Doerschuk interviews Lerner. Good stuff here.

[TheBestPlayersPlay]

Part 1

Lerner dismayed by record, fired up by win





AP / Tony Dejak

Browns Head Coach Eric Mangini (left) and owner Randy Lerner watch a training camp practice in August. The Browns owner is not happy with the team's overall record, but Sunday's win over the Saints gives him hope




By Steve Doerschuk
CantonRep.com staff writer
Posted Oct 26, 2010 @ 04:58 PM
BEREA —
We got to know Al Lerner after he bought the Browns in 1998.

Then, when Randy Lerner inherited his father's team upon Al's death in 2002, we got to know him.

Unlike owners who are as subtle as a neon rainbow with spotlights on their power and pots of gold, the Lerners have been subtle, stay-in-the-background types.

As the Browns’ expansion era has progressed, this has drawn to Randy Lerner a measure of wrath. Why doesn’t he say more? Why won’t he go on television or radio now and then?

The current answer is that President Mike Holmgren is the face of the organization. To become more of a public presence now would contradict that.

Holmgren, in turn, has backed up and allowed Head Coach Eric Mangini to be “the face” for the most part during the season.

Once a year or so, though, Lerner has agreed to sit down with us for an on-the-record conversation. This year’s installment originally was on tap for the spring, got put off until summer, and ultimately was delayed until now.

Just as well, with so much more to talk about, and the team coming off a stunning upset in New Orleans.

The interview took place today in Lerner’s second-floor office, which is separated by double doors from Holmgren’s office. He sat in a chair facing a coffee table so full of Browns helmets that there was no room for the coffee presented by Lerner’s assistant, Shannon Carlin.

As the questions began to roll, Lerner would smile and nod at the double doors, as if to say, “That’s Mike’s call.”

The interview was sweeping, mostly candid and, in character with our previous talks with Lerner, full of detailed answers. Lerner is meticulous in absorbing two- and three-part questions and applying nuanced answers to each point. Sometimes, an I-won’t-go-there body language was evident.

Insofar as Lerner comes off as a mystery man to many, our goal has always been to use these interviews to reveal as much of Lerner as we can to our audience.

Due to the length of the session, it is best broken into parts, which will be presented, hopefully in a coherent way, via cantonrep.com, The Repository and our Fresh Brownies blog.

Here is the first installment:

Question: How does the win at New Orleans change much?

Lerner: I don’t think it ‘changes.’ What it does is, it adds in its own way ... I guess a small way or a big way, depending on who you are and what you’re looking for ... it adds to the idea that positive things can maybe start to develop. If your sense is to take the positive and build on it, then it was a good thing ... a great thing. If you for whatever reason remain very, very skeptical, which I can certainly understand, then you kind of look at it, and ... you look for the positives and then it’s a wait and see.

Q: The record was 1-5 going into the Superdome, which by any standard would be a disappointment, even in the context of this being a foundation-laying year with a new president. Now, there’s a big win mixed in with that. Where does that leave the Browns?

Lerner: It’s one game better than 1-5. What you said at first is right. I think 1-5 is a total disappointment in terms of trying to do what we’re supposed to do, which is win games, get to the playoffs, and make this town proud. In terms of more narrowly speaking, being 2-5, going down and beating New Orleans ... you’ve got to feel good about that. You’ve got to feel good about the fact Colt McCoy went in there, did not make mistakes, got a first win, and was able to do it in such a way where, while clearly David Bowens and clearly the defense, broadly speaking, dominated, made differences and so on, as did the punter Reggie Hodges, and as did the kickoff play to Eric (Wright), that’s a positive. It’s a positive to be able to go in, be able to play your role, get out, and get ready for the next game.

Q: In terms of the thinking that the real winning begins when the right quarterback is in place, how difficult is it for Mike Holmgren or the organization to gauge whether McCoy is the guy, versus the daunting prospect of having to spend a high first-round pick and go through that whole nine yards?

Lerner: I think that the answer to your question is, first and foremost, Colt McCoy’s got a lot of games to play for the rest of the season, and that provides to some extent a period of evaluation. So before you get to needing to address bringing in a guy, we’ll have — assuming he stays healthy — some football to watch. Second, I think the coaching staff in particular but also focusing on Mike Holmgren in addition to the coaching staff, you have a guy who has a history of evaluating quarterbacks and making judgments, and to some extent a very impressive history, when you think about the guys he’s worked with, whether in college, the pros, as a quarterback coach or a head coach. So, I think we have that going for us, as well.

