George Kokinis Named Browns' General Manager
by Chris Pokorny on Jan 25, 2009 7:53 PM EST
in General News
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PrintAfter weeks of waiting, the Cleveland Browns finally named George Kokinis as their new general manager on Sunday, just one week before the Super Bowl. Kokinis has spent the past 13 years with the Baltimore Ravens' organization, including the past six as the team's director of pro personnel.
"The Browns are excited to bring George back to Cleveland where he began his NFL career," said Browns owner Randy Lerner. "He is a tireless worker that has spent his entire career evaluating talent and knows the type of player it takes to be successful in this league and in our division."
"I would like to thank Randy Lerner for the extraordinary opportunity," said Kokinis. "Cleveland is a football town and I look forward to working alongside Eric Mangini and the rest of the organization."
In the end, Mangini/Kokinis is a far stretch from what we imagined towards the end of the season. Hopefully the pair works out for the best, because we missed out on a lot of the league's promising young head coaches this offseason.
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Finally! Now the Browns can go about preparing for a very important draft this year. We can’t afford to miss with any of our top picks.
The best thing probably is to hit [Grady] 2nd -- Jay
Just keep on hiring our FO members
And you’ll eventually strike gold. Maybe you can convince Ozzie to switch over?
My best game plan is to sit on the bench and call out specific instructions like 'C'mon Boog,' 'Get ahold of one, Frank,' or 'Let's go, Brooks.' -Earl Weaver
Kind of like how you stole our football team!
by Roger Dorn on Jan 26, 2009 2:35 AM EST up reply actions 6 recs
Give us back the horseshoe
And we’ll give you back… oh wait, you got to keep your colors.
My best game plan is to sit on the bench and call out specific instructions like 'C'mon Boog,' 'Get ahold of one, Frank,' or 'Let's go, Brooks.' -Earl Weaver
At this point, I would have been more worried if Kokonis had not become the GM. With Mangini wanting him so bad, Kokonis visiting our facilities for so long, and Lerner pretty much stating that cooperation of coach and GM was his top priority, we would have looked horrible if he didn’t take the job.
Mangini’s staff looks good. Real good. Hopefully we’ll have a functional system in place and some legitimate coaching and talent ASAP.
Anybody see this?
http://www.newsday.com/sports/football/ny-spmang6012151jan25,0,7833347.column?track=rss
Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.
by BringBackKosar on Jan 26, 2009 10:48 AM EST reply actions
This has to work.
I think we are, the city is, and more importantly the Cleveland Browns are tired of being pushed around in this league.
These two gentlemen deserve a shot and lets hope they worked there ass off and bring the city a winner on a consistent basis.
I can’t worry about who we did not hire at this point, this is our management team, and I hope to hell it works.
"Have You heard of the Boom on Mizar 5?"
I just watched the whole press conference. He was a pretty bad standup comedian, but I was impressed w/ his constant podium tapping. Seriously, anyone who thinks this guy is “more mature” or a better “face of the franchise” than Savage is nuts. Best case scenario is he isn’t too much of a drop off from Phil in talent acquisition (Thomas, Quinn, Rogers, Cribbs, Steinbach, Anderson, Edwards, Wright, Pool, McDonald, Jackson, Harrison, Williams, etc), and Mangini is a half way competent coach, something the Phil never had.
Come on, using podium presence as a gauge for his talent as a gm? Seems a little premature. Give him a few minutes.
It was part sarcasm. “Podium presence” is seemingly the only reason fans wanted Savage fired, and it’s seemingly the reason Lerner fired him. This is a ridiculous notion which I’ve been railing against for a month. The one and only quality that is important in a GM is to set up an organization where good players are acquired. We got one of the youngest and best in the business at this, for “podium presence.”
i don’t really want to get into this with you again, but your insistence that the only reason that either fans or Lerner wanted Phil out was b/c of his “podium presence” is absurd. under phil’s leadership, the organization was 24-40; that has much more to do with his ouster than any other single factor.
divining kokinis’ maturity or face-of-the-francise-ness from a single press conference is similarly absurd.
by DontCallMeJoey on Jan 27, 2009 12:16 PM EST up reply actions
I think it’s pretty clear that when Randy Lerner fired Savage for differences in “management philosophy” he was referring to emailing fans and throwing the coach under the bus. Nothing about getting in front of a crowd and speaking which I thought Savage was pretty good at
agreed. and most stories seem to indicate Mangini will be more the podium man anyway, and Kokinis will spend his time behind the curtain.
