Lerner loves to pick ‘em: Disciples of Belichick seem to be at top of list
By JASON LLOYD
jlloyd@MorningJournal.com
THIS isn’t the time to judge whether Eric Mangini is the right fit to coach the Cleveland Browns. At least give the guy a full season before heaping praise or criticism on him.
What we can do today is analyze the process and decision making used to reach this conclusion. To that end, Browns owner Randy Lerner appears to have acted impulsively yet again.
Lerner isn’t a football mind; he’s a businessman. So why is he the one deciding who is best suited to run his organization? Certainly Lerner has the authority to make such a decision, but he does not have the pedigree.
Perhaps he’s still trying to tie the new Browns to the old, but Lerner is clearly infatuated with the Bill Belichick coaching tree. His first branch broke when he was forced to fire Romeo Crennel. Now, he is going back for more.
Why?
The two coordinators from the Patriots’ most recent Super Bowl victory — Crennel and Charlie Weis — both have flopped as head coaches.
Disciples such as Kirk Ferentz, Al Groh and Pat Hill have succeeded in college, but Iowa is just 28-22 over the last four years under Ferentz, and Hill has never risen above the WAC.
Nick Saban is a tremendous college coach but failed miserably with the Dolphins and quickly retreated to the friendly confines of boosters and recruits at Alabama. Groh lasted one year with the Jets before finding solace at Virginia and the weakened Atlantic Coast Conference.
There is a trend regarding Belichick assistants turned head coaches. And it’s not a very good one.
That isn’t to say Mangini can’t be successful here. His first two years in New York were relative hits before the Jets lost four of their last five to end this season and Mangini’s time in the Meadowlands. He could be very good here, or he could be another Crennel.
We don’t know what Lerner was thinking because he wouldn’t address the media yesterday.
The man who pulled the trigger on the hire wouldn’t explain why he stepped so far out of character and tried to decide what football mind would be best to run his football team.
It reeked of a Jerry Jones move. Jones took over the hiring and firing practices of the Dallas Cowboys, the team he owns, after Jimmy Johnson left town. The Cowboys haven’t really been heard from since Johnson’s players retired.
The general manager should have the responsibility of hiring his own coach. Forcing a head coach on a GM is the quickest route to a fallout, which is why the Eagles’ Tom Heckert reportedly pulled out of today’s interview with Lerner. Heckert, understandably, wanted a voice in naming his head coach.
According to Mangini, no one else sat in on his lengthy interview with Lerner. The two of them went over the Browns organization, line by line, as Mangini explained his vision for the team.
That’s all well and good, but what football questions could Lerner possibly come up with to ask his potential head coach? Does watching a decade of bad football qualify Lerner to pick out a coaching gem?
Part of the problem with the Browns right now is there are no football minds in Berea, just an impulsive owner who has thrown away more than $43 million in dead salaries over the last few years.
He gave $12 million to Butch Davis to walk away one year after extending his contract.
He gave Crennel, Phil Savage and Rob Chudzinski nearly $31 million combined to do the same, again, one year after extending them.
That doesn’t even count former defensive coordinator Todd Grantham, fired seven months after receiving a two-year extension.
Lerner has a history of throwing good money at bad decisions.
Now he will hire a general manager — likely Baltimore’s George Kokinis — to match with the head coach he single-handedly determined was the best fit for the Browns.
It’s another peculiar move for a franchise that hasn’t won a playoff game in its first 10 years back in the league.
It has just two playoff victories since Marty Schottenheimer left following the 1988 season.
The last coach to win more than two playoff games here himself? Blanton Collier in the 1960s.
The good news is that the bar hasn’t been set very high for Mangini.
Or is that the bad news?
jlloyd@MorningJournal.com
THIS isn’t the time to judge whether Eric Mangini is the right fit to coach the Cleveland Browns. At least give the guy a full season before heaping praise or criticism on him.
What we can do today is analyze the process and decision making used to reach this conclusion. To that end, Browns owner Randy Lerner appears to have acted impulsively yet again.
Lerner isn’t a football mind; he’s a businessman. So why is he the one deciding who is best suited to run his organization? Certainly Lerner has the authority to make such a decision, but he does not have the pedigree.
Perhaps he’s still trying to tie the new Browns to the old, but Lerner is clearly infatuated with the Bill Belichick coaching tree. His first branch broke when he was forced to fire Romeo Crennel. Now, he is going back for more.
Why?
The two coordinators from the Patriots’ most recent Super Bowl victory — Crennel and Charlie Weis — both have flopped as head coaches.
Disciples such as Kirk Ferentz, Al Groh and Pat Hill have succeeded in college, but Iowa is just 28-22 over the last four years under Ferentz, and Hill has never risen above the WAC.
Nick Saban is a tremendous college coach but failed miserably with the Dolphins and quickly retreated to the friendly confines of boosters and recruits at Alabama. Groh lasted one year with the Jets before finding solace at Virginia and the weakened Atlantic Coast Conference.
There is a trend regarding Belichick assistants turned head coaches. And it’s not a very good one.
That isn’t to say Mangini can’t be successful here. His first two years in New York were relative hits before the Jets lost four of their last five to end this season and Mangini’s time in the Meadowlands. He could be very good here, or he could be another Crennel.
We don’t know what Lerner was thinking because he wouldn’t address the media yesterday.
The man who pulled the trigger on the hire wouldn’t explain why he stepped so far out of character and tried to decide what football mind would be best to run his football team.
It reeked of a Jerry Jones move. Jones took over the hiring and firing practices of the Dallas Cowboys, the team he owns, after Jimmy Johnson left town. The Cowboys haven’t really been heard from since Johnson’s players retired.
The general manager should have the responsibility of hiring his own coach. Forcing a head coach on a GM is the quickest route to a fallout, which is why the Eagles’ Tom Heckert reportedly pulled out of today’s interview with Lerner. Heckert, understandably, wanted a voice in naming his head coach.
According to Mangini, no one else sat in on his lengthy interview with Lerner. The two of them went over the Browns organization, line by line, as Mangini explained his vision for the team.
That’s all well and good, but what football questions could Lerner possibly come up with to ask his potential head coach? Does watching a decade of bad football qualify Lerner to pick out a coaching gem?
Part of the problem with the Browns right now is there are no football minds in Berea, just an impulsive owner who has thrown away more than $43 million in dead salaries over the last few years.
He gave $12 million to Butch Davis to walk away one year after extending his contract.
He gave Crennel, Phil Savage and Rob Chudzinski nearly $31 million combined to do the same, again, one year after extending them.
That doesn’t even count former defensive coordinator Todd Grantham, fired seven months after receiving a two-year extension.
Lerner has a history of throwing good money at bad decisions.
Now he will hire a general manager — likely Baltimore’s George Kokinis — to match with the head coach he single-handedly determined was the best fit for the Browns.
It’s another peculiar move for a franchise that hasn’t won a playoff game in its first 10 years back in the league.
It has just two playoff victories since Marty Schottenheimer left following the 1988 season.
The last coach to win more than two playoff games here himself? Blanton Collier in the 1960s.
The good news is that the bar hasn’t been set very high for Mangini.
Or is that the bad news?
posted by The Gryphon at 8:05 AM
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