Events Calendar
In This Section
Browns terminate Stallworth's contract
Colts kicker Matt Stover, 42, is oldest player in Super Bowl history
Browns, Dolphins make unusual trade
Holmgren dislikes quarterback battles
Cavs' hoops throw Bryant for a loop
Winfield won't let pain intercept playoff chance
NFL title games include several players with local ties
Most Read Stories
Man robbed at Tallmadge Avenue eatery
Four teens restrain man, take items from his Akron home
Another winter punch heading toward Ohio
Complaints against officer keep coming
Police: Ohio girl dies after fall into snow bank
Cuyahoga Falls residents come home to find burning couch on balcony
Blogs:
First Bell - On Education:
No City of Akron basketball tonight
Pets:
Pet telethon re-airs
The Heldenfiles:
Chipmunks "Squeakquel" on DVD/BD March 30
Akron Zips:
Late surge gives Zips ugly road win
Tribe Matters:
Blogmail response on Hafner
Cleveland Browns:
Stallworth's contract terminated
Balanced Ledger:
Kent State Sports:
KSU Notes – February 9
Cleveland Cavaliers:
NBA Power Rankings from Around the Internet
Buckeye Blogging:
Buckeyes grab 18 players on signing day
Varsity Letters:
Garfield at Buchtel basketball
All Da King's Men:
Palin At The Tea Party Convention
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Republican Pre-Conditions
Akron Law Café:
Citizens United v. F.E.C. (Part 4): Kennedy's and O'Connor's Basic Approaches to Constitutional Decisionmaking – Top Down and Bottom Up
Car Chase:
Collector Car Hobby Loses One of the Best—Jim Roll
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Decisions Decisions: Credit Cards or Your Mortgage?
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Loucile is looking for a Lake Erie getaway in June for three kids, ages 1, 3, and 5.
Sound Check:
Talk of the Town – Top entertainment picks for the weekend
HRLite House:
Track HR Research
Akron Gamer:
Makers of 'Castle Crashers' unveil 'BattleBlock Theater'
See Jane Style:
Do IT this week: Layering
Add McKay and Pioli to list of potential GMs
By Patrick McManamon
Beacon Journal sports writer
POSTED: 07:18 a.m. EST, Dec 30, 2008
BEREA: Count Rich McKay as a candidate to run the front office of the Browns.
And if he becomes a serious candidate, he'd be an extremely attractive hire.
New England Patriots Vice President Scott Pioli seems to remain the team's top choice, but McKay would bring much to the Browns.
Monday morning, Browns owner Randy Lerner confirmed that he had been given permission to interview Pioli, but he said there's another candidate with a team that he did not want to name.
It seems that candidate is McKay, president of the Atlanta Falcons.
McKay is as well-respected an individual as there is in the league. He's been successful in two locations — Tampa Bay and Atlanta — and for a decade, he's been co-chairman of the league's Competition Committee.
He's worked best as the man in charge who supervises football folks, and he's done that with the Falcons and Buccaneers. In 14 seasons as an NFL general manager, McKay guided six playoff teams, three NFC Championship Game teams and one Super Bowl winner.
He was caught in the Mike Vick dogfighting mess, but he was not with the Falcons when Vick was drafted.
McKay lost the GM's role when Tom Dimitroff was hired, but with him as president, the Falcons also returned to the playoffs after drafting Matt Ryan, signing Michael Turner and hiring Mike Smith as coach.
He is said to be interested in finding a job with a team that would involve more football-related responsibilities, but it's not known whether the Browns have asked for or received permission to interview him.
McKay would provide strong leadership as a president-type with the Browns, but would have to be given permission to leave the Falcons by owner Arthur Blank because the move would not be a promotion.
At the least, McKay is a strong and attractive Plan C for Lerner and the Browns — and perhaps the best of all the plans under consideration.
Plan A was Bill Cowher, but he took himself out of consideration.
Plan B remains Pioli, who has worked hand in hand with Bill Belichick and helped produce three Super Bowls for the Patriots.
But Lerner also needs to ensure that the structure for his new hires is strong and fits the people he hires. Because the last one didn't.
