Monday, January 05, 2009

So lemme get this straight

The Browns fired their head coach (Romeo Crennel, who used to be Bill Belichick's defensive coordinator) and GM (Phil Savage, who worked under Baltimore GM Ozzie Newsome) because things weren't working out and they need to move into a new direction.

And what a new direction it is! Randy Lerner and the Browns are about to hire a brand new head coach (Eric Mangini, who used to be Bill Belichik's defensive coordinator) and they'll soon be interviewing their guy for the GM position (George Kokinis, who worked under Baltimore GM Ozzie Newsome). Awesome.

In all seriousness, I have no idea if this will work. Mangini and Kokinis could very well turn the Browns around. They are their own men, Romeo and Phil have no direct bearing on readiness for the job(s). But if they fail, this go down as one of the dumbest decisions in a franchise who's history is riddled with stupid decisions.

(also, LeBron traveled. It's OK. He really did. If he would've made that move during the second or third quarter, they may not have had to come back from 14 points. Instead, they were content to just hoist jumpers and not challenge the Wizards inside. It's not a good loss by any means, but it's a long, long season. However, their recent level of play has not inspired confidence, especially with the showdown with Boston looming).

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm convinced Lerner is in way over his head. Not because he likes Mangini - I really don't have a problem with him.

But he basically interviewed Mangini, really liked him, and then seemingly decides that whoever Mangini wants as a GM that's who it'll be. And all of this it seems without a president who knows the game guiding him.

The whole process seems really f*cked up. Also, who will have control over the personnel decisions. I'm guessing not the GM.

This may have worked with Ferry and Mike Brown for the Cavs, but a.) Gilbert made it clear Ferry would be making the personnel decisions, he only had to accept Brown, and b.) they have LeBron freakin' James, who makes virtually everyone look good.

The only thing that comforts me is the Browns can't sink any lower from my point of view. If they fail this time around it will only be a plateau.

Anonymous said...

The crux of the matter with Lerner: He falls head over heels way too easy.

Lerner was in love with Phil Savage four years ago. He swallowed the "Savage is the real brains in Baltimore" bait, hook, line and sinker.

Now Lerner interviews Mangini one time and has reached Borat/Pam Anderson levels of infatuation, to the point that Mangini could tell him he wants Kim Jong Il as his GM, and Randy would be on the phone to North Korea trying to set up an interview.

Lerner has the exact same problem that Gordon Gund and Jim Paxson had when leading the Cavs: He isn't skeptical enough.

Instead of entering interviews with the mindset of "I don't think you're the right candidate, prove me wrong," he's thinking "I think you're the right candidate, affirm it." Which of course means he's easily won over by anyone who can deliver a halfway-decent pregame speech. Enter Mangenius, who is probably fairly good at telling his superiors what they want to hear.

This is why Lerner needs to hire a football president and step aside. Someone like Rich McKay would bring a far more critical eye to the interview process.

Ben said...

As far as Mangini goes, I think he got kind of a raw deal in New York.

Plus, I think you have the best of both worlds: you get a young, up-and-coming head coach while also getting a guy with real life NFL head coaching experience. He can learn from his missteps in New York and have a better understanding of what the job entails.

It could totally work out, no one really knows. But if this regime fails as well, Lerner will have a lot of questions to answer (off camera)