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After messy breakup with Jets, new Browns' coach won't dish dirt
By Marla Ridenour
Beacon Journal sports writer
POSTED: 06:54 p.m. EST, Jan 10, 2009
BEREA: Several times during his introductory news conference Thursday, Browns coach Eric Mangini had a chance to lash out at the New York Jets.
''Did you feel betrayed by your friend Mike Tannenbaum?''
''Do you have a chip on your shoulder after the Jets experience?''
But each time New York came up, Mangini demurred, dancing around the subject of the team that fired him after he led it to two winning seasons in his three years.
''I feel really good about the things we did in New York; I feel really good about the organization we were building, the people we brought in,'' he said. ''I know how hard the coaches worked, how hard I worked, how hard the players worked and those are the things that I'm proud of. I'm going to work as hard here and obviously learn from mistakes we made and continue to grow.''
Browns owner Randy Lerner spent 20 hours with Mangini during the week before he hired him. He knows the chip is there.
''We call that hunger,'' Lerner said.
When the Jets went 10-6 in 2006 and qualified for the playoffs under their rookie coach, he was dubbed ''Mangenius.'' He and his wife, Julie, made a cameo on The Sopranos in 2007, dining at Artie Bucco's restaurant. When the Jets were 8-3 with a two-game lead in the AFC East this season, there was talk of extending Mangini's contract that had one year remaining.
But after a 1-4 finish, including losses to the struggling San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks, Mangini was fired at 10 a.m. the morning after the final game. He was 23-25 in the regular season with the Jets.
Jets owner Woody Johnson and Tannenbaum, the team's general manager, didn't care that the Jets beat the New England Patriots in overtime and handed the Tennessee Titans their first loss in 2008. They didn't care that 39-year-old quarterback Brett Favre turned up with a torn biceps after the season, which might have explained his two touchdown passes and nine interceptions in the last five games.
They had traded for Favre and spent $140 million on veteran free agents such as offensive linemen Alan Faneca and Damien Woody, nose tackle Kris Jenkins and linebacker Calvin Pace, and they did not make the playoffs.
''I'm not saying that Eric won't be a successful coach in the league. I think he will be,'' Johnson said when he announced Mangini's firing. ''But we've made the decision to move on.''
There was much Johnson could have touched on that day. Mangini was criticized for questionable clock management and play calling, a problem motivating players, the way he handled his veterans, his lack of in-game adjustments and the deployment of talent. Some said he was too loyal to his coordinators, others thought that he listened to criticism and reacted too strongly in the other direction. One New York columnist said Mangini ''coached scared in situations that called for nerve.''
But Lerner knew Mangini was the youngest coach in the league when the Jets hired him at age 34. Lerner is banking on the notion that Mangini will do things differently the second time around, like his mentor Bill Belichick.
Asked what sold him on Mangini, Lerner said Friday, ''Not one thing. He's had a chance to learn and make mistakes, now we'll see how that plays into his effort.''
When asked about the late-season slide, Mangini said, ''There were definitely things I could've done better as a head coach. There were definitely things that the coaches could've done better. And there were definitely things that we could've done better as a group of players to achieve the goals we all had in mind. But it's never one person or one play. It's everybody collectively doing a better job than we did during that stretch.''
Mangini knew sniping at the Jets on Thursday would have landed him on the back page of the New York tabloids again, so he took the diplomatic approach. He wouldn't even concede that he was shocked by his firing, although he acknowledged, ''It was a long week and I'm glad it's over.''
''I appreciated the opportunity I was given by [former general manager] Terry [Bradway], by Mr. Johnson, by Mike,'' Mangini said. ''I've been on other side of that table. I've told people that we feel like it's time to go in a different direction. I understand having that conversation, and not everybody's going to agree when you give them that news. I respect the fact they made the decision that they made.''
He took no shots at Favre when asked if he was on board with the August trade for the Green Bay Packers legend that increased the pressure on the Jets. Favre threw 22 touchdown passes and 22 interceptions, only his sixth year with 20-plus interceptions in his 17 as a starter. On Oct. 29, when the Jets were 4-3, Mangini made a blackjack reference to the always gambling Favre, warning him ''not to hit on 20'' all the time.