Q: Having spent most of his adult life as a head coach, is some of Mike’s job as president tedious to him. How is he adjusting to the elements he has to tend to outside of on-field stuff?

Lerner: If you asked me that question in March, April, May or June, I would say that it was brand new and there was a fair bit of transition. Now I have less a sense of that in my workings over time with Mike. I think he’s pretty much organized in his mind how the days and weeks work across the various responsibilities that he deals with. So, I think he’s in it. I think he’s very deep in it. Very focused. And I think he’s enjoying it.

Q: Is Mike here for one reason, to pursue a Super Bowl?

Lerner: Yes.

Q: Along those lines, what is he doing?

Lerner: His role is that he has decision-making over all key aspects within the Browns organization. I would probably add to that, that what I have retained, or in terms of my role, if it were to be defined on a very narrow basis, would be league matters or other larger issues that impact either where we stand within the league, making sure we are protecting this organization against possible changes in terms of the economics of the league, where over time that could provide for a lot of stress or the need for debt or whatever.

“My focus on league matters and Mike’s focus on what I call the key decisions or the key issues that arise would be the separation.

Within that, his addressing of key issues will span business, community, football and so on. We obviously have people throughout the organization doing it. More narrowly, on a more operational level, we’ve got people selling, we’ve got coaches ... but Mike came here because of his leadership, to lead this organization, and at the core of that mission is to win, and ultimately to try to get to and win a Super Bowl, so I’m not sure exactly how he either pares down or changes what he does on a given week to stay focused on that ultimate goal. I think really, what he does is, he handles the issues as they come in, and uses his own organizational skills and his own focus and his own leadership ability to stay glued to the product.

Q: Insofar as Mike reports to you, when does he report? How much of that is scheduled as opposed to spontaneous?

Lerner: There is both spontaneous and scheduled. He and I have settled into a routine of typically we spend about half a day together per week. Sometimes that’s a little bit more. I would say in terms of being on the phone it could be a lot during the week, a lot on a given day depending on the issue. That’s more spontaneous.

Q: By way of example, could you cover one of the types of things you and Mike talk about?

Lerner: He usually comes in with a list of things he would like to discuss. He views me, and I do view my role to some extent as a sounding board, a confidant for Mike. He will want to discuss matters that may have to do with a vote on a rule at the league level that we are expected to weigh in on. That may be a situation where he will have had a background. A very recent conversation we had was actually to do with a rule that he helped write several years back, because he was on the committee that was drafting the rule. So, his experience and background was very, very useful in that case, and we discussed that for some time.






Part 2


Browns' Lerner plays role of the quiet owner.




BEREA —
No longer the boy owner who never dreamed the Browns would land in his lap so soon, Randy Lerner seems comfortably older.

Eight years — often tumultuous, frequently frustrating — have left him with a certain calm that can grow only from experience.

Well, maybe that’s not quite right. They have left him with a certain calm that can come only from experience and having talked Mike Holmgren into hopping into the pilot’s seat.

Randy Lerner had just turned 40 when Al Lerner died during the 2002 season.

These years later, the first page of the press guide reflects the level to which he remains driven to honor his father. It is a smiling photograph of his Dad, with these few words: Alfred Lerner, 1933-2002, never forgotten, always with us.

Yet, the degree to which the son has grown into his own man seemed evident in a long interview with The Repository.

Elements of anger, doubt, resolve and hope all came out during the sit-down session.

The 48-year-old Lerner moved into a frank assessment of where he and his team stand.

Doerschuk By now, most people who follow the Browns probably have a general understanding of Mike Holmgren’s hands-on role. Is it important to you that people understand what you do? In a nutshell, what is your role?

Lerner Yeah. It’s very important. I have kept a low profile, which has meant that it isn’t clear what role I play or how involved I may be, and to the extent that I can try to be clearer about that, I want to be.

I don’t know that I can necessarily change my profile any more than I can change who I am or my appetite for media exposure — or whether I am wired that way — to where I would be more visible. Notwithstanding, it is very clear to me that having a low profile without some communication as to what I’m doing or the role I’m playing is not a positive.

So, with that said, the answer to the question of what I am doing is, I am focused on being in this building, working side by side with Mike, working with other people, whether they be Browns-specific matters or league-specific matters that impact the Browns longer term.

Those could be matters to do with how revenue is split among the clubs, or how labor costs are distributed among the clubs. They could deal more broadly with issues like the length of the season and making sure that I’ve read through the materials that constitute the analysis provided by the league so that I can discuss and debate internally and get impressions from people who would be informed.

