Cleveland Browns: Making Sense of the Week That Was

Halfway through the 2009 campaign, the Browns already are wondering what their draft position will be for 2010.

That fact isn’t sad. What is sad is the very real possibility it won’t matter if the Browns have 23 picks and right of first refusal on all other team’s first round picks because the front office is busy playing twister rather than putting together a winning organization.

Owner Randy Lerner has been so focused on making sure he doesn’t have to spend more than five minutes a week on the team, all he’s done is ensure he’ll be spending every waking moment in or around the Berea facility for the foreseeable future.

Lerner has only been good at one thing since inheriting his father’s team—screwing it up.

Lerner never has been able to grasp the one fundamental constant of every winning football franchise—a stable front office working together to win a Super Bowl.

Having failed to learn the lessons of Czar Butch Davis and his missteps, Lerner almost immediately sent the team careening into the abyss by not sitting down and defining roles of each front office position.

The error was compounded by not enforcing what little structure was in place when it came to division of powers.

Lerner ousted team president John Collins when the power struggle began between Collins and former general manager Phil Savage. Savage immediately began navigating the team into the waters of rudderless losing because there was no oversight.

Vowing to “correct” the mistakes, Lerner instead hired a head coach before he hired a general manager, and promptly turned control of the team over to Eric Mangini, a man who has emerged as being somewhat of a control freak.

In the blame game, it’s important to know who to blame for what, and how much blame each person should take.

At the end of the day, Lerner deserves 78.967 percent of the blame while Mangini deserves 22.351 of the blame.

The rest of the blame falls on (former?) general manager George Kokinis for not having a spine.

I say former because all Lerner will say about Kokinis is that he is "no longer active in the organization" and denies Kokinis has been fired.

Mangini came into the Browns organization on Day One and completely cleaned house. He fired most of the public relations staff, because we all know what a public relations guru Mangini is, and brought in as many of “his” people as he could lure in.

Then Kokinis was hired, specifically for his past relationship with Mangini. Kokinis, no doubt, thought this would end up being a very successful marriage and the two of them, as coach and GM, would be hoisting several Lombardi trophies in the coming years.

But Mangini does not share power once taken. That is the lesson being learned in Cleveland right now.

Kokinis, if the reports of his demise are accurate, was marginalized on his first day on the job and completely ignored in the last few weeks leading up to his dismissal from the team facility.

Kokinis had all the powers of a GM on paper, but he never had the support inside the front office to actually wield those powers.

The fact Lerner waited until a “consultant” reported this to him and then demanded Kokinis resign is all the proof anyone needs that Lerner is all talk when it comes to finding “Stable, credible” leadership for this organization.

It’s Lerner’s fault there is no structure to his front office. It’s Mangini’s fault this team is so bad. However, the former begot the latter, so Lerner is the root of the problem, not Mangini.

Why Kokinis didn’t fight harder to neutralize Mangini is something that may never be known. However, since Kokinis hasn’t been officially terminated, according to Lerner, the particulars of the inter-office war may become part of a public court record should Kokinis challenge Lerner for the remainder of his contract.

What are the long-suffering Browns fans to do in the meantime, with no hope in sight?

Not a lot.

So, in the interest of pure speculation, here is one possible solution to the problem short of Lerner selling the team, since that’s not going to happen.

Lerner needs to lure someone to be the vice president of football operations. That person then will become the de facto owner of the Cleveland Browns. That person will be responsible for hiring the front office personnel.

Finding the right person who would want to come in to the mess that Lerner created is a different argument, and one only Lerner can realistically have.

Once the front office is in place, the front office determines the coaching situation. Whether that coach is Mangini or not will depend solely on the front office. Mangini should have ZERO say in who gets the GM job.

The VP will ensure there is a concrete structure to the division of power within the front office. Each person’s role will be clearly defined and any attempt to breach that role should be met with serious retributions.

The head coach should be responsible for coaching the team, period. The head coach should have no other responsibilities or duties at this point in the game.

Given the mistakes Mangini has made from a personnel standpoint, that goes doubly so for him.

Mangini got robbed in the draft day trades and overdrafted most of the second round personnel. Too much talent was left on the table and the record shows that. Mangini should be allowed to give suggestions to the front office for next year’s draft and then be told to stay away, his input is no longer needed after that.

All decisions regarding the 53-man roster also should be taken away from Mangini. He’s built a roster shaping up to be one of the worst in football, mainly made up of Jets castoffs.

No team can be successful if it’s just cobbled together from other team’s scraps. It’s just not feasible.

If Mangini is just left to focus on coaching, he could be successful. Therefore, Mangini needs to accept a whole new way of doing business, or it’s time for him to hit the road.

That being said, if the new GM and/or VP decide Mangini is part of the problem, then it’s time for Mangini to go. He has done nothing on the field to warrant a vote of confidence.

Eight more weeks, how many wins will it take for Mangini to keep his job? Does it matter?