Time Passes, Gettleman is Latest Candidate for Browns GM

by Chris Pokorny on Jan 21, 2009 8:25 AM EST in General News

Team owner Randy Lerner is listening to former Giants GM Ernie Accorsi.

Tally up another day in which George Kokinis has not signed with the Cleveland Browns.

According to the Star-Ledger, the team interviewed another candidate last week -- Giants director of pro personnel Dave Gettleman. With the Plain Dealer reporting yesterday that an offer has "yet to be made" to Kokinis, could it be time to start thinking about other candidates? Likely not, but you never know.

Gettleman has been the Giants' director of pro personnel for ten years now. Particularly in the past several years, their acquisition of talent on the offensive and defensive lines has been impressive. Exactly how much Gettleman has had to do with those acquisitions, I don't know.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the Star-Ledger's piece is the following:

Retired Giants GM Ernie Accorsi is serving as a consultant for the Browns during the team's search. It's likely he endorsed Gettleman as a candidate.

Link

This is the first I've heard of Randy Lerner opening his ear to someone with experience, and that can only be a positive sign. Could Accorsi have put in a good word for the recently hired Eric Mangini too?

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accorsi has been a close advisor to lerner for some time now. there’s no question he’s been involved in this entire process. it’s been really surprising to me to hear people who assume that lerner’s been flying solo on this…he’s rich, not dumb.

by DontCallMeJoey on Jan 21, 2009 9:18 AM EST reply actions

Kokonis has now spent 2 days with the current Browns staff. That’s an awful long time to stay (or to let someone stay) if he isn’t going to take the job. I bet Lerner was just covering his bases. Either way I hope we can get this resolved soon.

by rufio on Jan 21, 2009 9:27 AM EST reply actions

hire Kokinis now!!!

by cmh_brickster on Jan 21, 2009 11:08 AM EST reply actions

Not a huge hurry when you have some veterans out there like Floyd Reese. Is it absolutely necessary to rush and pay top dollar (contract length and salary) for Kokonis it there are other quality guys out there? Let’s get this one right. Accorsi being involved gives me that hope. However, something should get done this week.

Any word on what Phil Savage is going to do? Maybe host Double Dare? Maybe he can get a studio job on Pro Football Weekly. Can you imagine the screen test? I would pay good money to see that.

Baseball fans are junkies, and their heroin is the statistic. - Robert S. Wieder

by jerseywahoo on Jan 21, 2009 1:09 PM EST reply actions

He was allegedly contacted by the Lions for a “front office” role.

Carmona for Cy Young 2009

by danvail on Jan 21, 2009 3:16 PM EST up reply actions

Maybe it’s psychological, but I’m having a hard time warming up to having another ex-Raven for GM. it just seems to have an odor about it. i don’t know anything about this Gettleman, but i already like it better than having Kokinis.

by Dawg Nuts on Jan 22, 2009 10:06 AM EST reply actions

I know what you mean – I can’t tolerate the Ravens. However, let’s just hire the best guy for the job and not worry where he came from. Ozzie has done a great job in Baltimore, and it’s logical that his deputies would have been trained in an excellent, winning system. The funny thing is that the Browns seldom seem to interview or hire out of the Pittsburgh system. I hate the Steelers, too, but you can’t deny that they know what they’re doing over there.

by drjeo on Jan 22, 2009 4:25 PM EST up reply actions

While I realize that the Senior Bowl isn’t the only venue for evaluating draft talent, did anyone else find this nugget from the Plain Dealer a bit worrisome?

"None of the current Browns assistants have been retained, but most are at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala. Current members of Mangini’s coaching staff are not attending. "

Why would you send the guys you are going to be releasing?

I think my aneurism is flaring up again.

by JustBob on Jan 22, 2009 5:14 PM EST reply actions

I doubt the Browns paid their way. More likely than not, those guys are down there networking for new coaching positions.

You know Selig? Ombudsman.

by rolub on Jan 22, 2009 10:23 PM EST up reply actions

Of course, I got excited when I heard about the staph reductions … then I realized my error.

by JustBob on Jan 22, 2009 5:24 PM EST reply actions 2 recs

I think Mangini and the new staff are OK with not having anyone down there because TJ McCreight who now heads up our scouting department is there with the other scouts. We didn’t send old assistants down there, they are down there because everyone is down there right now.

If we should get worried, it should be about the chemistry between our future GM and Mangini, and between our future GM and the scouts that are down at the Senior Bowl.

Apparently, Kokonis already has chemistry with Mangini. Hiring another person from the Ravens makes a little bit of sense because they would have a similar background to Savage and would presumably be used to working in a similar fashion. This would mean that they would know how the scouts work, possibly who they are, their system, and could hopefully be in a better position to adapt to being absent from the Senior Bowl and to what we have in place already.

It is a little curious that Kokonis hasn’t been hired yet.

by rufio on Jan 23, 2009 8:12 PM EST reply actions

Crap

We just fired McCreight.

So hopefully someone else down at the Senior Bowl knows what he/she(?) is doing…

by rufio on Jan 24, 2009 2:09 AM EST up reply actions

Yeah, but if they think their jobs are in jeopardy, then how much scouting are they really going to do for the Browns?

by JustBob on Jan 24, 2009 3:58 PM EST up reply actions

If they want to keep their jobs, then they’re going to be working their butts off.

The best thing probably is to hit [Grady] 2nd -- Jay

by Buckeye Brad on Jan 25, 2009 8:54 AM EST up reply actions

I didn’t express that very well. What I meant is that it seems like a lot of folks have gotten the axe, including folks who had nothing to do with football operations, while the GM position remains vacant. I would think that would create an atmosphere of uneasiness (to say the least) and could have a lot of people wondering if they have any chance of keeping their jobs. If their self-rendered response is leans towards the negative, then they may consider working their butts off as an exercise in futility – unless they think they can take the info that they gain on to another prospective employer.

The thing that makes all the difference – and the thing that I don’t know – is to what extent the scouts get shuffled in and out during HC and GM regime changes. If the answer is “Not much,” then my entire question is moot.

I guess I’m just a bit uneasy. It feels like we’re getting a double helping of change, but nobody is sure if hope is even on the menu.

by JustBob on Jan 25, 2009 4:14 PM EST up reply actions

I just read this from the AP about Kokinis:

He spent two days in meetings earlier this week at the team’s headquarters. Along with Mangini and members of his new coaching staff, the pair evaluated Cleveland’s current roster and began early preparations for free agency, the draft, minicamp and summer training camp.

… which is kinda what everyone figured was happening, but up until now it hadn’t been stated as a certainty. I mean, he coulda been focusing on interior decorating ideas.

by JustBob on Jan 25, 2009 7:39 PM EST up reply actions