But Mangini named his third son Zack Brett, ironically born on Favre's birthday of Oct. 10, in honor of the quarterback. (It continued a tradition for the Manginis, whose sons Jake Harrison and Luke William were named after New England Patriots safety Rodney Harrison and Patriots coach Bill Belichick.)
''Any of those decisions I was intricately involved in and I really enjoyed my time with Brett,'' Mangini said of Favre's arrival. ''Brett's obviously a Hall of Fame quarterback, he came into a really challenging situation. I respected how important it was for him to be one of the guys and fit in with the team. I really like the time I spent with him.''
Mangini learned volumes from Favre and the Jets, but there's one thing he won't change. He'll stick with the characteristics he had identified for the kind of players that he wanted when he got to the Jets.
''I look for guys that are smart, I look for guys that are tough, I look for guys that are hard-working and I look for guys who are competitive,'' Mangini said. ''And I don't mean just a little competitive. I mean they want to win whether they're playing checkers, whether they're in a sack race. I want competitors.''
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read her Browns blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/browns/.
BEREA: Several times during his introductory news conference Thursday, Browns coach Eric Mangini had a chance to lash out at the New York Jets.
''Did you feel betrayed by your friend Mike Tannenbaum?''
''Do you have a chip on your shoulder after the Jets experience?''
But each time New York came up, Mangini demurred, dancing around the subject of the team that fired him after he led it to two winning seasons in his three years.
''I feel really good about the things we did in New York; I feel really good about the organization we were building, the people we brought in,'' he said. ''I know how hard the coaches worked, how hard I worked, how hard the players worked and those are the things that I'm proud of. I'm going to work as hard here and obviously learn from mistakes we made and continue to grow.''
Browns owner Randy Lerner spent 20 hours with Mangini during the week before he hired him. He knows the chip is there.
''We call that hunger,'' Lerner said.
When the Jets went 10-6 in 2006 and qualified for the playoffs under their rookie coach, he was dubbed ''Mangenius.'' He and his wife, Julie, made a cameo on The Sopranos in 2007, dining at Artie Bucco's restaurant. When the Jets were 8-3 with a two-game lead in the AFC East this season, there was talk of extending Mangini's contract that had one year remaining.
But after a 1-4 finish, including losses to the struggling San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks, Mangini was fired at 10 a.m. the morning after the final game. He was 23-25 in the regular season with the Jets.
Jets owner Woody Johnson and Tannenbaum, the team's general manager, didn't care that the Jets beat the New England Patriots in overtime and handed the Tennessee Titans their first loss in 2008. They didn't care that 39-year-old quarterback Brett Favre turned up with a torn biceps after the season, which might have explained his two touchdown passes and nine interceptions in the last five games.
They had traded for Favre and spent $140 million on veteran free agents such as offensive linemen Alan Faneca and Damien Woody, nose tackle Kris Jenkins and linebacker Calvin Pace, and they did not make the playoffs.
''I'm not saying that Eric won't be a successful coach in the league. I think he will be,'' Johnson said when he announced Mangini's firing. ''But we've made the decision to move on.''
There was much Johnson could have touched on that day. Mangini was criticized for questionable clock management and play calling, a problem motivating players, the way he handled his veterans, his lack of in-game adjustments and the deployment of talent. Some said he was too loyal to his coordinators, others thought that he listened to criticism and reacted too strongly in the other direction. One New York columnist said Mangini ''coached scared in situations that called for nerve.''
But Lerner knew Mangini was the youngest coach in the league when the Jets hired him at age 34. Lerner is banking on the notion that Mangini will do things differently the second time around, like his mentor Bill Belichick.
Asked what sold him on Mangini, Lerner said Friday, ''Not one thing. He's had a chance to learn and make mistakes, now we'll see how that plays into his effort.''