So……Kokinis is like the Wizard of Oz?
The best thing probably is to hit [Grady] 2nd -- Jay
by Buckeye Brad on Jan 27, 2009 1:25 PM EST up reply actions
Yes, but this plan doesn’t work if Mangini takes the “the media is the devil” Bill B. approach.
Honestly, I don’t give a damn about news conferences, they can never talk to the media as far as I am concerned. Just put up the Ws.
I agree with Kwoog’s sentiment that the reason for Savage’s firing was neither his “podium presence” nor his talent evaluation. So much of the reasons that are given to the media are BS because people don’t want to throw other people under the bus. If I had to guess, I would say Savage was canned because of the email, the lack of faith on Lerner’s part that Savage could develop a chemistry or a good working relationship with any coach, Savage’s attitude, and/or Lerner’s desire for a clean slate.
Are any of those good reasons for firing a GM? I think it was too early to tell. But Savage got paid millions of dollars, so as long as Kokinis and Mangini get this team some talent and put up some wins I will forget about Phil really quick.
People who are good at acquiring NFL players don’t grow on trees. That’s basically my entire point. I hope these guys work out as much as anyone, but we’ll have really had lightening strike twice in a row if it happens. I’m not betting on it.
(And one last time for fun: The email to a fan is nothing. It means nothing, isn’t efficacious in any way, doesn’t signify anything, doesn’t illuminate anything. It’s literally as relevant to his job as GM as what he has for lunch.)
as i’ve said before, i think it’s still up for debate as to whether or not savage is good at acquiring NFL players.
leaving that aside, though, NFL success is not as simple as acquiring good players; rather, success is dependent upon acquiring NFL players who work in your system and can co-exist harmoniously (enough). see: Cowboys, Dallas; or conversely Patriots, New England. even if i stipulate that savage is good at acquiring players, it’s hard to argue that those players worked well toward the goal of winning games (24-40).
lastly, gratuitous usage of “SAT” words like efficacious doesn’t make your (minority) argument more robust…especially when using them incorrectly.
by DontCallMeJoey on Jan 27, 2009 6:07 PM EST up reply actions
I would add that there was also the issue of trading draft picks. Phil bet the farm on the moves he made in the last off season creating a team that was at least competitive. It’s a high-stakes move, and he lost.
One could argue that his plan was derailed by injuries, but if one did someone else would surely argue that other teams get through injuries because they have depth, and then it would just go back and forth – so let’s just skip that argument.
Phil gambled. Phil lost. I think that was the real problem. Personality issues just added to the problem.
We can’t know at this point if Phil lost his gamble. He traded a pick for Brady Quinn. I contend that Quinn looked good in limited action (part of which he was playing with that finger injury). The hope of the future of the franchise rests on Quinn’s shoulders if you ask most of the fan base. Savage also traded picks for Shaun Rogers and Corey Williams. The coaches used Williams in a way that didn’t suit his skills (this also could have been blamed on Savage because he didn’t get the type of player that Romeo wanted), and Rogers looked like one of the best linemen in the league. I would trade a 2nd and 3rd (and more) for Rogers right now. He also traded picks for a bunch of rookies who saw little-to-no action last year because the coaches refused to play them.
Other teams get through injuries because they have depth because they have been acquiring talented players for 5+ years. Phil got just enough talent to possibly compete if everything went just right.
Because we are the proof of Murphy’s Law that is the Cleveland Browns, whatever talent we did have got stepped on and had their heel cut open, blew out their knee, achilles, quad, both knees etc. Given another year or two, who knows what Savage would have been able to put together.
Regardless, you can’t be too hard on Savage’s draft decisions. One can criticize his free agency decisions a little more.
You can’t make an argument and then say “well I just won’t bring that up, lets not talk about what I just talked about”.
