knows it. If it all goes kablooey he still owns the team until he decides to sell. Any experts with half a billion can then step up to the plate.
alan t., if you are the same alan t. who once left his retainer on the bus, seems only fitting that tracking you down would come to this. How about picking up the phone and giving someone a call to let them know that you’re still alive, you a-wipe?
You have my number—it hasn’t changed in 8 years. Of course you’ll claim you lost it, so take 1957 T___ and make the necessary adjustments:
+3 +5 -5 0 -3 +6 +2 +3 +2 +1
You have to be pretty long in the tooth to reference F Troop, but you also have to be pretty long in the tooth to use the expression "long in the tooth."