What the hell is going on in Cleveland?

Browns fire Kokinis!!!!

Did he fall or was he pushed? The AP story says:

left the team Monday under unexplained circumstances ... After reports surfaced that Kokinis was fired, the team issued an awkwardly worded statement saying Kokinis “is no longer actively involved with the organization.” The Browns also denied reports that Kokinis was escorted from team headquarters. Kokinis’ apparent ouster came one day after Browns owner Randy Lerner said he wanted to hire a “strong, credible, serious” football adviser ... Citing unnamed team and league sources, ESPN.com reported that Kokinis refused to resign when pressed by Lerner, who then persisted in seeking a dismissal “for cause.” The report said the team’s security and legal department were reviewing phone records to build its case against Kokinis.

What a cluster.

The arresting thing to me was that Lerner was trying to dig up reason to terminate Kokinis “for cause”. Also known as “pulling an Al Davis”. I think that's disgusting. If you realize that you've hired the wrong guy, just be a man about it. Don't try to invent a firing offense where none exists: the main fact is that you decided you wanted to move in a different direction. This is an area where Goodell should step in. Lane Kiffin, George Kokinis: just pay them and move on.

The story opines that the Brownies might hire Accorsi. Yeah, in their dreams. Good luck with that. I dunno, maybe it is possible: Kosar has a relationship. But Accorsi really retired. He walked away from a loaded Giants team, that went on to win the Super Bowl. And Randy Lerner better be careful what he wishes for. If he manages to hire a real GM, Lerner's precious Mangini is gone the next day.

How on earth is Mangini unscathed in all of this? Yuck.

When you read profiles or biographies of the great coaches across sports, one thing that shines thru is that coaching is a people business. Maybe even more so in pro sports than in college or high school: you can be more dictatorial in scholastic sports. Can't in the pros. The pre-eminient example of this might be Red Auerbach. Red sure as hell knew a basketball player when he saw one. But when you read him, what he talks about is how important it is to know your players personalities, and how you have to handle different people differently. Know what makes them tick. Don't lock yourself in with too many arbitrary rules, because they can rob you of the flexibility to deal with different players differently.

Mangini does not have one ounce of that capability in his makeup.

Y'know, ordinarily I wouldn't mind seeing a Ravens divisional opponent stumble around. But this is just unseemly. Plus Kokinis is a good guy (ex Ravens front office). He would not have been my choice as the guy to take the fall in that situation.