Flawed system
What started out as a coach-GM partnership eventually frittered into a GM-takes-the-turf scenario
That fact became more and more apparent as Monday went on and more and more folks started talking about the Browns' situation.
Lerner conceded Monday morning that former GM Phil Savage had final say in the hiring of assistant coaches.
Savage always was in charge of the draft.
And, as Savage said many times, he chose the 53-man-roster.
This had coach Romeo Crennel in a position of leading a team of players he didn't choose or draft and working with coaches that were not his.
Consider a head coach working with two coordinators he did not hire. That's what Crennel did this season.
This is not to say that Crennel did not like and respect Rob Chudzinski and Mel Tucker. He did.
But Savage picked them.
Coaches deserve the right to pick their staff and have strong input on players. Crennel didn't have either, a situation reminiscent of the position in which Al Davis has placed his coaches in Oakland.
The coaching staff, for instance, did not favor the drafting of linebacker Beau Bell or tight end Martin Rucker.
Savage decided to do so, and even traded a future draft pick to acquire Rucker.
As the season went on, neither played. Because the coaches did not think they could.
Jerome Harrison was used as a change-of-pace back, and at times, it was effective. But the coaching staff did not think he could handle a larger workload. Same with Joshua Cribbs, who had trouble learning plays at receiver, let alone quarterback.
Draft picks also found homes in Cleveland for a longer time than the coaching staff deemed worthy. Word around the league was that if a player was drafted by the Browns, he'd get three years no matter what he did.
Guys like Antonio Perkins, Babatunde Oshinowo, David McMillan, DeMario Minter and Isaac Sowells were carried for two or three years because the guy who drafted them decided on the final roster.
Other problems
Disagreements were exacerbated this season over the use of the quarterbacks — Brady Quinn was lifted in the loss to the Houston Texans because of his broken finger — and over the front office's decision not to add veteran help at receiver or cornerback.
The coaches believed all year long it was playing with cornerbacks who were not starting caliber, and they felt the lack of a second receiver hurt Derek Anderson and Braylon Edwards.
The total result: The coaching staff felt handicapped by decisions made by folks in the front office who were not on the field or in the meeting rooms every day.
Some of these problems come from front-office structure, certainly.
Most league observers reacted with great surprise when they learned Crennel did not choose his coaches.
They wondered how the team could set up that structure, and why Crennel didn't fight it.
But some of it, too, was personality.
Then-President John Collins wanted to remove Savage after his first season. It seemed (and was) ridiculously early in Savage's tenure to make that move, but some of the reasons Collins gave then make sense now.
Then, when Collins left, Savage stepped into a power void.
And after the following season — a bad one — Savage gave Crennel a list of assistant coaches he had to fire. Savage then hired the replacements.
When Tucker replaced Todd Grantham a year ago, it was assumed Crennel had asserted authority. The move was Savage's.
Both Savage and Crennel received contract extensions in the offseason, but Savage got one more year than Crennel did.
The Browns were coming off a 10-win season, so things looked positive.
Falling apart
When the team started losing, Savage started to make statements that he did not coach the players. One report (from Channel 3's Jim Donovan) said Savage drew up a list of possible coaches for Lerner following the loss to the Denver Broncos — with seven games remaining.
Crennel never went public with his concerns. He also never demanded changes in the structure — even after he learned that alleged statements and questions Lerner asked through Savage were never actually voiced by the team's owner.
The won-lost record reflected the way the team had come apart.
Lerner let Savage go on Saturday, two days before he let Crennel go.
It was just two days, but it spoke loudly of the owner's feelings about how things were handled by the front office, and how Savage had reacted to proposed changes Lerner had brought to him.
The coach? He did not win enough, but he still has the personal respect of the owner, who spoke fondly of him even after firing him.
Lerner's style is to hire people and get out of the way. But he said Monday morning he was responsible for the current state of the team. He created the structure that allowed what happened to happen.
Lerner now will make the next hires in an attempt to turn the team around.
The people he is considering — Pioli and McKay — both are excellent choices with sound leadership skills.
Neither seems to have the ego to overreach and walk over the coach's job duties. But neither did Savage when he was hired. The longer he stayed, the more he wanted control and power and the more problematic things became.
