Someone e-mailed this morning to say that all CBS announcers — Bill Cowher, Dan Marino, Shannon Sharpe and Boomer Esiason — called for Eric Mangini to be fired. The e-mail said they said he's not right for the job. I've been saying this for some time now, but I was curious if this is accurate. Did anyone see CBS yesterday, and did these three say these things?
As for the statement, it's time to hit the road from Chicago … and ponder the Browns on the way back. I ask: Is this fair? And is it fair to have a work day that consists of driving for five hours and then writing for five more? Alas, we push on.
Might be wise to blast the Bruce CDs … to prepare for his show, which is a mere eight days away! Not that anyone is counting.
{ 45 comments… read them below or add one }
Did the ABJ jet take off without you?
RedHawkRick:
Good one:)
Whether all the CBS announcers called for it or not (I didn't see, so I don't know), relieving Mangini and his staff of their duties today is the proper move. There is absolutely no sense in continuing this mess. Mr. Lerner's determination to keep him around is only making him look more foolish by the day.
Boomer did on the post game show, he said "its time to fire the coach"
In the post game show, there was a general agreement led by Coach Cowher that the Browns were pretty terrible. He might have been the only one to say anything and the rest murmured disinterested agreement. Shannon Sharpe then said to Esiason, like it was possibly a prepared set-up, something like, "You're in charge of the Browns. How do you fix them?" Esiason then said, "Fire Mangini …." Nobody else elaborated or agreed or disagreed.
I had it still on to hear what any of them would say about Quinn and Anderson, but the above was all that was said. They commented on every team in every game … and it was my impression that they said the least about the Browns of all the teams!
So, is Pat saying that on a normal day when no driving is required, that he only has to write for 5 hours? Sounds to me like a pretty good part-time job.
Boomer was the only one to actually say it. No one else said it, and no one else even said, "Hear, hear," or anything like that. I seriously doubt Cower will EVER say anything like that, because he knows he's going to be courted again once Mangini gets canned. I doubt Cower will let there ever be a question that he helped wield the axe on Mangini.
But look, it doesn't take a Boomer or a Cower to know that the Mangini hiring really is one of the worst in history. In fact, you can now say that Mangini was one of the two worst head coaching hires in history.
Lerner's mistake isn't really who he has hired–it's that he will not admit a mistake. He wouldn't fire Butch Davis when he shouldn't (in fact, he gave him an extension instead of firing him), and he wouldn't fire Romeo after Year Two. So, now we see if he's learned, because hiring Mangini isn't the end of the world unless you bring him back for a second year.
I just hope the Browns don't win a few games against the dregs of the league down the stretch. Bogus wins in '07 convinced kept Romeo around an extra year, so I hope that bogus wins don't end up doing the same for Mangini. This team is what is, and wins against Oakland, Detroit and KC (if they can get them) will not change that.
You have to evaluate the process that is being run, not simply the W-L record in any given season, or during any given half a season.
How many ex-coaches are we paying for? Did Cowher offer to take the job? Did Boomer offer to take the job? How about Don Criqui? Anyone?
Actually, it's only been Esiason. That's it. The other guys don't have the balls, basically because I sense they don't want to alientate folks in case the urge is there to get back into football. They know where their bread is buttered. Esiason has also been saying it all season on his sports talk radio show I sometimes listen to that he co-hosts on WFAN in New York, but he's morphed just like any other radio sports talk show host, just says a lot of BS crap junk he doesn't mean or really doesn't give a rat's patootie about just to attract listeners. But that TV stuff of his I sense comes from the heart.
Oh, and Pat, if you're going to a Bruce show, you may want to bring your own personal iPod just in case the guy again gets the urge to tell his band and all of the techies in charge of all of the microphones and instruments to Marcel Marceau themselves through another Super Bowl-like fiasco. That was the last straw for me. When even Springsteen bottoms out and fakes it at a Super Bowl, that's it. From now on, I'll be satisfied just to see the triumphant return of Up With People.
Firing Mangini is not the answer. I don't like him either, but when a team continues to play like crap like this team you can't always fault the head coach. That is all we have done since 99 is keep replacing the coach. It's not working. You want to fire someone, start with the offensive coordinator. He calls all the "offensive" plays in a game. Not Mangini. This team needs a lot more than a head coach. Lets start with a "real" play caller. Or how about a offensive line. Maybe a quarterback or two. And lets not forget about recievers who can actually catch a football. And finally add a running back since Lewis won't be back next year. Then we can see if we need a new head coach.
