Let me start by saying I think keeping Eric Mangini was a good move. The team improved in the last third of the season after it was broken down to its core, and Mangini deserves a chance to see if he can build on that. There is no point to completely starting over again when there may not be a reason too. And, if he sucks, then fire him and sign another coach. Whatever, no big deal, just be sure first, right? And I'm assuming that's what Holmgren thinks too.
However, lost in all of the Holmgren/Browns/Mangini/new-regime/four-game-win-streak discussion is the REAL reason why Mangini stayed.
The man gives the best interview in the business. Seriously. What Tiger Woods is to golf and philandering, Mangini is to closed-door interviews. Just think about the sequence of events that has led us to Mangini: Year Two.
He was fired from the New York Jets after three up-and-down seasons, amid a collapse in which there was a near team-wide mutiny. The entire state of New York had turned on him. Meanwhile, the Browns were ready to start over and needed to get it right this time. Randy Lerner had a big PR problem of his own, as in fans were tired of watching the dumbasses he put in charge build a team.
So there we have a jobless Mangini and a desperate Lerner. That same offseason also had a jobless Jon Gruden, Bill Cowher, Mike Shanahan, Marty Schottenheimer and several up and comers like Josh McDaniels.
So what happens? Lerner brings in Mangini for an interview before anyone grabbed a shower to wash the stink of the season off, and he immediately hands him the job. It was the fastest hire in history. I've seen UFC fights last longer than Lerner's deliberation. You'd think there'd be some more due diligence considering, you know, the importance of the decision, Mangini's past and all of the other options out there.
After that, the Mangini regime couldn't have been worse. There was the rookie bus trip, the extra practices, the injuries and dissention, the trades of star players, the fines for water bottles and, of course, the putrid football. It wasn't until the aforementioned four-game win streak that the fans went from "I'd honestly like to hang the guy from the I-480 bridge and throw stones at him" to "Umm, we should still probably fire the guy."
On top of that, his hand-picked patsy GM was fired mid-season, which paved the way for yet another franchise-altering hire—Mike Holmgren. Looked like Mangini's days were numbered. Not only did everyone hate him, but his new boss was a polar opposite on paper: 3-4 defense vs. 4-3 defense, West Coast offense vs. [insert whatever offense the Browns tried to run], mustache vs. gum-chewing. And on top of that, Holmgren's job is to make the franchise his own and, rebuild it and make it a contender in his own image. How in God's name could Mangini keep his job when you add all of that up?
Well, Holmgren said he'd have one sit-down interview with Mangini to see if there was any way this could work. That's like making Mozart play piano to save his life. He walked into that room the oil to Holmgren's water, with nothing more than a four-game win streak to show for himself, and he walked out the same guy—but with job security.
Seriously, who is better at convincing people to do things during closed-door meetings than Eric Mangini? Part of me wonders if we should let Mangini go so that he can put his powers to better use. Maybe his powers can be used for more than self-promotion and self-preservation. Maybe Mangini could be negotiating peace in the Middle East or fixing healthcare or the economy in some secret meeting somewhere. Or maybe that's a bad idea because everyone might leave thinking they have the answer to world peace, but when it plays out, we might end up in World War III.
My personal theory for this phenomenon? Mangini is a Jedi. He used the Jedi mind trick to convince Lerner to hire him, his players to play for him and Holmgren to keep him. And I'm fine with all of that. Now, if he can convince the NFL to start rewarding 5-11 seasons with Super Bowl berths, we'll really be onto something.
