Under Pressure! Eric Mangini's Drive To Win a Super Bowl

Head Coach Eric Mangini has had an interesting ride in Cleveland through his first year and now well into his second.

Mangini’s hiring came with a lot of skepticism over the process, but a no-nonsense attitude earned him a lot of fans through the off-season workouts and training camp.

A 1-11 start to the season coupled with a complete inability to communicate properly with or through the press then promptly got him in the Hot Seat with a good portion of the fanbase.

But fans are fickle and a four-game winning streak to end the season, including a victory over division rival and defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers, swayed a lot people back into his camp.

New Team President Mike Holmgren decided to stick with Mangini, and the off-season workouts appear to be going a lot better than last year.

That’s as pure opinion as it gets, considering no one is wearing pads, but that seems to be the general consensus from the coaches and the media who have attended the practices.

In his press conference last week, Mangini was asked about former Cavaliers Head Coach Mike Brown and if there’s more pressure to win a championship in Cleveland because of the title drought.

Mangini’s response is something every Cleveland Browns fan should pay close attention to for all the right reasons.

"Tougher to coach in this town?" said Mangini. "It's a passionate town, it's a passionate town. You understand and you appreciate it. Believe me, you're consumed with trying to achieve what we all want to achieve. It would be amazing, fantastic, and deserved."

Mangini’s statement should tell everyone how committed this guy is to winning a Super Bowl. Even more important, especially to Cleveland fans, is that Mangini is the first coach this team has had since they returned to the league in 1999 who seems to “get it.”

He “gets it” in the sense that he knows beating the Steelers is the equivalent of the Ohio State/Michigan game for many Browns fans, 99 percent of whom probably also are Buckeye fans.

Romeo Crennell never "got" the rivalry, Butch Davis never "got" the rivalry, and Chris Palmer may have "gotten it," but his tenure was too mired in other garbage to give him a fair assessment.

Mangini “gets it” in the way he won’t tolerate divas on the team any more than the fans will. This is not New York, and this is not California; divas have no place on this team.

Even more important, though, is that it appears Mangini finally “gets it” about how to speak to the fans, a trait he didn’t really possess last year, but let’s not waste any more time dwelling on that issue.

With the coaching staff in place for the second year in a row, the veteran players all are coming in knowing what's expected of them. This in turn also will help the rookies acclimate to the situation as the veterans will be better able to tell them, "Do this, don't do that."

A stable front office, combined with a head coach who now has clear direction on how to achieve the goal of winning a Super Bowl, is a wonder in Cleveland because it really hasn't been like that in this city since Bernie Kosar stood under center.

All Browns fans can do is hope is the lessons learned over the past few dismal years result in a winning season in 2010.