OK, Scott, if you don't want to fault the head coach, then fault the GM. Oh, wait, that was Mangini, too. Never mind.
scott's another guy who thinks that the subordinates have some sort of autonomy under mangini. ask brian schottenheimer about what happened to him under mangini in new york. there's a reason he's still there and mangini isn't.
uh oh, mangini's going for the big gun.
from the peedee article where randy kisses mangini's butt…
"This is a process."
hahahahahaha
the process!!
before the season a jets fan came on to the peedee boards and warned all browns fans. he said we'd be hearing about "the process" when the team started to tank. well here it is ladies and gentlemen…..your process!
randy could have hired a meth addict living in a trailer and gotten better results.
pft is reporting that kokonis has been escorted out of browns hq.
mangini sells out his puppet? that's the solution???
this franchise gets more and more pathetic every passing day. it's truly unbelievable.
If true, terje, I would assume that Kokonis said something to somebody about Mangini that he shouldn't have, and it got back to Mangini. The same reason Reghi was thrown under the bus, for badmouthing Gilbert to somebody he shouldn't have, and it got back to Gilbert. The difference being Reghi should have been thrown under a rabid transit train going full speed. But Kokonis? If true, I don't know the man, but I truly feel sorry for him. Who knows, maybe it's because I'm a softie for guys that have twins. Or maybe also because I know what it's like to get the shaft for nothing you've done.
God, I hope Lerner doesn't compound his mistakes a million-fold by giving Kosar anything more than the keys to Lerner's private alcohol cabinet. Please, some sports columnist out there, write a column begging Lerner to stay away from Kosar like the pig flu and the bird flu. I beseech you.
Did I say Reghi should have been thrown under a rabid transit? Wow. Freudian slip. I meant rapid transit.
Mangini would never fire his puppet, that was Lerner.
Alan, you nailed it without realizing it when you said….
"I know what it's like to get the shaft for nothing you've done."
Kokinis did nothing….literally. Mangini makes all of the decisions and Kokinis sits in his office watching the Cartoon Channel.
Lerner wants Mangini to have to answer to someone….whether it be Bernie or someone else.
Will someone please call Marla and tell her to log on to the internet?
"Mangini would never fire his puppet, that was Lerner."
of course not. but the fat coward is more than happy to sell his buddy out for his mistakes.
eric mangini is the lowest form of scum on earth.
How come all of the Brown's stories get broken by national columnists?
Are all of the local beat writers in Berea too busy eating free donuts in the media room while Kokinis is escorted out of the building?
And Brian, if this story is true, who do you think sold the firing to Lerner? Lerner didn't make the decision on his own. Mangini is a manipulator of the lowest order.
Niccolò Machiavelli died relative young, at the age of 58, back in 1527. There are no photographs to indicate if Machiavelli was fat when he was young. Therefore, I'll give Mangini a pass on being portly. Otherwise, I don't see any difference.
I've seen this stripping of power many times at places I have worked.
First, Mangini's "assistant" Erin O'Brien is fired. Next, his hand-picked GM is canned. I don't think Mangini is throwing anyone under the bus, Lerner is dismantling Mangini's power base.
sure, lerner THINKS he's cutting into mangini's power. unfortunately, eric built this organization with expendable pieces. it's all about mangini and his money. if eric the fat makes it to year 3 and an extension victory is his
Is Ernie Accorsi returning as Brown's President????
You've gotta think Lerner is cleaning house, trying to get an experienced football guy into the President/GM role. The removal of Mangini's puppet is a great first step. I'd be shocked if Mangini tossed Kokinis under the bus as these messages all suggest… His job is way easier with a puppet rather than someone he actually has to report to in that role.
Also, I don't say this much so I'll say it now…
I AGREE WITH ALAN
I love Bernie Kosar, but he has not shown that he can run football operations. A consultant, great. Some role in a front office, fantastic. The key decision maker on all football moves… No thanks.
The Browns will no longer be a Sesame Street operation….Bert and Ernie – out/ Bernie and Ernie – in.
"I'd be shocked if Mangini tossed Kokinis under the bus as these messages all suggest… His job is way easier with a puppet rather than someone he actually has to report to in that role."
why would you be shocked? mangini's job may get more difficult but it's still mangini's job. the guy has been about self preservation since he joined the team. the total annihilation of the roster was just his way of buying another rebuilding year. honestly, kokonis was responsible for virtually nothing but making sure the strings were attached to his hands. and this is the guy that gets the ax? the guy who was following orders? did he make the terrible playcalls? did he have a direct line to ex-jet scrubs? did he force the worst qb in football on the fans week after week?
if mangini was playing chess for his job he lost a pawn today. sure, the opponent is gaining position but lerner let mangini set his pieces at will for months. with lerner too cowardly and/or cheap to do the right thing and fire loser mangini it's going to take months to find all the hidden surveillance equipment and moles in berea.
terje,
I just don't agree. I think you're speculating and I don't think there's any reason that a scared Mangini tossed Kokinis under the bus vs an angry Lerner showed Mangini's puppet GM the door.
