When Cleveland Browns owner Randy Lerner panicked this week and fired first-year general manager George Kokinis, he might have received an e-mail from Redskins owner Dan Snyder.
For once, The Danny won’t be the chief pinata for Sunday’s pregame shows (unless John Riggins is a guest, of course).
A guess on what the note would have said:
Hey, Randy:
Wanted to say thanks for single-handedly removing the “Most Dysfunctional Organization” tag from the Redskins for at least this week.
Even I haven’t given up on a general manager eight games into his tenure or currently confront the prospect of paying three GMs next year. I’ll be paying only two coaches.
Thanks again,
Dan
If there were any doubt, Lerner clinched stooge status Monday when Kokinis was escorted from the team facility in the wake of a 30-6 loss to the Bears the previous day that dropped the Browns to 1-7.
Eight games is too soon to oust the front office chief regardless of how much or how little input he had in building the roster. One draft isn’t enough to determine whether Kokinis is the right guy to team with coach Eric Mangini.
Owner and coach have been evasive in answering questions about the firing, including whether Kokinis was sacked with cause and his contract must be honored.
Browns fans, who want Mangini out, deemed the move insignificant. Essentially, they feel nothing has changed.
The Mangini hiring triggered this mess.
Seemingly minutes after being fired by the Jets (to the joy of their fans), Mangini was in Cleveland to complete his road from former Browns ballboy to head coach. The hiring of Mangini marked Lerner’s second climb up the Bill Belichick tree of former assistants - Romeo Crennel produced a 24-40 record in four seasons as coach of the Browns.
Lerner said his top priority in finding a new coach was previous head coaching experience. Whether that experience came in a winning or losing situation seemed to be irrelevant.
Only after Mangini was hired did Lerner poach Kokinis from the Baltimore front office.
The Browns’ biggest blunder was allowing Mangini to bring in so many of his former players: The club added 10 Jets players to the roster - none of whom had made a Pro Bowl.
“I think that I’ve shared what the plan is moving forward, what the vision is moving forward, what types of things we’re committed to and the process that’s in place to get to that point,” Mangini told reporters Wednesday. “I believe in those things, and I also know that it takes time.”
What should scare Cleveland fans is that Mangini believes he’ll be involved in the hiring of a new general manager.
“I’m sure we’ll be very engaged in that,” he said.
Yikes. The owner may have to go in another direction or face a fan revolt, even if that means he would be paying three GMs and three head coaches next year (Crennel and former GM Phil Savage still have multiple years remaining on their contracts).
Lerner conducted an e-mail interview with the (Cleveland) Plain Dealer on Wednesday and defended the Kokinis decision.
“My justification for the recent change is that circumstances dictated the action taken, and I can assure you they were unforeseen,” Lerner said. “We are not at liberty to discuss the details of George’s departure at this time. … It would be unfair to point to Eric in explaining George’s departure.”
Since the start of 2005, Cleveland has gone 25-47. In the past year, the club traded away its best two offensive skill players, Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow. The Browns haven’t drafted well, haven’t won in free agency and play in a division in which they are miles behind Pittsburgh, Baltimore and now Cincinnati.
The Browns’ only chances to avoid a 1-15 record this season come in games against Detroit, Kansas City and Oakland. And come Jan. 4, Lerner’s decision should be easy: Hire a GM with control of the front office and let that person make the decision on Mangini.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.