Very interesting to hear him talk like that; it’s certainly a different impression than you get from him publicly or hear about in the media. Thanks for the link.

Excellent interview.

The only thing I didn’t like is where Mangini says I don’t like excuses, but we got the flu, CB rolled his car, James Davis hurt etc. If you are going to say you don’t like excuses then don’t list them.

Personally, if Mangini works with new leader, and it seems like he would, I would like to see him succeed. But unless he starts honestly looking at why the team, especially the offense, is not improving week to week – I am afraid he is one and done.

This was a good article. I think Mangini expressed some things that a lot of people were thinking or at least hoping were in his mind. I have to admit that as a fan it has been getting awfully hard to remember that he is trying to rebuild and that it will take time. That has been very hard to keep in mind while watching what has been on the field, and it’s been very hard to keep from looking for someone to blame.

I still think his handling of the QB situation has been totally jacked up, but it just may be that he doesn’t have as much to work with as he initially thought. Still I really hope we start to see some sort of progress with the offense in the second half of the season.

Very interesting interview. Couple things stood out to me:
- He seems confident in his job security.
- Mangini seems like a person that is much better at communicating in a 1-on-1 setting versus a group. I don’t know how this translates to addressing the team, but whether its the L. Coles story or this entire interview, he seems like a very different person when you get to deal with him on an individual level. Not saying this is good or bad, just notable.
- That was a pretty impressive list of draft picks for New York. And I’m pretty high on his draft last year at this point. I’m comfortable with him having major input in drafting going forward.
- Hiring the former head of officials seems like a good idea. And leading the league in penalties is something. Especially after last year. He coaches the officials that are at practice and heads up the challenges for the game. Good stuff.

Of course he’s a reasonable guy, anyone who watches his press conferences knows he’s not an ogre. But honestly, in this article, Mangini simply continues to say pretty much the same things he says in all his press conferences. Sure, we get a little bit more depth and insight, but the thing that really disturbs me is the whole ‘this is a process,’ ‘this is going to take time.’

Well, of course it is…no one is disputing that. However, I believe things didn’t have to get this bad…

What bears scrutiny is he never really comes out and says ’we’re going to have to get worse before we get better…sooo do we? Because we ARE worse. MUCH, MUCH worse. I know its a pipe dream but in a perfect world I would like to interrogate him IN DEPTH about Kokinis, the QB’s, and about Daboll (Is he a ‘process’ too? Because we don’t NEED to have an OC in ‘development…and we shouldn’t.) Bad team or not, Mangini’s decision making has been, from what we can see and are privy too…very, very questionable. Nice guy or not. No matter what he says, the QB situation was handled badly. Kokinis…well, my moneys on him overstepping HIS bounds and not vice versa. I think after everything’s officially over we deserve to know exactly what happened, warts and all. THAT situation also makes us worse, because getting rid of your GM mid season certainly doesn’t make us any BETTER, and our stock around the league is at absolutely zero-point-zero.

How long is this going to take? At this point I don’t want to hear the good ole 5 year plan. That just sounds like job-security talk to me. I want a guy who believes and says we can win, and win NOW, regardless of talent. If it takes a master stroke of coaching to do that with these players…then so be it. We need a guy like THAT. Realistic, maybe not, but extraordinarily bad times require extraordinary people to deal with them. Is that what we have in Mangini? I think what we’d hear from him would be that becoming extraordinary is a ‘process.’

Alright fine, Eric. But THIS particular ‘process,’ sucks. And sucks BAD.

Sorry for the rant, it’s just gets depressing watching games like steelers/broncos, and seeing how a good team plays…and what we have to look forward to in comparison.

Great find, Dorn.

Thanks, great article. I was shocked by some of the answers, hope he really feels this way and just not worried about losing his job. I think if we can bring in a solid VP of football operations with a lot of experience it could result in some positives for the franchise finally..

