Cleveland Browns' Eric Mangini: Deja Vu All Over Again?

On my way to the office today, I was listening to a local sports talk radio show taking merciless shots at Eric Mangini.

Callers to the show chimed in with their own negative views of the beleaguered head coach. And that is putting it lightly.

Just yesterday, veteran running back Jamal Lewis took a not-so-subtle swipe at the head coach for what he deems to be working the players too hard.

Without getting into the legitimacy of Lewis’ gripe, it occurred to me that I had been in this place before as I listened on my car speakers.

New head coach takes over a team that was bludgeoned to death the year before under complaints that the previous regime was too soft on its players.

Head coach proceeds to dismantle the roster to rid the team of malcontents and players who do not want to play by his rules.

Head coach unceremoniously benches the hero quarterback and Clevelanders threaten to charge the gates of the Browns' headquarters.

Veteran players begin to squeal on the head coach to the media because he’s working them too hard and is not approachable enough in the clubhouse.

Soft-spoken, egotistical, and remorseless head coach makes enemies with the media because he is...well, soft-spoken, egotistical, and remorseless.

The local fans and media members take turns joining into the fracas by consistently beating the life out of the head coach on the airwaves and in the newspapers.

Just as all those previous events begin to float through my head, a caller to the talk show comes on and says, “this is like déjà vu all over again…you guys are running this coach out of town just like you did to Bill Belichick.”

Now, this particular media member gets defensive and cut off the caller by shouting him down with, “revisionist history,” “Modell let him go before he took the team to Baltimore,” and “Bill admitted he made mistakes when he was with the Browns.”

While it is in fact true that the Browns were on their way out of town with or without Bill Belichick, apparently some in the Cleveland media forget their places in history, as well.

In 1995, I placed my one and only phone call to a sports talk radio station. In fact, it was to that exact same talk show host I was listening to today (who, by the way, I think is fantastic and I happen to agree with roughly 80 percent of the time).

He and a Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter had just spent the previous three months taking apart coach Belichick at virtually every turn and I called to defend the man.

I reminded them both that neither had ever coached a football team—let alone coached an NFL team to the playoffs, nor had they been on a Super Bowl-winning coaching staff.  I tried to explain to them that this guy is young and he will learn from his mistakes, and he has a reputation as a very smart football guy.

I further went on to say that even though no one wants to admit it, he took over a team on the decline and it will take a little while to clean it up.

I was quickly dispatched, as I assume I did not comport to the lynch mob mentality of the remainder of their listeners.

“If you don’t want to jump off this cliff with the rest of our sheep, we don’t want you on our show.”

So let’s look at the history that followed Bill Belichick after he left Cleveland:

Belichick was roasted for saying that a legendary Cleveland quarterback had “diminishing skills.”

Let’s also not forget that same legendary quarterback openly defied the coach’s play call by “drawing one up in the dirt.” Although Belichick didn’t say it at the time, these events led him to cut the legendary quarterback from the team probably more than the player’s “diminishing skills.”

And that same legendary quarterback who tried to lead a revolt against the head coach went on to win...zero games as a starter in the NFL.

That’s right, sports fans! He did not win a single game as a starter again!

Meanwhile, Bill Belichick went on to lead one of the NFL’s greatest dynasties to four Super Bowl appearances and collect three Lombardi Trophies.

He has solidified his spot in the Football Hall of Fame as one of the most successful coaches to ever carry the clipboard.

That brings us back to today.

While it is hard at this point to point to any successes that current head coach Eric Mangini has made with these Cleveland Browns, he is only one year into the “process”—I use that term because I know much everyone hates to hear it.

The team is ONE YEAR removed from the Club Crennel approach that led to a 4-12 season!

The team is ONE YEAR removed from a 2008 draft class that did not have a single pick until round four!

The team is ONE YEAR removed from a team that had not decided on its starting quarterback, and was precariously thin at just about every position on the football field!

Fans and the media may not like his personality. The players may not like his methods. But one year is just not enough time to evaluate a coach who took over the mess he took over.

I am not predicting Super Bowl rings or even success for Mangini here in Cleveland. For all I know, he may end up being just another in a long line of disappointment us Clevelanders have had to endure.

I fully expect to receive plenty of angry comments from disaffected Browns fans who are calling, “Off with his head!”

And after all Cleveland Browns fans have been through over the years, they have every right to be mad about the product they are seeing on the field.

Perhaps I take too much joy out of simply stating the contrarian opinion, but I do want to remind everyone of this rather apropos quote from philosopher George Santayana:

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”