Also if this is chess, I'd say Mangini's admin was a pawn. Kokinis is definitely a rook. If Daboll goes next he's at least a bishop.
I for one am happy that Lerner has decided that changes need to be made starting at the top.
C'mon Terje, think past today. Lerner needs to find someone to fix this mess who will be here past this year. The last things the Browns need is to have Mangini draft Colt McCoy/Sam Bradford/Jake Locker next April and then have his eventual replacement decide that he wants his own QB behind center. I'm telling ya, if Mangini is still here next spring, he will NOT be running the draft. A new sheriff is taking over. It remains to be seen if Mangini will be his Deputy Fife.
I was surprised to hear that george kokinis,was let go……Mr.Learner,you have restore my faith in your toughness and willingness to make the decisions necessary to turn your football team around…..coach mangini and his offensive coordinator should see the same door as the general manager…start turning things around this year,we are not going to the playoffs,its time to build…let cleveland forget art modell,by showing them this is your team and that you will be determined to make this team competive as in days gone by….you can't win with coach mangini,he's not the leader you need for this team…you know in your heart this is true,even by your actions today….GOD bless you and your family and your cleveland browns……..
never likedthe hire… NFL guys on sirius never liked it ….boomer said fire his arse!!and poor doug deiken has had enough you know your bad when hes pissed
ESPN News just reported that a source has told Chris Mortensen that Lerner is asking Accorsi to act in a "consultants role" with the team.
Hmmmm, I heard that somewhere over an hour ago. If Mort is going to use me as a source, I want credit.
pat on your way to 100k
brian d wow howd ya know that r u really randy l?
Well, according to some, I am the Browns biggest shill.
…and I don't eat donuts.
New goal for Paddy Mac….200K in November!!!!
brian, i am thinking past today. there are currently 5 super bowl champion coaches (cowher, dungy, gruden, holmgren and shanahan) watching football on sunday. now is certainly time to be exterminating the pests but it's not time to moving any into the house. unless soccer boy has a line on a boss with a direct connection to one of these coaches everything else is pointless. chipping away at mangini's drones might be entertaining but it's not building towards anything close to winning, championship caliber football.
1. None of those coaches (cowher, dungy, gruden, holmgren and shanahan) are going to take over in the middle of the season.
2. The last thing RL wants to do is give the appearance of making another knee-jerk decision and hire another coach himself.
3. Randy will bring in someone to run the organization and they will have the responsibility to decide what to do with Mangini.
Alan, I guess you're out as Pat's main story contributor. There's a new sheriff in town!
http://www.ohio.com/sports/68803217.html
1. none of those coaches are likely to work under whoever soccer boy hires as g.m., overlord or emperor. soccer boy needs to completely clean house, let ryan steer the wreck and sort it out at season's end.
2. see #1
3. see #1
uh … rob walker … what in the world are you talking about? This is a totally gutless move on Lerner's part. The man doesn't have the stones to fire Mangini, so what's he do? He gets rid of his hand-picked secretary and hand-picked puppet, instead.
Seriously, is every but that dense and blind? Lerner is pulling a mid-season Dan Snyder, like Snyder trying to make life miserable for Jim Zorn in the hope that Zorn will quit. Lerners is trying to persuade Mangini to quit so Lerner doesn't have to pay him the remainder of his contract.
By the way, if Mangini needs a new secretary, it's evident that Marla Ridenour isn't doing anything these days, let alone for the past few years. Perhaps she'll have a keen interest in the open position. I've seen she can cut-and-paste quite well, but can she type?
"Seriously, is every but that dense and blind? Lerner is pulling a mid-season Dan Snyder, like Snyder trying to make life miserable for Jim Zorn in the hope that Zorn will quit. Lerners is trying to persuade Mangini to quit so Lerner doesn't have to pay him the remainder of his contract."
BINGO
the real shame of today's action is that no one in cleveland will ever know whether kokonis was a quality g.m. or not (but i can see him winning somewhere else just to compound the cleveland curse). he clearly got involved in a situation that was completely beyond his control. kokonis came in assuming that he would have control over the roster and he found out very quickly that wasn't the case. last i checked kokonis worked under ozzie in baltimore and didn't have a tight relationship with every ex-jet scrub under the sun. in other words……i'm not impressed in the least with this cowardly firing.