ESPN The Magazine article on Mangini (scanned inside)

[WVBrownsfan]

I got my copy of the NFL preview issue in the mail yesterday but didn't look at it until tonight and saw a seven page article on Mangini titled "Five days in the life of an NFL coach." I figured most of you don't get the magazine so I went ahead and scanned it for everyone to read. I didn't scan the first two pages because it's just a picture of him behind his desk with the title and underneath it has, "To many Browns fans, Eric Mangini is overpaid, overmatched and overdue to be fired. Wait until they get a load of his radical new strategy: Being himself."

*Click on picture for full size.

[Enigmatic Evil]

I'm glad to see an article about Mangini that doesn't compare his regime to Nazi Germany... thanks for sharing this VW *Thumbs up*

[WVBrownsfan]

Oops.... just noticed that pages 4 & 5 are reversed, sorry about that.

[TheBestPlayersPlay]

Oops got to page 3 and now the hosting site seems to be down. I'll try again later. Good job WV, thanks for doing this! This article really shows some inside stuff we normally would never be privy to.

[WVBrownsfan]

Originally Posted by TheBestPlayersPlay

Oops got to page 3 and now the hosting site seems to be down. I'll try again later. Good job WV, thanks for doing this! This article really shows some inside stuff we normally would never be privy to.

Working for me now, try again.

[ThankyouFather]

Read the whole article, would have never seen this, great post, thanks.

[Flugel]

Great article WV. The most powerful quote I'm paraphrasing was the team record doesn't reflect a coach's leadership nearly as much as it reflects the talent a team has at QB.

JJ was never a terrible coach when he went 1-15 behind a wide eyed rookie QB any more than Bill Parcells was a terrible Head Coach when he went 1-15 with Phil Simms and Scott bruenner playing. QB in NY or Drew Bledsoe going 1-15 as a wide eyed rookie in New England.

And last but not least, didn't it almost appear as though BB was gonna fail another Head Coaching gig when his second season in NE started off winless all the way until Bledsoe's lacerated kidney? Enter a QB who is now in many best ever discussions and all of a sudden BB was getting seen as an elite Head Coach.

Here's what I know about Mangini. When he had a HEALTHY Brett Favre they embarassed an undefeated TN team at TN. When Favre got injured - their offense was injured and they hit the wall. When Mangini had a healthy Chad Pennington in his first year in NY - they won 10 games. When he was faced with the lesser of 2 evils between an injury worn Pennington and Clemens - they played down to their QBs a la Bill Belichick when we were sentenced to the Todd Philcox football follies. BB only had 1 winning season out of 5 in Cleveland. He went after grey beard running backs like James Brooks, Joe Morris and Lo White (who was older than Snow White at the time).

Wouldn't that SUCK if your career was sentenced to Brady Quinn or Derek Anderson? Maybe RAC wasn't so stupid afterall when he realized that Phil Savage sentenced him to Trent Dilfer leading off with Charlie's Fryes on deck, Dumb Ass in the hole and Brady's Quinns batting cleanup at the QB position. In hindsight, was going 10-6 with a knucklehead like DA and pretty low ranked defense such an atrocious job of coaching AROUND the challenges? I haven't ruled out witch craft on that head scratcher just yet. Fact of the matter is - we had a Pro Bowl QB before the Cinderella story had an early midnight. Arizona thinks they found the missing slipper while Leinart seems to be taking on the Brady Quinn role there. Stay tuned as that could get really interesting if a certain Oregon State Beavers patriot shows up to message boards with abrasive names for Leinart hopefuls.
- Tom F.

[Jax Dawg]

Great read WV, thanks for sharing!

[Masters]

There a nice article on EM on Yahoo yesterday as well. He at least sounds like he realized he did somethings wrong and is trying to change.

