Posted on 01/03/2011 7:27:50 AM PST by Perdogg
Eric Mangini was fired by the Browns after two 5-11 seasons as coach, a move that was expected. The team made the announcement just after 10 a.m. ET.
Team president Mike Holmgren released a statement that read: "This decision was not easy for me, and it was one into which I put a great deal of thought. Although we have made improvements this season, my responsibility is to ensure that we establish a program that will allow this team to compete at a championship level. That will continue to be our goal in everything we do. I want to thank Eric for all of his contributions to the Cleveland Browns, and wish him and his family the best of luck in the future."
(Excerpt) Read more at nfl.fanhouse.com ...
Wasn’t Mangini’s fault the Browns don’t have all the pieces yet and with a young developing QB. They made some improvements this year as well. Holmgren wasn’t an instant success in Seattle either. Cleveland also pre-maturely dumped Bill Belichek as well—another brilliant move ay?
I think they’ll be putting out feelers to Cowher and maybe some others, but I doubt he’d take the job and wouldn’t at all be surprised if they ended up taking Ryan.
I wouldn’t rule out John Fox, either. Holmgren might be more comfortable with a fellow member of the Bill Walsh “coaching tree”, and Fox is one of the most eligible available alumni of that group. I also wouldn’t be surprised (though perhaps a bit dismayed) if he went with Brad Childress, who is the protege of his own protege, Andy Reid.
The jury’s still out on the Holmgren regime in Cleveland, and who he goes after for the head coaching job will be telling.
Not so sure about that....coaching history under Jones has been fairly OK, a few of those who left, Parcells and Johnson, went on their own accord mostly because they did not want Jones to run the team, Switzer had a “thug” problem in his team, Galley, Campo, Phillips managed to make the playoffs once.
Jones is going through the required Rooney Rule interviews, but as of this AM, Garrett will be the new head coach according to the local Rag in Jax.
Del Rio probably will be back, there is a $10M buyout on his contract and without a players contract for this year as of now, no way he goes IMO.
With the lockout looming, owners may be hesitant to make big coaching moves.
I agree. I was never Mangini’s biggest fan, but I don’t think he was really given a chance. I guess Holmgren just didn’t like what he was seeing and has his own guy in mind, whoever that could be.
To add to my speculation at post #42, I wouldn’t be surprised if Mike Sherman gets a call. He was Holmgren’s Offensive Coordinator for a year at Seattle before he was hired away by the Packers to be Holmgren’s ultimate replacement there. He’s been doing good things at Texas A&M since the Packers let him go. Of course, he seems to be happy there, so he might not be interested in returning to the NFL.
Finally, I could see the Browns joining the other teams trying to woo Jim Harbaugh away from Stanford. I think he’s a fantastic coach, but I also think taking a pro job right now would be a mistake for him. He has a good thing going at Stanford - they look like they’re in a position to contend for national championships in the near future - and would be foolish to risk it for an organization that has served as the graveyard for a number of coaches’ careers in its short history.
The biggest problem in Dallas is the meddlesome GM/owner. From what I have heard, Wade Philips frequently had footprints on his back from players going over his head to Jerry Jones to whine about something. The players had absolutely NO respect for Wade Phillips, but the real poison in Dallas is Jerry Jones’ meddling. He won’t hire a real GM and just sign the checks. No matter who is hired in Dallas, Jeery Jones will stick his nose into the coach’s business and second guess ever decision. Jerry Jones’ ego will not allow anything else to happen. The only way things will change is IF Jerry wises up and gets sick of losing OR he becomes incapacitated and his son Steven takes over.
The latter is more likely to happen than Jerry finally seeing the light.
A defense folding like a cheap suit won't stop the Vikings from hiring Leslie Frazier. But then, interviewing coaches seems to be the best fifteen minutes of Zygi Wilf's day.
If Jones loses Garrett to another team, that might be his wake up call.
I hope so...but I wouldn’t hold my breath. Any owner short-sighted enough let Jimmy Johnson go is short-sighted enough to do anything.
Yup, that’s why my money would be on Rob Ryan if I had to bet. I think it’d be the best move, though I’m worried about losing him as defensive coordinator - if he doesn’t work out at head coach, it’s not like they can just demote him. Of course, the flip side of that is that if they don’t promote him soon, they risk having him hired away by another team. Overall, I like what he’s done so far, and think he deserves a crack at the top job.
Actually, the impending lockout is one reason I’m scratching my head at why they fired Mangini in the first place. It seems like a safer move to just stick with Mangini for another season in this environment, and I don’t see why you don’t give him another year when the team has obviously made some progress this year. After all, why didn’t Holmgren just fire him immediately when he took over if he wasn’t going to give him a chance?
All I can think of is that Holmgren just didn’t like what he saw out of Mangini this year. He does have a better view of how things are behind the scenes than we do, and, given what he accomplished in Green Bay and Seattle, I tend to think he knows what he’s doing.
Ah well. My bet is that he wouldn’t have made this move if he didn’t already have a pretty good idea about a replacement, and just has to go through the Rooney Rule formalities. Since I think it’s probably Rob Ryan, I’m as optimistic as a longtime Browns fan can be that this might just work out.
” but who’s the next lame coach to be brought into town?”
I would not call former Browns coach Bill Belicheck lame.
I seem to remember him doing a stint in Cleveland in the mid 90’s.
Pats Fan
Don't be such a heel.
Wow, so they are talking about Mornhinweg? Then my suspicion that Holmgren would be looking within his own “coaching tree” is right.
I disagree about Ryan, though. Overall this season, the Browns have some impressive defensive numbers. Going into December, they were top 10 in yards allowed, takeaways, and points allowed. Yeah, they haven’t looked so hot over the last few games, but given the number of starters on the IR and the lack of personnel to begin with, it’s kind of understandable.
Because after all he was such a great head coach in Detroit....NOT!
Correction: I think they were top 10 in red zone defense, not yards allowed.
Oh I wasn’t talking about the Browns, I was talking about Cleveland.
:)
Yeah, I’m not sure I like the idea of Holmgren focusing on his own proteges. Unless he manages to grab Fat Andy from the Eagles, there really isn’t anyone there to be that excited about - and I’d have problems with Reid, too.
I think it was due more to mindset. Practices and expectations changed drastically under Garrett's leadership. Once that changed, the way they played changed. I think they still have lots of work to do, but they at least started to play to their potential under Garrett.
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