George Kokinis was affable and pleasant at his first news conference with the Browns, but didn't offer a lot of specifics in terms of his personnel department and the team's roster.
But he did say that he will have final say on the 53-man roster, which is significant. Of course he also talked about consensus and working together and the fact that he does have final say not being important.
" Once we get all the information and hear everybody's opinion about it, we're going to come to a decision on what is best for this football team," Kokinis said.
Browns president Mike Keenan introduced Kokinis and talked about Kokinis' passion for the city and the Browns. We hear that a lot about people these days.
Kokinis started by saying Randy Lerner cares about the team. Kokinis thanked the Ravens, where he spent 13 years, then thanked his parents for their life lessons and thanks his wife.
He said: "I do believe in this owner. He loves the Browns. He wants them to be great. And that's important. I believe in this head coach. … And I believe in the fans of Cleveland. The fans of Cleveland care about football, and it doesn't really matter what level."
He said he had no timetable on things, and did not want to get into the specifics of the roster. He used a lot of clichés, which is appropriate probably at this forum. Work ethic. Hard work. Get better every day. That kind of stuff.
It does not sound like there will be major changes in the scouting department for the short term. Kokinis said he would run college scouting meetings and seemed to defer any possible changes until down the road, if then.
On the final roster, Kokinis said: "In the end I'll have final say on the 53. It's not what's important here. What's important here is getting together, being on the same page and doing what is best for the Cleveland Browns."
Kokinis said former Browns and Giants GM Ernie Accorsi was involved in the process of his hiring.
Asked about the Browns' inability to beat the Steelers, he said: "I don't think the Steelrs are any more of a task than any other team."
He said the Browns will be built from the draft. "That's what I believe in," he said.
Finally, asked about the fact that Mangini was hired prior to the GM, Kokinis said: "In the end the owner is in charge of hiring the coach. (In Baltimore) we gave as much information to Steve Biscotti as we could. In the end I think he nailed it in John Harbaugh. Coming here, I think Randy gained as much information as he needed. I think he nailed it."
I don't think that I'd like to hear what roster moves a new GM would be making the first day on the job. Its a new system, new coach. There shouldn't be definite answers at this time. Please get acquainted with the surroundings and make informed decisions.
Trade down, get some new blood, lets go!
PS: I was pleasantly surprised that Kokinas was as willing to talk during his press conference and even called a few members of the media by their names.
Hey, Pat, since when did some guy publicly proclaiming that he's the final word automatically transform into journalistic reality? How about a healthy dose of skepticism? An educated guess is that, in plain actuality and reality, there will be constant Mangini-Kokinis battles deep behind the scenes because Lerner has totally botched putting together the pack, and there are two guys who will want to be the actual alpha dog. What a farce.
http://tinyurl.com/bjt2rx
Two things stand out from Kokinis' remarks.
First, he slightly mis-spoke when discussing the Steelers. What he probably meant to say was: "The other teams are no less a formidable challenge for us than is Pittsburgh."
Secondly, it was wise for George to acknowledge Cleveland's characteristic approval of all levels of football, since the Browns are too rarely professional-caliber.
even if kokinis had a pretty good idea of how he he'd evaluate the current team, he would gain nothing from divulging it. for example, if it's well known that BQ is the guy, we won't be able to get a bag of rocks for DA in trade.