It’s late May. No one cares about the NBA Playoffs…or our AAA baseball team. What better time for a round-up?First up, some more national media love for Mike Holmgren. After reading, you may ask yourself one of the following questions:
1. Whatever did we do without him?
2. Could Randy Lerner have created a bigger mess for Holmgren to inherit?
He is a man in charge of everything now and yet nothing is like what Mike Holmgren’s football world has ever been.
He looms around the Cleveland Browns offices at 61 years old, their new team president on what he calls “the last great adventure.”
In the mornings Holmgren no longer watches game films but instead sits through marketing meetings, makes promotional videos and spends hours phoning former suite-holders begging them to return. Whenever the NFL’s owners meet, he attends, taking the Browns’ seat at the big table next to Patriots owner Bob Kraft.
“Mike’s different,” says Gil Haskell, Holmgen’s longtime offensive coordinator who is a special assistant to him in Cleveland. “He’s smarter than a football man. There’s more to him than a football man.”
Still, Holmgren knows the perception lingers that he is only pretending to enjoy the meetings and that his real plan is to stabilize the Browns for a year, learn the organization, then at season’s end, dump Eric Mangini and make himself the coach. How can he not know it? The rumor has been percolating since he took the job in December. Many expected Holmgren to fire Mangini then, given the Browns’ 5-11 record and the fact Mangini was not a devotee of the West Coast Offense like all of Holmgren’s protégées.
I kid – but this is a very well-done article.
Regarding the “perception” of Holmgren’s grand visions for the franchise, as well as himself, it makes complete sense to think that Holmgren is a bit out of his element as team President. Certainly, the position is more boardroom than locker room, which has to be a strange transition for the ex-coach.
Speaking of “boardrooms’, the thought of “boredom” has to be considered regarding Holmgren’s future with the franchise. Regardless of the on-field progress shown by the Browns over the next couple seasons, is Holmgren going to be content relegating himself to an incredibly important, but less than dynamic position?
The thought appears to disturb him. So many times in his time with the Seahawks he felt he was fending off some kind of assault from the men above him on the organizational ladder, who were believed to be plotting to have him removed. It is not the kind of atmosphere he wants to create in Cleveland.
As a result, Holmgren tries to squelch any longings he might have to coach again, beating them down – if not for the sake of his own stomach, which did not handle defeats well at the end in Seattle – then for Mangini’s sake. He owes his coach the comfort that the boss does not desire his job.
Mangini himself seems to believe Holmgren is on his side, saying he appreciates the fact that as a former head coach, Holmgren can understand what he is going through. “Even though you didn’t share the experiences on the same team, a lot of times there’s carry-over between the type of experiences you have.”
What’s fascinating here are the shared experiences that Holmgren and Mangini have. As cited in the article, Holmgren was targeted from above, despite boasting a great share of organizational control. As for Mangini, his circumstances in New York are pretty similar – as he basically lost a “someone has to get fired” power struggle to GM Mike Tannenbaum.
Although the arrangement between Mangini and Holmgren – at least from the outside – would appear to be a clash of styles and philosophies, perhaps their history of surviving the NFL front office food chain could prove to be the rock of their relationship.
Can you only imagine? A Browns front office not swarming with power-hungry madmen? Could it be?
But, as for those players….
Here is a bad sign for the Cleveland Browns: The team has more contract disputes (six) than wins (five) accumulated last season.
These are problems that Cleveland’s new braintrust of president Mike Holmgren and general manager Tom Heckert must resolve before the start of the 2010 season. Although the players in question are solid, this power pair didn’t draft any of them, and thus have no personal attachments to this group.
That makes the chances of Cleveland giving out various contract extensions to unhappy players even dicier, leading to this current standstill.
“It’s really not a big deal right now,” Heckert told the Cleveland Plain Dealer during a recent speaking engagement. “First of all, it’s not going to happen. It’s like that with everybody. Normally when guys aren’t happy with their contracts, the first thing that comes out of their mouths is, ‘Give me a new deal or trade me.’
It should be noted that four of the six players with contract disputes — Roth, Elam, Harrison and Vickers — are represented by agent Drew Rosenhaus. That could make for an interesting tussle. Rosenhaus is extremely persistent in getting his clients more money, and he’s not afraid to use all the tricks in the book to create as much leverage as possible.
So, here’s a question for you, loyal reader: when does a local Browns story become national news?
a) when someone either gets shot, sexually assaulted or run over on their way to work.
b) when the name “Colt” is inserted into a tagline.
c) when the editor of said conglomerate realizes they can’t run last year’s DA/Brady story again.
d) when Drew Rosenhaus is involved.
e) all of the above
Of course, if you’ve been paying attention – you’ll know the answer is always “e.”
However, a good rule of thumb is that once Rosenhaus enters the fray, it becomes news in the eyes of ESPN.
Yet, in these respective cases – I’m not even sure what Rosenhaus can deliver for his clients. In terms of “leverage”, all of the team’s restricted free agents have none. As it relates to “earning” a contract last season – it’s worth noting that the Browns finished 5-11.
Which makes you wonder…what if the Browns made the playoffs last year? Or, if Matt Roth shot somebody? Maybe even Colt McCoy?
If only it were that easy…for ESPN.
Speaking of having it easy…
Remember When Offseason was Work Season?
“Remember when?” No. No, I don’t.
Finally, a day late, but still….
USA Today – Browns Want in on Cold Weather Super Bowl
Cleveland Browns coach Eric Mangini endorsed the NFL’s choice of New York as the host of the 2014 Super Bowl and suggested his team might one day be able to welcome the league’s biggest showcase to Ohio.
“That would be pretty cool,” Mangini told PFT of the possibility of a Super Bowl in Cleveland. “Not only with the elements but with the history of the franchise, it would be pretty amazing.”
Mangini’s words don’t indicate that either the Browns or Cleveland are ready to mount a Super Bowl bid. But they continue the pattern of cold-weather teams expressing interest in making the winter-like Super Bowl more than a one-time event.
“I think it’s going to change dramatically the whole process,” Mangini said. “You can’t count on a perfectly controlled environment to play the game. You could be playing in a foot of snow, playing with ridiculous winds, playing with icy rains, the cold. It’s great.”
The Super Bowl is not headed to New York/New Jersey because of the weather. It’s headed there because of the new stadium and endless array of media, money and madness. Just because an NFL city has cold weather, does not mean that they are suitable to host a Super Bowl.
As if we really needed to go over all that again…