Browns have a new Man(gini) - NFL - Yahoo! Sports

BEREA, Ohio (AP)—On one of the recovery days he built into his team’s training camp schedule, Eric Mangini leans back in a plush chair inside his apartment-sized office overlooking the Browns’ lush practice fields, spits tobacco juice into an empty cup and lets out a hearty laugh.
It’s been a wonderful second summer back in Ohio for Cleveland’s complicated coach.
Last year, the laughter was limited.
He’s a changed Mangini. Some say a better Mangini.

The family’s great. He’s dropped a few pounds. His team is downstairs working hard, lifting weights as they prepare for their Sept. 4 opener at Tampa Bay riding an improbable four-game winning streak that ended last season and saved Mangini’s job.
Life is good for the man tagged both genius and idiot during his NFL career.
Relaxed and tanned in a golf shirt, shorts and sandals, Mangini is confident and upbeat during a one-hour-plus visit on a late August afternoon with a whisper of autumn’s chill in the air. As a grounds crew relines the hash marks outside, the 39-year-old Mangini candidly discussed everything from LeBron’s departure to the benefits of biofeedback to his off-season TV viewing habits.
No, he hasn’t been watching HBO’s popular football reality series, “Hard Knocks,” an R-rated insider’s look at the New York Jets, his former team. For Mangini, seeing the Jets trudge through the paces of camp only triggers thoughts of a year he’d like to forget.
“I lived Hard Knocks last season,” he says, cracking himself up. “Except that the soundtrack was all boos. It can’t get any harder than that.”
Hard doesn’t come close to describing Mangini’s first season in Cleveland.
It was, by all accounts, a nightmare. Players and fans revolted against him. The media punished him. His hand-picked general manager quit. The Browns stunk.
He served as Cleveland’s coach, president, GM and franchise frontman for much of it, and came within an eyelash of being fired from his second team in two seasons. But just when all seemed lost, Mangini was spared by new team president Mike Holmgren, who perhaps understood Mangini’s predicament better than anyone.
“I’ve been there,” said Holmgren, hired in December to make over an inept franchise that hasn’t sniffed glory in decades. “I know what it’s like to be a coach, and I know how tough it to turn things around quickly. I felt Eric needed and deserved more time.”
Mangini got it, and given the surprising reprieve, he’s making the most of a second chance—one that’s coming with a Super Bowl-championship coach peering over his shoulder while driving a golf cart during practice that has a COACH HOLMGREN sticker on the front bumper.
Holmgren, though, swears he’s not preparing to push Mangini aside and return to the sideline.
Not unless he has to.
“I am aware of his position and what that means,” Holmgren said. “I had that position a long time. Eric’s got a tough job. This is his team. I’m just here to help him.”
Mangini is safe. As long as the Browns get better—a lot better.
“Want something to drink?” he asks.
Mangini ducks into the kitchen area inside his tastefully decorated office and returns with a bottle of water like the $3 one he charged Braylon Edwards(notes) $1,701 for last season, when the brash wide receiver refused to pay his hotel incidental during a road trip.
Mangini hardly allowed anyone inside his inner sanctum last season to explain what he was trying to accomplish on and off the field. He was guarded, even secretive.
Well, he’s loosened up. He can still be a hard you-know-what if called for, but at the urging of Holmgren, his wife, Julie, and others who know Mangini as caring, loyal and quick-witted, he’s learned that he doesn’t have to put on the head coaching face 24/7.
He needed to be himself. Last year, Mangini tried to too hard to emulate Bill Belichick or Bill Parcells—his coaching mentors.
When he spoke to the Browns in meetings, their voices filled his head. What came out, came across as insincere, and he paid for it.
“The thing I find with my kids is I’ll talk to them in my father’s voice sometimes,” said Mangini, whose dad suffered a fatal heart attack when he was 16. “I can hear his voice as I say something or as something is said to me. I have to say, ‘OK, now I need to put this in my voice.’
“The same thing happens in football. When you are raised by two very strong figures like Bill and Bill, you tend to hear their voice a lot. I’m learning more need to put lessons in my voice and I need to deliver it in my style.”
That’s what he’s doing now, and it seems to be working.
“I think the players get me a heck of a lot more than they did last year,” he said. “I think I’ve worked a lot harder to show who I am. It’s easy to get so caught up in what you’re doing that you forget about just being a part of the group and letting them see the things you believe in and the person you are outside of being the head coach.”
His desk is clutter free. There are scouting reports and evaluations stacked neatly across from a flat-screen TV paused on a play from the Browns’ home game against St. Louis a few nights earlier. To his left, a copy of “Mind Gym: An Athlete’s Guide to Inner Excellence,” rests on its open pages.
The wooden bookshelves contain family photos, and there’s a Darth Vader mask — a Halloween costume—strangely occupying one of the cubby holes. Hmm, the dark side.
Mangini’s reputation preceded him to Cleveland. Once his honeymoon ended after only one playoff appearance in New York, he was cast as a villain. Control freak. Arrogant. Ruthless. And those were some of the nicer things said about Mangini.
Still, Browns owner Randy Lerner hired him hoping Mangini would be humbled by his failure with the Jets. But Mangini only seemed more empowered to do things his way, and with no football executive to manage him, it didn’t take long for things to unravel.
He was condemned for forcing rookies to take a 10-hour bus trip—to his football camp in Connecticut. Players complained about the length of practices and filed union grievances. He fined players for parking in the wrong stall. He was trying to instill discipline.
But it came across as petty, and he was lambasted by the national media. One magazine described him as Augustus Gloop, the fictional fat boy from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”
When the Browns started 1-11, his fate seemed sealed. Holmgren, it was assumed, would begin his tenure with a new coach. But a funny thing happened on the way to Mangini’s firing. Cleveland won and won and won and won again.
“I still don’t know how they did it,” said Holmgren, marveling that the Browns completed just 31 passes combined in the four victories.
Mangini views the late surge as proof that his system was taking hold.
“When guys finally got it, we played a certain way, which is the way I envisioned us playing each week,” he said. “We won and we were rewarded for that effort. I think part of that was the growth of the relationship I had with the players and they had with me and the staff. It wasn’t just player-coach, it was person to person. Everybody understood we were all working toward the same thing.”
He has lightened up. Mangini’s daily news briefings last season were often painful. He didn’t duck questions, he just rarely answered them. This year, he’s offering more insight into the team’s direction. He gave players time off during camp. He’s smiling more.
New man?
“Oh, no,” Pro Bowl return specialist Josh Cribbs said, grinning. “Same guy, same coach. He’s more experienced with the guys. He has a year under his belt. You know that we just got to do what he says, and that’s it. You can’t argue about it. He’s the coach and what he says goes.”
Holmgren has no regrets about keeping Mangini, and believes their relationship is growing deeper each day. Their bond hasn’t been tested but will be if the Browns, who have a difficult schedule with six games in the nasty AFC North, start slowly.
Mangini loves the help he’s getting from his boss.
“Feedback allows you to adjust your path,” he said. “If you’re just going to do what you without caring what anybody says or caring what anybody thinks or the values they can add, you lose the chance to get better.”
Or change.

