Browns Head Coach-GM Update: Eric Mangini Reportedly the Clubhouse Leader
Last week, I wrote a lengthy diatribe imploring Browns owner Randy Lerner not to hire Eric Mangini. My reasoning had nothing to do with Mangini being a terrible coach, and everything to do with the exigence of Randy Lerner making a hire that gives Browns hope and a sense of optimism heading into next year.
Hiring a recently fired coach who has the same New England coaching pedigree of our own recently fired coach is not my idea of renewing hope. Plus, I just don’t see Mangini’s aloof arrogance playing well in Cleveland, no matter how brilliant of a football tactician he may be.
Well, it looks like Randy Lerner does not pay attention to Midwest Sports Fans when deciding who to hire as head coach. (And, honestly, let’s all thank the good Lord for that.)
The latest report today from Chris Mortensen at ESPN is that Eric Mangini is now the leading candidate to become the head coach of the Cleveland Browns. Additionally, Mort’s report says that Mangini could be hired as part of a package deal with a GM whose name is not Scott Pioli:
The Browns have continued their search process, interviewing other candidates, but sources say Mangini had a “compelling” interview and owner Randy Lerner is fascinated with him.
If Mangini gets the job to replace the fired Romeo Crennel, the favorite to become the team’s general manager is George Kokinis, who is the director of pro personnel for the Baltimore Ravens, the sources said.
Kokinis and Mangini each were members of the Browns organization when Bill Belichick was coach. Mangini formally joined the staff as an assistant coach in 1995. Kokinis was a scout from 1991 to 1995 before moving with the team to Baltimore.
This is obviously a very fluid situation, with new candidates seeming to emerge by the day and purported deadlines coming and going with now decisions ultimately being made. Thus, I don’t want to waste time speculating anymore on who the next Browns head coach and GM will be. I have made my feelings about Eric Mangini known, as well as my preference for Scott Pioli, even if it means Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz becomes the Browns’ new head coach. I think it’s now time to just sit back and see how it all shakes out before I waste my time typing about it anymore.
However, if you want to know all of the latest reports, here are some recent links for you to check out:
Mangini is the leader, but beware of unnamed sources in Browns head coach/GM search – (Pro Football Talk)
Is Pioli taking a page out of father-in-law Parcells’ book by maximizing leverage? – (Pro Football Talk) – Interesting post in which Florio echoes what I’ve been saying: that Browns fans are not going to want Mangini (nor another former Ravens personnel guy as GM) because we’ve been there, done that.
Mike Shanahan puts off Browns for two weeks, candidacy likely over in Cleveland – (Plain-Dealer)
Josh McDaniels and Mel Tucker make their case to become Browns head coach – (Plain-Dealer)
Browns like Mangini and Pioli; Can they get both? – (Plain-Dealer)
Latest News and Rumors on the Browns coach/GM search – (Orange and Brown Report – pay for the premium service, by the way. It’s worth it.)
Rumor of package deal with Ferentz makes Scott Pioli not look like such a good choice – (Dawg Pound Daily)
So there you go. I have heard from a few different sources that something will be happening with Scott Pioli imminently, and of course nothing has happened yet. I am going to watch the IU-Iowa game, and then the Colts-Chargers game, and try not to worry about the frustrating roller-coaster ride that has been Randy Lerner’s search for a new GM and head coach. Of course, if something definitive actually happens, I’m sure I’ll hop on here and get you updated.
All I know “for sure” is this: Eric Mangini definitely appears to be front-runner for the Browns head coaching job, and I don’t like it any more today than I did earlier this week. And if it precludes the Browns from getting Scott Pioli, I like it even less.
But it’s time to stop worrying at this point — and just start waiting. Randy Lerner wants to get something done quickly, so hopefully it will.
Weren’t things much more tidy and exciting when everyone was assuming Bill Cowher would be coming to town? Oh the good ‘ol days…
Tags: Cleveland Browns, coaching carousel, eric mangini, mike shanahan, NFL, randy lerner, scott pioli
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I disagree with you, Jrod. Randy Lerner should get his info and advice from midwestsportsfans.com
After all, we are the most fanatic of fans who live and breathe NFL football and Lerner is a billionaire who has taken his father’s legacy seriously — but does Lerner know what he wants the Browns new identity to be.
Rumors from The Really Big Show WKNR-850 AM, have been swirling around the past few days.
One rumor is that Bill Cowher asked Lerner if he could wait a year to be offered a job with the Browns. (So is Mangini a kind of an interim coach?)
Another rumor is that Mike Shanahan is waiting at least a week to wind-down, whatever. But that the Browns head coaching job would appeal to the Denver Broncos coach whom many believe was unjustly fired.
Shanahan is good with young quarterbacks, knows how to teach them, mentor them.
I get excited just thinking of Shanahan and Brady Quinn working together. Quinn is a hard-worker, fearless on the field, can roll out and throw, run, is smart and can read defenses.
With this dynamic duo, the Browns may be able to cross that foreboding Red Zone and perhaps score six points on an elusive touchdown.
The downside is, Shanahan would probably not take on the general manager duties in Cleveland as he did in Denver — and Shanahan’s ego may be too large to take a job with only one job description: that of head coach.
On the other hand, being the head coach of this Browns team is no walk in the park. Plus, if Shanahan can turn this team around, he can have the huge satisfaction of letting the football world know the Denver ownership screwed up big time by letting him go east.
Randy had no interviews on Monday, according to the so-called “source” cited by The Plain Dealer.
Although there is no magic bullet, no Messiah waiting in the wings to take the Browns to the Promiseland, I know who it shouldn’t be — and that’s Eric Mangini.
The Plain Dealer’s Mary Kay Cabot remembers in the early ’90s, when Mangini was a gopher for the Belichick-led Browns.
“We used to ask Eric to bring us some more Dr. Peppers,” Cabot said.
From gopher to winning head coach in 15 years? It could happen.
But Randy Lerner ought to think about his next Browns hire very, very carefully.
He has got to get it right this time.
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