Welcome to Cleveland, Mike Holmgren.
After a week or so of rumors on exactly what Holmgren's "czar" position would entail, it was announced today that he accepted the offer to become the new team president of the Cleveland Browns. From the team's press release:
The Cleveland Browns announced today that Mike Holmgren has agreed to become club President. The team also has announced that Mike Keenan will transition to the role of Chief Financial Officer.
"We are pleased to announce that Mike Holmgren has agreed to join the Cleveland Browns," said Owner Randy Lerner. "We will spend the rest of the week finalizing the details of the agreement and will make a formal announcement next week, at which time we will make him available to the media."
Earlier in the day, ESPN's Chris Mortensen stated that Holmgren would not be assuming the coaching duties of the team next season:
"He's not going to coach the Browns," Mort said. "Put that aside and forget it. But Mike Holmgren is going to be running the Browns by the first of the year -- there's no question about that."
Over the weekend, it was reported that Holmgren had turned down an offer to rejoin the Seahawks in a similar position because he would not be interacting directly with team owner Paul Allen. Randy Lerner is obviously giving him that privilege, which basically means Holmgren will have a lot of control over the team next season.
The team is expected to make a more formal introduction of Holmgren later this week, where he will also be available to answer the media's question. I'm sure one of the hot topics will be the status of current head coach Eric Mangini. Mangini's Browns got off to a horrible start this season (1-11), but are 2-0 over the last two weeks and have two winnable games to close out the season; both of those games will be played at home.