You know what I don’t like about this interview? It’s the underlying implication: Mangini cannot be attacked because he’s building a “high character system”. Well that’s all well and good, but that speaks nothing to his abilities as a football coach. His track record remains dubious. The results so far are disastrous. He may turn out to be, plainly, a bad coach.

Maybe he’s a great person and, if he were to succeed, having done so with caring, compassionate, upstanding players and personnel would make it that much sweeter – but nothing about being a good person necessarily translates to the outstanding football acumen necessary for success at this level.

This whole interview is designed, whether by Mangini or Judge or both, to create a emotional and sympathetic excuse/distraction from the on-the-field disaster.

I’m also not buying the comparisons to the NE situation for one main reason – nothing about Bill Belichick exudes this character-driven approach. The man was implicated, by Mangini no less, for cheating. He’s also a known adulterer (fun word). He brought in guys like Randy Moss, who have had numerous off field issues. Rodney Harrison was known as one of the dirtiest players in the game. Tom Brady, gets his kicks trying to slap the ball out of an opponent’s hands after running out of bounds. Their system isn’t based on character; it’s based on football excellence, so stop trying to correlate the two, Mangini.

Also: terrible job interviewing. Clark lets this whole interview be crafted to look as positive as possible, when there is far more than enough reason and room to question both Mangini’s replies and his results. Clark Judge demonstrates a JoBo-esque fastball in this interview.

Maybe with more time Mangini can right the ship, I don’t know. I remain, however, as always but more so than ever extremely skeptical.

I think Eric Mangini is a great find, and will be valuable to our franchise for a long time.
I would expect him to break off all ties to his former alliances and serve the Browns wholeheartedly.
Hiring players he´s seen up close and personal, fine. But bringing a GM, that was previously with a division rival the Baltimore Ravens, and filling all the coaching jobs with guys from the New York Jets, does not seem right to me.
We will retain him if he stops playing sponsor to people from other organisations.
He has been a defensive coordinator in the past. He can be defensive coordinator for a while. But I see his talents better represented in maybe the scouting department or even as a player go to guy.
Randy Lerner has said, he will support Eric Mangini, to remain the head coach for a while longer, and I agree, if only to show we want him to stay with the Cleveland Browns. I had indicated, that he can make a few more changes, before his luck runs out. I´m hoping he starts with the coaching staff.

The real problem is coaching philosophy, though.
When he talks about “complementary football”, it hurts my player heart. You don´t complement your opponent in any way, on the field. You beat them.
I hope we can get Lou Holtz as head coach, and maybe he´ll mentor Eric Mangini as a defensive coordinator. He really needs to get exposed to some real football.

Two thoughts here…
First, like most people in the limelight, coach Mangini is getting inaccurately portrayed by the media. The more I read and watch the modern media the more I think that everything we watch, see and hear from the main-stream press is total garbage. If you’ve ever been close to a story reported nationally you know that the facts get so lost in the frenzy that in the end, there is one ounce of truth for every ton of fluff, bias, conjecture and misinformation.
Second, it is easy to see why he might have been hired so quickly in the first place. Say anything you want about the guy, he is very slick in an interview. He is bright, he keeps his head, he avoids hyperbole and he makes you want to get up on your house, bow towards Browns Stadium, shed a tear for Paul Brown and wave a giant Browns flag. It would seem that he would interview quite well. He must have knocked Lerner’s socks off in fact!
I’ve heard many on this site talk about building for the future and long-term thinking when it comes to building a winning team. Coach Mangini seems to have this over-arching goal. Will his abilities be up to snuff in reaching this goal? Let’s find out.

The fan base is more patient thant people think. We are all willing to lose this year if we feel that we are on the right track.

Mangini has 2 related problems to solve this year.

1. Why is the team not improving week to week?
2. Why are the QBs regressing week to week?

I want to see him succeed – but without progress in those 2 areas – I think he should be whacked. I could care less about his public persona.

Great article. Shows a different side of Mangini.

That being said, I don’t care how or what he names his kids. Why do we have the worst offense in football? Other than penalties, what area is this team getting any better in?