My role would then ... if I were to shift to the specifics of local issues that I’m involved with, as you and I have discussed before, they would go first and foremost to the stadium and to what our business policies will be.

At the center of that, obviously, are ticket prices, ticket prices within the context of the community we serve, and then more broadly, within the context of what NFL teams are getting for tickets. Because at once those are shared revenues and I have got to be able to defend our ticket-price policies to the other clubs. Yet, on the other hand, I still have an obligation to the communities we serve to try and keep them as affordable as possible within what is reasonable, given Cleveland.

That would probably then extend into what and how we approach our club suites, our suite holders, our corporate partners, and that would get into the broader relationships within our corporate partners and what we’re trying to do to grow that business in order that we be stronger, in order that we continue to have the privilege of not being debt-ridden, and so on. It just keeps going from there.

•

Doerschuk This probably is too small a nutshell for a question, but ... is your job to keep the business in order to the extent that you can provide Mike Holmgren with all the money he’ll ever need to acquire all the players he wants within the bargaining agreement?

Lerner I think that if I were to say yes, which I would like to say to the question ‘all the money he ever needs to get all the players he would ever want,’ I think I may some day wish I hadn’t just simply said yes. I know what you mean, though, and the answer is, yeah, we run the business in order that we can continue as an ongoing business, in order that we don’t need to use debt in order to function, in order that we understand our business well enough that we can function based on our operations, which after all is the goal of any sports business or any business anywhere. So those basic, generic principles absolutely apply to my role.
•
Doerschuk During a recent speech in Canton, Bernie Kosar acknowledged that you’ve taken your share of shots, but that you, like your father, are the kind of owner fans should want their team to have. Do you sense that you are misunderstood?

Lerner Specifically as to Bernie ... Bernie is a friend of mine, and Bernie’s been a supporter of mine for a long time. I know Bernie speaks his mind, and Bernie makes it very clear to me that he speaks his mind. So, it is comforting, and it is very nice on a personal level to have Bernie say what he said.

I think that if we win games, and if we have a team that creates memories and that we can be proud of (pause) ... that will go a long way.

If there were criticisms of me in terms of the decisions I’ve made and whether the criticisms and/or the decisions have made me more unpopular at a given time ... I have to accept that and take it on the chin and decide whether to move on or not move on.

But if you’re asking me more broadly about criticisms that I’ve received that I think are out of bounds, that’s a separate question. I can address that if you’d like.

•

Doerschuk The answer to that one?

Lerner As I said, if you’re asking me about criticism, however harsh, my choices, and the fact that my choices have not panned out, and the fact the Browns have had disappointing results as a result, that’s my responsibility and I’ve got to have the ability to take those criticisms.

If you’re talking about personal assaults ... for example, there’s a local journalist who said that it’s his opinion I should be dragged out of town on a pitchfork. That to me is outside a criticism of decisions I’ve made. That is a degree of ugliness and nastiness, which I understand, it’s consistent with this particular reporter’s history, and even some of his peers’. Notwithstanding, it is a level of ugliness that I think goes outside of what’s appropriate, and wouldn’t be something that I would necessarily simply make peace with.

And I think that while it may be easy to say you’ve been scarred by that, I think it would be easy to say someone has been scarred by a burn that they received by a flame. I don’t think there’s any shame in being scarred if you get burned by a flame, because that’s what flames do. They burn you. And I think that similarly, when you’re starting to get into that degree of ugliness and you have a family, and you have a mother who lives in town, there you’re probably getting into a different mechanism for coping with those sorts of comments.

•

Doerschuk What generally speaking do you think Browns fans think of you?

Lerner I think in general what Browns fans think of me is that during the period ‘02 until now, we have made changes when the people in the building are not getting it done, and I think if you do that, if you acknowledge that the choices you made or the choices that were here when you got here aren’t getting it done, and you’re prepared to try new people and give them a chance and give them what they need to make a difference, and they don’t work and you continue, in reasonable time, to bring in people who can move us forward — and obviously the current example is Mike Holmgren and the people he’s brought in — then I think people will give you a chance.

It’s not about necessarily being liked or disliked. And I’m not that concerned about that because I have a lot of very nice, very strong relationships in Cleveland and elsewhere in football. I think what I’m responsible for is not necessarily to say I care. It’s to show that you care. And the only way that I know to do that outside of winning games, which I can’t do because I can’t get down on the field and play, is to be diligent, vigilant and proactive in trying to bring the right people to this organization so that when it clicks, we can run with it.