The people Lerner is thinking of hiring are important.
But the way their jobs are defined and carried out might be more important.
BEREA: Count Rich McKay as a candidate to run the front office of the Browns.
And if he becomes a serious candidate, he'd be an extremely attractive hire.
New England Patriots Vice President Scott Pioli seems to remain the team's top choice, but McKay would bring much to the Browns.
Monday morning, Browns owner Randy Lerner confirmed that he had been given permission to interview Pioli, but he said there's another candidate with a team that he did not want to name.
It seems that candidate is McKay, president of the Atlanta Falcons.
McKay is as well-respected an individual as there is in the league. He's been successful in two locations — Tampa Bay and Atlanta — and for a decade, he's been co-chairman of the league's Competition Committee.
He's worked best as the man in charge who supervises football folks, and he's done that with the Falcons and Buccaneers. In 14 seasons as an NFL general manager, McKay guided six playoff teams, three NFC Championship Game teams and one Super Bowl winner.
He was caught in the Mike Vick dogfighting mess, but he was not with the Falcons when Vick was drafted.
McKay lost the GM's role when Tom Dimitroff was hired, but with him as president, the Falcons also returned to the playoffs after drafting Matt Ryan, signing Michael Turner and hiring Mike Smith as coach.
He is said to be interested in finding a job with a team that would involve more football-related responsibilities, but it's not known whether the Browns have asked for or received permission to interview him.
McKay would provide strong leadership as a president-type with the Browns, but would have to be given permission to leave the Falcons by owner Arthur Blank because the move would not be a promotion.
At the least, McKay is a strong and attractive Plan C for Lerner and the Browns — and perhaps the best of all the plans under consideration.
Plan A was Bill Cowher, but he took himself out of consideration.
Plan B remains Pioli, who has worked hand in hand with Bill Belichick and helped produce three Super Bowls for the Patriots.
But Lerner also needs to ensure that the structure for his new hires is strong and fits the people he hires. Because the last one didn't.
Flawed system
What started out as a coach-GM partnership eventually frittered into a GM-takes-the-turf scenario
That fact became more and more apparent as Monday went on and more and more folks started talking about the Browns' situation.
Lerner conceded Monday morning that former GM Phil Savage had final say in the hiring of assistant coaches.
Savage always was in charge of the draft.
And, as Savage said many times, he chose the 53-man-roster.
This had coach Romeo Crennel in a position of leading a team of players he didn't choose or draft and working with coaches that were not his.
Consider a head coach working with two coordinators he did not hire. That's what Crennel did this season.
This is not to say that Crennel did not like and respect Rob Chudzinski and Mel Tucker. He did.
But Savage picked them.
Coaches deserve the right to pick their staff and have strong input on players. Crennel didn't have either, a situation reminiscent of the position in which Al Davis has placed his coaches in Oakland.
The coaching staff, for instance, did not favor the drafting of linebacker Beau Bell or tight end Martin Rucker.
Savage decided to do so, and even traded a future draft pick to acquire Rucker.
As the season went on, neither played. Because the coaches did not think they could.
Jerome Harrison was used as a change-of-pace back, and at times, it was effective. But the coaching staff did not think he could handle a larger workload. Same with Joshua Cribbs, who had trouble learning plays at receiver, let alone quarterback.
Draft picks also found homes in Cleveland for a longer time than the coaching staff deemed worthy. Word around the league was that if a player was drafted by the Browns, he'd get three years no matter what he did.
Guys like Antonio Perkins, Babatunde Oshinowo, David McMillan, DeMario Minter and Isaac Sowells were carried for two or three years because the guy who drafted them decided on the final roster.
Other problems
Disagreements were exacerbated this season over the use of the quarterbacks — Brady Quinn was lifted in the loss to the Houston Texans because of his broken finger — and over the front office's decision not to add veteran help at receiver or cornerback.
The coaches believed all year long it was playing with cornerbacks who were not starting caliber, and they felt the lack of a second receiver hurt Derek Anderson and Braylon Edwards.
The total result: The coaching staff felt handicapped by decisions made by folks in the front office who were not on the field or in the meeting rooms every day.
Some of these problems come from front-office structure, certainly.