[Flugel]

Originally Posted by Masters

There a nice article on EM on Yahoo yesterday as well. He at least sounds like he realized he did somethings wrong and is trying to change.

Browns have a new Man(gini) - NFL - Yahoo! Sports

Much appreciated Masters! That was a really interesting article. FWIW, any young Head Coach greatly benefits from a Supervisor with the experience volume Holmgren has in this league. Not only, but specifically where Holmgren is respected for his work is with the QB position. Judging by our first 3 preseason games, the #1 and #2 QB spots seem much more competant.

Halfway through last season I pretty much ran out of reasons to defend Mangini. The biggest mistake that irked me was sticking with Jamal Lewis for the expected exhange value of leadership. Instead, he became a millionaire that complained about a 2.5 hour work day. Geee Jamal, excuse the staff for thinking tackling NEEDED to be addressed. What changed my opinion for the better was we started winning in the absence of defensive players many of us were certain we couldn't live without (Jackson & Rogers). What I LIKED most about it was the players were buying into the coaching and schemes. And YOUNG players like Rubin, Mack, Moore, Schaefering, Benard, Trusnik were improving. Our running game improved. STs gave both sides of the ball ideal position to work with or defend. Outside of the missing passign game, we started to play some eye friendly football in comparison to what we saw earlier in the year.