Part 3

Lerner finds his man, and his attitude changes





AP / Amy Sancetta

Cleveland Browns President Mike Holmgren and team owner Randy Lerner watch the opening day of Browns NFL football training camp in Berea in July.




CantonRep.com staff writer
Posted Oct 28, 2010 @ 07:00 AM
Last update Oct 28, 2010 @ 12:49 PM
BEREA —
Monday marks the one-year anniversary of the Windy City Storm. The Browns reached the 2009 bye week with a 30-6 loss at Chicago on Nov. 1.

Late in the miserable game, Derek Anderson was replaced by Brady Quinn. After it, General Manager George Kokinis was fired.

In the catacombs of Soldier Field, an animated Randy Lerner said he needed help. The Browns were 1-7.

Lerner has been a changed owner since he found that help — Mike Holmgren. He is in a better place now, hating the fact the Browns are 2-5, but loving Sunday’s win at New Orleans, at peace with the thought the missing link to success was found in his 61-year-old president.

In today’s installment of our sit-down interview with the owner, Lerner expounds on Holmgren and other topics.
•

DOERSCHUK What or who convinced you Mike Holmgren was the man you needed, and what is the Cliff’s Notes version of the process that convinced Holmgren to say yes?

LERNER The Cliff’s notes version of the process is ... the most impactful conversation that I had was with Ron Wolf. There were others, certainly. There were people in football. There were some writers that I spoke to, one in particular. But the one I would probably identify would be the Ron Wolf visit in Green Bay.

He looked me right in the eye and said, ‘Randy, listen, the best guy to come in and deal with the Cleveland Browns, lead the Cleveland Browns, turn the Cleveland Browns around, is Mike Holmgren ... if you can get him.’ That led to a series of visits. One that sticks out in my mind was with Mike in his home in Arizona, with his wife, and having spent let’s say an hour and a half listening, having him share some memories, having him describe a little bit where he is ... I understood very quickly that I was not interviewing Mike Holmgren. I was recruiting Mike Holmgren, and that that was the mission there.

It was very clear in my mind that he was coveted by some other organizations, and that I needed to put the best foot forward that I could for Cleveland, for the Browns. I felt very strongly that I could at least try to persuade him that the Browns represented a team that is in a city that in some ways could resemble for example Green Bay, and that it is a city that would embrace him, that would understand what he’s gotten done, that would take to his style, and would give him what he needs.

•

DOERSCHUK What were the reasons Ron Wolf said you needed Mike?

LERNER I’d say leadership more than anything. The fact he had credentials, the fact that he has a Super Bowl win, the fact he’s been to Super Bowls with two different organizations as a head coach, and obviously the Super Bowls he was in with the 49ers. He’s been around winning. He’s a guy who has dealt with what it is to turn an organization around.

•

DOERSCHUK Holmgren is about the age Joe Gibbs was when he went back to the Redskins. Whether it was age, having been away from coaching for some years, whatever the case, Gibbs wasn’t able to recapture his former magic. Holmgren wasn’t out of the NFL limelight nearly as long as Gibbs, but was there any pause about whether he still had the fire?

LERNER If you were asking that question on a generic basis, meaning what do you think a guy Mike’s age would be like in terms of addressing this challenge, you could speculate that one guy might really have the fire, another guy might not.

If you address the question based on knowing this guy, spending time with him, being around him in a variety of contexts, like a game or practice or a business setting, you realize very, very quickly that he had meditated on the issue of whether he had the appetite and the fire. And it was really a matter of trusting him rather than reading into his behavior or conduct at a given moment. When you look at him, you see a very, very motivated, focused guy who has an almost youthful capacity for enthusiasm, for concentration, for focus. So, I actually feel very positive on those issues.

•

DOERSCHUK Hiring Holmgren seems to have been met with widespread and sustained applause among Browns fans. Did you hear criticisms?

LERNER There was definite criticism. The criticism probably was that there is a structure in which you have a coach and a general manager, and the club president should be more focused purely on business and communication and messaging and so on ... outreach ... and that you run the risk of having too many cooks in the kitchen. I heard those criticisms to me and I heard them more broadly. I haven’t heard much of it lately, I suppose.

•

DOERSCHUK When does the winning start?

LERNER Mike has made no assurances. What Mike has done, rather, is to say he believes we can get this done, and he said that’s why he’s in Cleveland. If you want my personal feeling, I guess I’m pretty focused on getting the quarterback situation settled. From my not being a football guy, I can tell you my observation, being around for a while, is that unless that is finally put to rest, it’s very, very difficult to put something together consistently. It’s too important a position in today’s game, and you can’t really move on without it.