When asked about the late-season slide, Mangini said, ''There were definitely things I could've done better as a head coach. There were definitely things that the coaches could've done better. And there were definitely things that we could've done better as a group of players to achieve the goals we all had in mind. But it's never one person or one play. It's everybody collectively doing a better job than we did during that stretch.''
Mangini knew sniping at the Jets on Thursday would have landed him on the back page of the New York tabloids again, so he took the diplomatic approach. He wouldn't even concede that he was shocked by his firing, although he acknowledged, ''It was a long week and I'm glad it's over.''
''I appreciated the opportunity I was given by [former general manager] Terry [Bradway], by Mr. Johnson, by Mike,'' Mangini said. ''I've been on other side of that table. I've told people that we feel like it's time to go in a different direction. I understand having that conversation, and not everybody's going to agree when you give them that news. I respect the fact they made the decision that they made.''
He took no shots at Favre when asked if he was on board with the August trade for the Green Bay Packers legend that increased the pressure on the Jets. Favre threw 22 touchdown passes and 22 interceptions, only his sixth year with 20-plus interceptions in his 17 as a starter. On Oct. 29, when the Jets were 4-3, Mangini made a blackjack reference to the always gambling Favre, warning him ''not to hit on 20'' all the time.
But Mangini named his third son Zack Brett, ironically born on Favre's birthday of Oct. 10, in honor of the quarterback. (It continued a tradition for the Manginis, whose sons Jake Harrison and Luke William were named after New England Patriots safety Rodney Harrison and Patriots coach Bill Belichick.)
''Any of those decisions I was intricately involved in and I really enjoyed my time with Brett,'' Mangini said of Favre's arrival. ''Brett's obviously a Hall of Fame quarterback, he came into a really challenging situation. I respected how important it was for him to be one of the guys and fit in with the team. I really like the time I spent with him.''
Mangini learned volumes from Favre and the Jets, but there's one thing he won't change. He'll stick with the characteristics he had identified for the kind of players that he wanted when he got to the Jets.
''I look for guys that are smart, I look for guys that are tough, I look for guys that are hard-working and I look for guys who are competitive,'' Mangini said. ''And I don't mean just a little competitive. I mean they want to win whether they're playing checkers, whether they're in a sack race. I want competitors.''
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read her Browns blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/browns/.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
Posted 09:04 AM, 01/11/2009
too bad he didn't name his kids bat mangini, mail mangini, or, befitting his vocation, defensive line mangini.
Posted 11:57 AM, 01/11/2009
"I respected how important it was for him to be one of the guys and fit in with the team."
Huh? This seems to be totally contradictory to what the Jets' player said the other day. That Favre had his own little room at training camp and didn't associate with his teammates after practices.
If he were a decent coach, he would have benched Favre at midseason. Same situation as Crennel/Derek Anderson. Another sample of buht kissing a veteran when he's playing poorly.
smithville, Tn
Posted 04:37 PM, 01/11/2009
go cavs
Stow, OH
Posted 05:49 PM, 01/11/2009
I wouldn't expect him to bad mouth them,none of these guys do. Why burn a bridge you may have to cross down the road,some of these coaches end up at 4 or 5 different teams in their careers.
Posted 06:47 PM, 01/11/2009
Mangina.
Posted 08:32 PM, 01/11/2009
I believe Mangini will do a good job with the Browns. He is young, smart, humgry & has experience. I also like the idea of Rob Ryan as defensive coordinator (he's a good coach). The only thing I'm concerned about is the GM. I prefer a GM with real experience (like McKay, Carl Petersen, or Floyd Reese, for examples). Mr. Lerner, please get the best/most experienced guy out there! That, coupled with a good, young coach will make for a winning combination!
LOL,
Jason Dawg
allentown, pa
Posted 10:48 PM, 01/11/2009
I'm holding my breath with Mangini as coach. I have my doubts about him when so many writers point out his mistakes with handling players, his coaches, game clock management, motivating players, etc. Why did 3 other GMs decline to be interviewed by Lerner and the Browns when they knew Mangini was hired as coach? Did they really want to have control over hiring the head coach or is it something about Mangini they don't like?
