Cleveland Browns General Manager Search: Weighing the Options

A lot of big names are being bandied about to be the next General Manager of the Cleveland Browns.

We have heard names such as Mike Holmgren, Marty Schottenheimer, Bill Cowher, and Mike Shanahan.

There certainly will be some interest on the part of owner Randy Lerner in each. So let’s look at the background, wisdom as a choice of each, and the chances that that they may actually have an interest in the Cleveland Browns’ position.

Mike Holmgren

Holmgren will be 62 by the time next season starts and last coached the Seattle Seahawks in 2008.

He is highly regarded as a quarterback developer, having worked with such All-Pro quarterbacks as Joe Montana, Steve Young, Brett Favre and Matt Hasselbeck as an assistant and head coach in the NFL.

He also worked as a quarterback coach with Brigham Young University at a time when they were putting up record passing numbers under head coach LaVell Edwards.

He won a Super Bowl as a head coach in 1996 with the Packers. After a highly successful stint as a head coach with the Packers, he left the team largely because he wanted control over personnel decisions (something he did not have in Green Bay).

His stint as a coach/general manager with the Seattle Seahawks did not go quite as smoothly, although he did manage to take the Seahawks to their lone Super Bowl appearance in 2005. The Seahawks record was 86-74 during his tenure.

The rumor is that Holmgren comes as a package with Jon Gruden as the head coach. A Gruden-Holmgren duo makes for a pretty impressive twosome, as Gruden boasts a pretty solid resume in his own right.

The downside to Holmgren is that his record as a general manager is not nearly as sterling as his record as a coach. If the Browns intend on keeping current head coach Eric Mangini, this would not be a match made in heaven.

The two come off entirely different coaching trees with completely different coaching philosophies. If Holmgren does become the next decision maker, Mangini’s days are numbered.

The guess is that it would not take much other than big dollars to push Holmgren out of retirement.

Mary Schottenheimer

Local sentiment is on the side of Marty Schottenheimer, who was the Cleveland head coach during what was unquestionably the franchise's best run of football since the glory years of the 1950s and ‘60s. He amassed a 44-27 record as head coach of the Browns.

How quickly fans forget that they once were calling for Marty’s head when he “couldn’t win the big one” against arch-rival John Elway and the Denver Broncos.

Schottenheimer followed up his Browns experience with a successful run as the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, finishing 101-58-1 in 10 years. But again, Marty just could not get his team over the top in the playoffs.

He finished 8-8 in his one season with the Washington Redskins, and led the San Diego Chargers to a 47-33 record in five years.

Although Schottenheimer was successful for virtually every team he coached during the regular season, he could never get the “playoff monkey” off his back.

Another thing to keep in mind with Schottenheimer is that he has very little experience as a general manager. Throughout his coaching career, he was surrounded by strong personnel evaluators who generally had the last word with respect to roster decisions.

It remains to be seen whether Schottenheimer has the ability to run a franchise. His lone experience in “running the show” was in his one year with the Redskins.

Although Schottenheimer does not have a direct link to Eric Mangini, Mangini did give Marty’s son his first job as an offensive coordinator with the Jets.

Additionally, their coaching philosophies are not all that different. They both believe that strong defenses and power running games are the keys to success.

Thus, if Randy Lerner is serious about keeping Mangini around, this might not be such a bad match.

At this point in his career, Marty would probably sign any contract an NFL owner put in front of him.

Bill Cowher

This is a name that many Cleveland fans have been dreaming about for a decade. Cowher cut his teeth as an assistant with the Browns and became one of the most successful coaches in history with the hated Pittsburgh Steelers.

There are several reasons why Bill Cowher might want to come to Cleveland, not least of which is his ego. Although he still is a beloved figure in Pittsburgh, he never believed his pay from the Rooney family was commensurate with what he was able to accomplish as a field general.

There certainly must be a part of him that would love to stick it to his former employer as a divisional rival.

Despite all that, there are a number of reasons why Cowher coming to Cleveland would be a long shot.

First of all, he is a Carolina resident and there has long been talk that he has been waiting around with bated breath for the Panther opening so he could stay close to home. Because of the recent failures of the Panthers, that time may be coming soon.

Secondly, he was already offered a king’s ransom to come to Cleveland by Randy Lerner last year. Little has changed that would make the Browns more attractive the second time around.

The word on the street is that Cowher wants the dual role as the head coach and the general manager. Money and complete power are the only things that are going to talk him out of retirement.

That may not necessarily be a good thing. Keep in mind that although Cowher was a great coach, he was never the architect behind the player decision process with the Steelers.

Most forget that Tom Donahoe was the Director of Football Operations from 1992 through 2000 and is credited with many of the player acquisitions which made the Steelers a powerhouse.

Kevin Colbert took over for Donahoe in 2000 and still holds that position.

Mike Shanahan

Mike Shanahan is perhaps the one name on this list who has successfully built a franchise from the ground up as both a coach and a personnel decision-maker.

He has two Super Bowl rings as a coach and led the Denver Broncos to a 138-86 record in his tenure.

He may still have some desire to coach, but at 58 years old, that may or may not be in the cards in the NFL.

Shanahan is a brilliant offensive mind, dating back to his days as an offensive coordinator with the Super Bowl Champion San Francisco 49ers (1992).

Shanahan may have been the beneficiary of being the head coach of the Broncos during the John Elway era, but the one thing his teams always were able to do is run the football, no matter who was toting the rock.

He seemed to find diamond-in-the-rough running backs and offensive lineman all over the draft board and his style of play lends itself to the cold, blustery playing conditions here in Cleveland.

One other consideration is that Shanahan’s son, Kyle, is a rising star and is the youngest offensive coordinator (28) in the NFL with the Houston Texans. Kyle currently has the Texan offense clicking with a journeyman quarterback and a less-than-stellar group of running backs.

Although Kyle may not be ready to be a head coach, perhaps his father could coax him into being the head coach in waiting as he tries to breath new life into the Browns disastrous offensive attack.

Mike Shanahan has a track record and is just the kind of tough-minded leader that this franchise has lacked since its rebirth in 1999.

He does have a rather autocratic style, however, which will most certainly not mesh with Eric Mangini. Thus, if Shanahan is brought on board as General Manager, Mangini will not make it past the opening introductions.

Shanahan, at this time last year, could afford to be picky with regards to who his next employer would be. But currently, there is not enough interest around the league for him to turn down a job if Lerner met his salary demands.

Others

There are some among the local fan base and media who are calling for the Browns to bring in an old-timer who has run a team in the past who can teach Cleveland legend Bernie Kosar the ropes.

Kosar does not have enough NFL experience to just jump into the job despite his legendary football acumen and die-hard allegiance from Browns’ fans.

Since Ernie Accorsi has hedged on whether he would like to join the Cleveland Browns organization, an interesting choice as Kosar’s mentor might be former Redskins and Texans GM Charley Casserly.

Regardless of which way Randy Lerner turns, his best option would be to slowly and methodically weigh his options and listen to advice from those in the NFL inner-circle, rather than jump the gun like he did in his last major hire.