Most league observers reacted with great surprise when they learned Crennel did not choose his coaches.
They wondered how the team could set up that structure, and why Crennel didn't fight it.
But some of it, too, was personality.
Then-President John Collins wanted to remove Savage after his first season. It seemed (and was) ridiculously early in Savage's tenure to make that move, but some of the reasons Collins gave then make sense now.
Then, when Collins left, Savage stepped into a power void.
And after the following season — a bad one — Savage gave Crennel a list of assistant coaches he had to fire. Savage then hired the replacements.
When Tucker replaced Todd Grantham a year ago, it was assumed Crennel had asserted authority. The move was Savage's.
Both Savage and Crennel received contract extensions in the offseason, but Savage got one more year than Crennel did.
The Browns were coming off a 10-win season, so things looked positive.
Falling apart
When the team started losing, Savage started to make statements that he did not coach the players. One report (from Channel 3's Jim Donovan) said Savage drew up a list of possible coaches for Lerner following the loss to the Denver Broncos — with seven games remaining.
Crennel never went public with his concerns. He also never demanded changes in the structure — even after he learned that alleged statements and questions Lerner asked through Savage were never actually voiced by the team's owner.
The won-lost record reflected the way the team had come apart.
Lerner let Savage go on Saturday, two days before he let Crennel go.
It was just two days, but it spoke loudly of the owner's feelings about how things were handled by the front office, and how Savage had reacted to proposed changes Lerner had brought to him.
The coach? He did not win enough, but he still has the personal respect of the owner, who spoke fondly of him even after firing him.
Lerner's style is to hire people and get out of the way. But he said Monday morning he was responsible for the current state of the team. He created the structure that allowed what happened to happen.
Lerner now will make the next hires in an attempt to turn the team around.
The people he is considering — Pioli and McKay — both are excellent choices with sound leadership skills.
Neither seems to have the ego to overreach and walk over the coach's job duties. But neither did Savage when he was hired. The longer he stayed, the more he wanted control and power and the more problematic things became.
The people Lerner is thinking of hiring are important.
But the way their jobs are defined and carried out might be more important.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
Barberton, OH
Posted 09:37 PM, 12/29/2008
This is insane.
Posted 10:19 PM, 12/29/2008
RAC received the shaft from Savage.
Posted 07:56 AM, 12/30/2008
The problem started when Crennel was hired by the owner not his immediate superior. Obviously Savage had no faith in Crennel's on the field or off the field decision making. Remember Crennel's choice of offensive coordinators ? He wouldn't allow the QB to change plays. I coached pee-wees and it was common practice to allow plays to be changed on the field at that level. Crennel ,by everyone's account ,is a gentleman;but he wasn't a head coach. Normally coaches aren't part of the player acquisition phase anyway. Why wasn't Harrison at least given more of a chance ? He looked good when he did see the field and why wasn't Cribbs given a shot at WR ,given the poor play of Edwards and Stallworth plus the injury to JJ ? If ever a player needed to be sat down to contemplate his poor play,it was #17. All questions for the coaches and that doesn't even address the poor clock management or gameday preparedness that was more than obvious to me. Being flat at home(1-7),never beating Pittsburgh(0-8)...C'mon Patrick,did Savage treat you poorly at one time ?
Tallmadge, OH
Posted 08:44 AM, 12/30/2008
Savage & Crennel got what they deserved - FIRED. They are both LOSERS !!!! 0-8 against the mighty STEELERS is an all time worst 4 years for the Browns. The Browns need to learn from the Patriots & Steelers on how to put together a winning franchise for the long haul.
Posted 08:49 AM, 12/30/2008
Geez, poor Romeo...he's innocent! har har
Kalamazoo, MI
Posted 09:04 AM, 12/30/2008
Interesting article, but it doesn't take into account the Maurice Carthon situation. I don't know this for sure, but I would guess that Savage didn't hire Carthon. A lot clearly happened behind the scenes re: Carthon - he was a comically bad offensive coordinator, but Crennel gave every indication that he would stick with him through thick and thin. By mishandling this situation so badly, it is logical to assume that Crennel lost the right of final say on his coaching staff at that time. If I were Savage, I would've either fired Crennel or asserted control over the coaching staff based on what happened with Carthon. This isn't to excuse Savage - he didn't produce, and so he should probably go as well. But I think portraying this as a pure a pure power play on Savage's part is a little unfair. Who knows what actually happened here, but if my interpretation of what happened is correct, Savage actually saved Crennel's job by only taking away final say on assistant coaches and not firing him (which I probably would've done).
