Bass-ackward redux

Now that the latest plans to fix the Cleveland Browns are in place, it’s time to examine the situation more closely.

First of all, by choosing a new head coach before a new general manager and then allowing that coach to choose his general manager, Jimmy Haslam III is stepping into a trap that ensnared his predecessor.

Randy Lerner way back in 2009 was so anxious to hire Eric Mangini after he fired Romeo Crennel as head coach, he directed his top men to drop everything and aim for the former Browns offensive assistant.

Mangini, who had just been fired as head coach of the New York Jets, was unemployed for exactly nine days when Lerner made the command decision. The owner was so thrilled to land him, he gave him a four-year contract.

He had also fired General Manager Phil Savage after three seasons, but Mangini helped the clueless Lerner solve that little problem with the horse-before-the-cart scenario that followed.

Mangini recommended George Kokinis, then director of player personnel for the Baltimore Ravens, to replace Savage. Lerner did not object even though National Football League protocol dictated the exact opposite. The GM is hired first and then picks the new head coach.

The move caused a stir at the time because of its unusual nature as pundits tried to figure out exactly who was really the boss for the Browns. It didn’t take long to find out.

Kokinis, who started his NFL scouting career with the original Browns about 20 years earlier, turned out to be nothing but a figurehead. Mangini moved right in and took over just about everything.

He was the head coach, the main spokesman, the man who orchestrated all the personnel moves, the man the media turned to whenever news was being made. Kokinis faded into the background. Mangini was the de facto general manager.

The 2009 season was a disaster, the Browns losing the first four games and 11 of the first 12. After game eight, a 30-6 walloping at home by the Chicago Bears, the plug was pulled (mercifully?) on Kokinis.

The mystery man was shamefully escorted out of the building at 76 Lou Groza Blvd. the day after that game in a sort of a goodbye-we-hardly-knew-ye moment. The GM who was not allowed to be the GM exited as the scapegoat for the club’s awful season.

All the while the man who beckoned Kokinis to join him in Cleveland, the man mainly responsible for the team’s poor play, remained in place despite struggling on the field.  

Kokinis went back to Baltimore the following season and remains with the club today as director of player personnel. Mangini won the final four games that season to finish 5-11. It was good enough for incoming President Mike Holmgren, who retained him. After another 5-11 campaign, Mangini was gone.

Now we have a coach-picking-his-GM again. Will the Mangini-Kokinis pairing and its resultant disaster happen all over again with whomever Haslam chooses as his new head coach? Hard to say now. A lot depends on the pairing.

The new coach in this case will have close to, if not total, carte blanche on how he handles the team on and off the field. Even though Haslam has indicated the new GM will have control of the 53-man roster, I wonder just how much actual power he’ll have with the coach who picked him breathing down his neck.

And with Haslam returning to the practice of having the general manager and coach each report to him instead of the coach reporting to the GM as it was under John Dorsey and Freddie Kitchens, there are bound to be disagreements. That could lead to disharmony along the way. They can’t be on the same page all the time.

Haslam is asking for trouble by doing all this bass-ackwards. It bears watching. History very well could be repeating itself a decade later.