I would contend that the Pats use the players they get in a way that suits their skills best, not simply that they bring in guys who fit their system. They do that too, but whoever they get they use well. Also, I would contend that Moss not only didn’t fit NE’s existing offensive system, but also changed his attitude because of Belichick and Brady, not because of anything the “GM” did. You can’t say we should have picked him up. The reason he turned his career around was to be a part of a great team, not to turn a team into a great team.
It wouldn’t have hurt Romeo to line Rucker up in the slot instead of Dinkins, to let Corey Williams shoot a gap (and to keep him at a nice 315 lbs instead of whatever he played at), to move Wimbley and Alex Hall around and get them to the QB unblocked once in a while, to have Jerome Harrison catch the ball and run out of the shotgun more, to not try to run Jamal Lewis outside the tackles, to better utilize the left side of our offensive line’s athleticism, to let Cribbs have a run/pass option in a meaningful game, to throw to Winslow more, to have DA throw down the field where the reward could possibly balance out his occasional yet ever-present mistakes, to not put DA in an offense constructed for Quinn, to run a few more play-action deep passes on first down, to throw a screen or two when you are playing Jim Johnson and it’s 3rd and over 5 and you know he is sending some ridiculous blitz and your Qb isn’t going to even get a 3-step drop to get rid of the ball because everyone in the world knows that the blitz is coming and that an unblocked rusher is coming at the QB…
Just because it is a “minority” position doesn’t make it wrong.
the minority position to which i was referring is the one that you refute quite well just a few posts south of here. i was saying that he’s in the minority regarding the total irrelevance of the email to the fan. think about your various lines of work…if you told a client to “f off”, wouldn’t there be consequences? and serious ones, at that?
as to the pats, i think we’re sort of saying the same thing. isn’t using someone well the same as effectively deploying them in your system? point being, the pats don’t switch to a 4-3 for certain players.
and the offensive criticism you level above is certainly warranted…but the guy working the offensive puppet strings was chud, savage’s hand-picked offensive guru.
by DontCallMeJoey on Jan 28, 2009 11:25 AM EST up reply actions
If a client says idiotic things and, for example, will only offer you 1/2 what your goods and services are worth, you most certainly tell them to “f off.”
You understand the EFFICACIOUS qualities of an NFL GM as well as your avatar understood them for Marxism.
all i can say is i’m glad that you don’t have anything to do with any of my clients, b/c that answer is just patently ridiculous. beyond sanity ridiculous, in fact. it goes to further discredit your blind shining of savage…without admitting so much as the smallest of faults.
does your last name begin with “s”? and end with “avage”, perhaps?
by DontCallMeJoey on Jan 30, 2009 12:00 PM EST up reply actions
Calling this particular fan a “client” is just misleading to me. It’s not like this was done publically, or he has to always be selling Brand Browns to us, if ever. Win freaking games and I don’t care if you’re the Wizard of Oz or Bobby Knight or Lenny Bruce behind closed doors. And of course in less public settings business deals get heated.
We’re talking about the most violent game on earth, and talking privately within minutes of a close game ending where our the season was on the line. Do I see the point that it shouldn’t have happened? Of course. Does it mean anything that it did? Of course not. I had unanimous responses from all my friends (non-Browns fans, i live in Chicago) that they all loved that Savage said that (I’m 28, so I appreciate the possible demographic differences).
In the end, I don’t want to beat a dead horse and I truly want Kokinis and Mangini to succeed. I just think this was done prematurely, and the lack of appreciation for stability is very disconcerting to me. If the allegations in the other thread by the O&B Report are proven by a few reasonable sources, I’ll agree with the firing immediately. But I have multiple reasons to see through those charges, as I described in the double post in both threads.
see, now that doesn’t make any sense. if you use them incorrectly, i’d imagine you’re not doing it on purpose, which would imply you don’t know you’re incorrect and couldn’t let me know. i’ll keep my eyes peeled for you…
by DontCallMeJoey on Jan 28, 2009 11:26 AM EST up reply actions
Savage’s email at least meant something from a public-relations standpoint. The fact that we are even talking about it means it meant something. I’m not saying it illuminated anything (and I certainly don’t care about it anymore), but it definitely didn’t look good for the franchise. I guarantee Lerner didn’t look upon the email (and subsequent media reports of it) in a positive light.