Marginal, NY
Posted 09:33 AM, 12/30/2008
I agree with Edgar's commments with respect to Carthon. Romeo showed himself to be completely incapable of judging Carthon on his capabilities, or lack thereof. He put his personal loyalties above the team. That makes Romeo a great guy to have as a friend, but not a great guy to have as a head coach. After the Carthon debacle, I don't blame Phil at all for taking control of the coaching situation. I do blame Phil for not taking the next step - if you don't trust the guy to hire his own coaches, how do you trust him to decide which players should play?
Posted 09:41 AM, 12/30/2008
Very good article Pat. I think this does shed more light on the true root of the Browns' collapse this year. Good point about Lerner firing Savage "before" Crennel. I don't think anybody predicted that but it does reflect who Lerner blamed the most for the 2008 debacle. I had no idea Savage hand picked these assistant coaches. Crennel needs to be able to work with guys he is most comfortable. Now, this does not mean Crennel shouldn't have been fired. I think he was unfit to be coach regardless but he was certainly hampered by Savage's authority and poor decisions. Good luck to Romeo.
Posted 10:36 AM, 12/30/2008
Hire Marty and let him take care of everything else....He could be VP in charge of football operations and then hire a GM ...He could also be the Head Coach hiring front office staff that were capable of running everything with minimal input form Marty during the SEASON....
He is an Ideal choice for us...The people he would bring in would be Experienced and well qualified he knows the good guys from the bad guys....
Lerner knows spit about players and coaches..with Romeo and Savage he relied on his opponents to pick these important staff for him....He seems to be headed in that direction again...
Note: all of the above could also be done with the TUNA..Bring him in as VP and let him do everything else...he will hand pick his own Head Coach just like he did in Miami
Cleveland, OH
Posted 11:26 AM, 12/30/2008
The Savage/Crennel post-mortem only confirms what has been rumored all along - that Crennel had no say other than on the field and Savage was in over is head and is best suited to scouting.
The more of Crennel the head coach I saw the more I saw how best suited he was as an assistant. Similar situation with Savage as he grabbed up as much power as he could but seemed clueless about basic management functions.
Names like Pioli and McKay give me some confidence that Lerner has the right idea this time around. Fortunately there appear to be several legitimate coaching possibilities to choose from as well (McDaniels, Schwartz, Spagnuolo, etc.)
Posted 11:57 AM, 12/30/2008
My understanding is that Lerner hired Romeo after meeting with the owner of the patriots....I am pretty sure that Savage tried to fire Romeo at the end of the 06 season but Lerner wouldn't allow it.
In the end I think we are lucky to be rid of both.
I would however like to see Lerner get out of the hiring business and just bring in Marty or Parcells as VP in charge of Football Operations and let them do everything from there.
akron, oh
Posted 03:27 PM, 12/30/2008
Who cares? It is just a football team.
Akron, OH
Posted 08:12 PM, 12/30/2008
wORD IF YOU DONT CARE WHY READ OR COMMENT. iTS NORTHEAST OHIO.THE BROWNS ARE A VERY BIG DEAL. That being said I am trying not to lose faith in the entire Browns establishment. I cant take another losing season. I wont root for Pittsburgh but I will turn of the tv.
......, Oh
Posted 08:23 PM, 12/30/2008
Plan A was Bill Cowher, but he took himself out of consideration.
SMART MAN!!
GO STEELERS!
Naples, FL
Posted 06:52 AM, 12/31/2008
I may be wrong but did Savage always pick RACs coaches or only after RAC had hired some guys and refused to fire them after they showed they were totally incompetent. I can't even remember the Offensive Coorinator RAC had initially hired that everyone but RAC knew was in way over his head but refused to fire. After that, if Savage made a big mistake, it was not firing RAC.