The only lingering beef I have (and I'm not sure where to aim it) is how many high salaried FAs that never seem to be able to play on game days. My God is there a franchise that paid more for less over the years? Alot of this is bad luck but comeone check this out:
Antwaan Peek (the delivery box said fragile don't open. We didn't read it)
Matt Stewart (seemed like a good signing but he got injured)
Dave Zastudil (how does a punter get injured 3 years in a row? It almost takes effort)
Shaun Rogers (broken leg? I'm losing patience with him sorry)
Donte Stallworth (The reason he's never a keeper: "another hammy? Rest again")
Joe Andruzzi (why was Cleveland the only city of 32 he could pass a physical?)
Ryan Tucker (the more I heard we needed him - the less available he to help us)
Jason Fisk (The sign on his forehead read "out of gas" so we tossed him millions)
LeCharles Bentley (I wanted us to draft this guy in rd 2 and he had a freak injury)
Leigh Bodden (After he got his contract extended - we learned he had a bum ankle)
Orpheus Roye (Another contract extended and suddenly he was injury prone. Hmmm)
Shaun Smith (a 3 million $ CARCINOGEN that hit 1 QB in the WEIGHT room. YAY!)
Joe Jurevicius (While productive when healthy - he wore jeans to alot of games)
Errict Rhett (he didn't start long enough to spell his name right)
Willie McGinest (Wear-n-tear sidelined him alot. Loved his Big Ben spike though)
Chris Spielman (LBers w/cervical disk problems play as often as Andy Katzenmoyer)
Gary Baxter (I prolly sounded horny saying Anita Beer all the time)
Jim Pyne (The #1 pick of the expansion was the last time we heard his name)
Jerry Ball - (When the last name defines the body shape it included the work ethic)
Jamir Miller (The perfect solution to Courtney Brown severs achilles tendon. Did the football gods know where to drop a plop or what?)
Eric Barton (Been in the league a long time - got injured in Cleveland like all those before him)

How ironic I'm listening to David Bowie's Golden Years as I was typing up how many high dollar investments became dead ends. The point IS we gotta draft better so we get upside instead of rear view mirrors working within the salary cap dynamics. Worth noting: Albert Haynesworth and Terrell Owens do not agree with my thinking.

Mangini was handed a roster that had 1 keeper from the 2008 draft and we only had 4 picks scheduled for the 2009 draft. Aside from that, the QBs he inherited got the last staff fired. How could we expect an 8-0 start in 2009?
- Tom F.

[Enigmatic Evil]

I agree with you 100% Flugel, we HAVE to be smarter in the draft and we HAVE to be smarter with our FA acquisitions. Really, there are many positions on this team that have been receiving the band aid treatment for years now and we desperately need to start injecting some youth at key positions for the sake of the growth of the team.

About Mangini, I'm glad to see he has the ability to grow as a person. I was truly, genuinely worried about him last year. I was worried that we had made another WRONG decision as far as bringing in a head coach. At a time where there were many experienced candidates with pedigree and a reputation of winning, we chose to hire Eric Mangini to be our head coach.

How a year can change things, after probably as low as some can go without getting fired, and re-bounding and arguably re-igniting a team I think I have moderate respect for Mangini. He's made an effort to come across more professional but also more real. (Like keeping it real, yeah...) I think the players have responded to it, and the fans have as well. We can only hope the team continues to grow together. Mangini's effort to come across more genial and more genuine will impact that.

[golfer704u]

What amazes me in the article that masters posted is the self awareness and honesty Mangini showed when admiting he WAS trying to act too much like Bill B and Bill P.

Whether or not it took Holmgren and his wife to fully convince him of it, that's a big step.

I'll predict it again. Eric Mangini will be the coach of the Cleveland Browns in 2011.