Yesterday,
ESPN was reporting that Eric Mangini had decided not to go back to New
England. They were wrong.
This morning, Lane Adkins reported that it
looked like it was down to Cleveland and New England. As of Friday, it
looked like Mangini was going to head to Cleveland, but he has indicated that he
will be staying in New England.
First word came via the Bill Belichick mentioning it while interviewed
following his round at the the Pebble Beach Pro-Am. After being asked a general
question about replacing assistants, Belichick mentioned that Mangini has
decided to stay in New England to be his defensive coordinator rather than
joining the Browns or Dolphins.
Following that, our
tipline and forums went
nuts with threads about the Browns losing the bidding war for the hyped
assistant coach, and later came nearly-identical stories from the
Associated Press and
ESPN.
Those are the facts as we know them.
We don't know why Mangini decided to stay in Boston, but it appears loyalty -
an uncommon trait in the world of professional sports - played an important
role.
Like most Browns fans, I wanted to see the team get their man. But it does
bring a slight smile to my face to see someone exhibiting a personality
characteristic I thought was being a quaint antiquity.
Landing Mangini would have been a very nice early feather in the caps of the
new Browns front office.
It didn't happen, and the team will move on.
While Mangini was a highly sought-after assistant, still basking in the glow
of the Patriots Super Bowl, his success as a defensive coordinator is no more
assured than Crennel's success as a head coach. Unique circumstances of having
two Belichick assistants (Saban and Crennel) promoted to head coaching jobs led
to a bidding war which may mean little in the long run.
Looking past the hype, there are some reasons to not be too worried by losing
out to Belichick for Mangini's services.
By most reports, Mangini did do a terrific job in reviving a Patriots
secondary battered by injury. But he also had the fortunate circumstance to be
surrounded by accomplished mentors in Romeo Crennel and Bill Belichick.
Those who question Crennel's input into the Patriots championship defense,
giving a lot of credit to Belichick, would have to ask the same questions about
Mangini.
In addition, Mangini was very fortunate to be working with a team that had
success with their other defensive units. We in Cleveland have seen first-hand
how important the front seven are in determining the fate of the pass defense.
An effective pass rush and a smart overall defensive scheme can make an average
defensive secondary look good, and a good one look great.
That may have been the case in New England, or Mangini might be as promising
as those around him believe. We won't find out here.
Trying to predict the future career of coaches can be as hard as trying to
predict the promise of players.
Remember when many Browns fans were unhappy because Broncos offensive
coordinator Gary Kubiak decided to stay in Denver and not become someone else's
head coach?
It wasn't that many years ago.
Was it Gary Kubiak who has led a team to three Super Bowl championships as a
head coach in four years?
No, it's not. That man is Bill Belichick. And we all know what the general
consensus was on him less than ten years ago.
- BDMc