Memo to Browns Fans: Give Eric Mangini a Chance

OK Browns fans. I know you're feeling down and out. Years of major injuries, failed draft picks, coaching blunders, mismanagement, and just over-all bad play by your favorite team has got you feeling cynical...or even worse, "angry" about the the Browns' latest coaching hire. You have every right.

But I, for one, am willing to give the newest management team an opportunity. Just think...you will no longer have to see that "deer in the headlights" look on Romeo Crennel's face. You will no longer have to wonder whether the coach on the sidelines is aware of the down and distance, clock, or score of the game. You will no longer have to watch Kellin Winslow, Jr. or Braylon Edwards walk all over the coach as though he were a pinata.

Here are a couple of things about Eric Mangini that were entirely different than Romeo:

Mangini is a type A personality—a total control freak. He earned that reputation with the Jets (sometime at the risk of alienating some players). It may or may not work in Cleveland, but the days of one (or a couple) player(s) thinking that they are bigger than the team are Over (with a capital "O").

It was time to change gears with some of these egos and Mangini will crack the whip, for better or worse.

Mangini has previous head-coaching experience. That is a major difference between this coaching hire and previous coaching hires of the past. What do Chris Palmer, Butch Davis and Romeo Crennel have in common (besides getting fired by the Browns)?

All were highly regarded former coordinators with not a lick of head coaching experience. There is something to be said for having run an organization in the past. On the job training is not exactly a plus when you are looking at a coaching resume. Look at guys like Bill Bellichek, Tom Coughlin, Dick Vermeil, Tony Dungy, Mike Shanahan, John Gruden: those are the winning coaches in eight out of the last 10 Super Bowls and all were fired as head coaches prior to winning a Super Bowl. 

Not only does Mangini have experience, but he has experience getting a team to the playoffs. He has had winning seasons in two of the three years he was the head coach for the Jets.

By all accounts, Mangini's 2008 team would have made the playoffs again if Jets' management hadn't force fed him Brett Favre "the interception King" against his wishes. Mangini had no use for the prima donna and even less use for his brain cramps down the stretch of the season. But remember Browns fans: Favre wasn't his idea.

I want everyone who bashes the Mangini hire to ask themselves, "outside of the pipe-dream of Bill Cowher, was there a more successful coach on the market than Mangini?" I'm not ready to erect a statue of the guy on public square, but I am willing to give the guy an opportunity to right the ship before throwing him over-board.