Exactly. Why neither you nor I, nor most people here, probably care, evidently some people do. Namely, the man who hired Savage and controls the team probably didn’t think it looked good for his team.
The best thing probably is to hit [Grady] 2nd -- Jay
by Buckeye Brad on Jan 28, 2009 5:39 AM EST up reply actions
Savage isn’t just a horse-trader, nor should a GM be a talent scout exclusively. He is the decision-maker of the entire organization. It’s his responsibility to build a functional, methodical franchise that has a unifying philosophy and cogent chain of command. Sound familiar to other succesful organizations? Maybe Kokinis and Mangini can establish some order among the children who have been running the brownies for the past 9 years.
It takes a cohesive organization with a unifying philosophy to identify your main target in free agency and swoop in and steal them from another team that wanted them badly and offered just as much if not more money (Baxter and Bentley).
It takes a cohesive organization with a unifying philosophy to make three picks and two draft trades within 2 hours of each other on draft day to get the top two players on your board, as well as a starting CB.
It takes a cohesive organization with a unifying philosophy to trade, within the first hours of the free agency period, a 2nd rounder, a starting CB and a 3rd rounder for one of the 3 best DT in the game and another highly talented DL who was so coveted by his team that he was franchised.
The organization he created received unanimously positive buzz in getting a franchise LT and QB in the same draft. The organization he created shocked everyone and went 10-6 in 2007. The organization he created rewarded the guys that got us there afterward. The organization he created made moves to get Rogers and Williams that were widely lauded by almost every kind of source, whether media or fellow NFL personnel (Tomlin, Dungy, Millen giving us props). And then the organization he created started 2-3, losing to both eventual AFC Championship Game teams and having just beaten the unbeaten Super Bowl Champs.
At no point during these 20 months did anyone even consider questioning the “cohesion” and “unity” of the Browns. Perhaps they questioned the moves (keeping DA, thin in the secondary, giving up the 08 draft), but no one questioned the unity. What happens next? Bad DA shows up for good, inexperienced coordinators go through their first taste of adversity while being led by a complete moron, 6 weeks later we’re putting a QBs coach under center.
Savage’s org didn’t become disjointed in 6 weeks. But fairweather, scapgoat seeking fans do.
Fairweather fans?!?!?! Who here is a fairweather fan??
(And I don’t think there is such a thing as a fairweather Browns fan — at least not since the late 80’s).
The best thing probably is to hit [Grady] 2nd -- Jay
by Buckeye Brad on Jan 30, 2009 6:34 AM EST up reply actions
I always liked Phil from a talent acquiring perspective, but I also wasn’t heaping the praises on him that a lot of people did. Being the champions of March and April does not guarantee anything. It felt like every year we were the big winners on day 1 in free agency, but it really doesn’t matter until you get it done on the field. Pittsburgh has long understood this, they got the right talent through the draft and retained the players worth keeping.
This doesn’t mean that I am not for the trade for Shaun Rogers, but we need to be focused on acquiring hard-nosed football players through the draft
If the team made the playoffs and played solid football, then I would have been totally behind Phil
Those were Phil Savage’s draft picks and free agent signings, not the sign of a healthy organization. The Browns had the whiff of headless chickens. Poor internal communication, non-existent chain of command, a series of moronic PR moves. The Browns were a bombshell with some good draft picks and two-four good free-agent pickups, and that’s the reality. And if you’re accusing anyone who here disagrees with you on Savage’s mismagement of the organization of being a fairweather fan, I’d take a look at the Brownies record over the past 10 years, as Brad alluded too. Remember: the Browns aren’t good, and haven’t been since the late 80s. Nor have they shown sustainable signs of life – yet. Let’s not get too married to our FO until they give us an intelligent, quality product.
Podium presence probably had a little less to do with it than telling a fan to F off. But I could be wrong.
The Savage decision came because of the expectations we had this year not coming through. Lerner needed scapegoats because of the tremendous dissapointment the fanbase felt this year.
Whether it was the right decision or not, we’ll see, but podium presence had nothing to do with it. It came down to this disaster of a season.
"There's nothing that cleanses the soul like getting the hell kicked out of you." Woody Hayes.
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