•

DOERSCHUK How does the team balance developing Colt McCoy against the hopes and expectations of the veteran quarterbacks, Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace?

LERNER I think that’s a very fair question.

•

DOERSCHUK The head coach tends to talk in circles with it ...

LERNER I would go even around it more than him, because I’m not the right guy for that question. Obviously, me and my son banter on about what the real answer is, but for purposes of answering the question (smiling) ... you’ve got to go elsewhere in the organization for that one, Mr. Doerschuk.

•

DOERSCHUK Beyond the quarterback position, what is your view of the cast of players?

LERNER Again, I sort of sidestep that one a bit, because I don’t ... you really need to talk to other people in the organization who can give you a much more credible answer that I can give you.

I see what you see. I see guys that are playing hard and producing week in and week out, whether it’s the rookies and (Joe) Haden and (T.J.) Ward, whether it’s Peyton Hillis, who has done a great job, or whether I suppose you’re starting to see signs of other things, like a (Muhammad) Massaquoi, or ... (Brian) Robiskie is starting to become more visible catching footballs. I think some free agents are stepping up. So, I guess I probably would say what most people who watch these games would say.

•

DOERSCHUK Is Eric Mangini’s future tied completely to what Holmgren decides?

LERNER Yes.

•

DOERSCHUK What is your sense for what kind of a chance Mangini has to survive?

LERNER I ... that’s Mike’s evaluation. I don’t even ... I don’t think it’s productive or helpful or does anybody any good to mess around with that topic.

•

DOERSCHUK Holmgren used some glowing words about you when he explained you were one of the top reasons he decided to work here. What was your response to that?

LERNER I think Mike was off that day.

•

DOERSCHUK There’s politically correct and from the heart. Holmgren sounded like he meant it. Did something click for you two from the start? If so, why? And how has it evolved?

LERNER Yes, yes and yes is my answer. It was a very comfortable sort of atmosphere from the beginning. It was a very lively, very open, very unvarnished, clear exchange, and I enjoyed it a lot. It’s gotten stronger because, as guys do more together, you start to open up more. In my case, given my own history and especially over the last seven or eight years, it has been very nice for me to have somebody a generation or so older in my life that I can talk to and get guidance from and debate issues with.





Part 4

Lerner covers Jim Brown issue, endorses Tom Heckert





AP / Amy Sancetta

Cleveland Browns President Mike Holmgren and team owner Randy Lerner watch the opening day of Browns NFL football training camp in Berea in July.




By Steve Doerschuk
CantonRep.com staff writer
Posted Oct 28, 2010 @ 05:47 PM
Last update Oct 28, 2010 @ 05:48 PM
One might expect that the owner of the Cleveland Browns would enjoy access to a treasure trove of memorabilia with which to adorn his office.

In addition to being a room with a view — Randy Lerner’s upstairs digs overlook the sprawling practice fields at 76 Lou Groza Boulevard— this softly lit space is indeed peppered with goodies that would fetch a mint on eBay.

One of the long coffee tables is covered with enough orange helmets to pass for a ripening pumpkin patch.

It’s not that one particular helmet hasn’t been there for quite some time, but you notice anew, given the times, that one of the lids bears No. 32, Jim Brown’s number.

You wonder as a long interview unfolds what the conversations must be like when Mike Holmgren, whose office is separated by double doors from Lerner’s, must be like. You suspect the session reveals strong clues about the true mindset of the man trying to bring the Browns out of this expansion-era wilderness.

Here is the final installment from our face-to-face chat.

Doerschuk: How well have you come to know the general manager Mike Holmgren brought in? How is Tom Heckert panning out?

Lerner: I know Tom well. I think he’s done fine ... or better than fine. I think his free agent choices have been good ... or better than good. They’ve been productive. They’ve matured. They’ve added character to the locker room, etc. He’s a very, very easy guy to work with. He’s a pleasure to be around.

Actually, if you were to say this is a formal evaluation, that goes back to Mike Holmgren. That’s who’s here to evaluate and really give you a read. In terms of me, I know he’s a very, very good guy. I know a lot of the guys he used to work with and I think we’re lucky to have him in the building.

Doerschuk: How important is it for there to be a camaraderie and a chemistry among you, Mike Holmgren, Tom Heckert and otehr people in the building?

Lerner: It’s important. I think from a practical perspective in terms of what really happens, it’s not as though we all sit in a room very often and so where you would start to see that sort of strong positive energy among guys you’re talking about. We have done that at times and you do really see it. What I do think what you see is the way people coming and going in the halls, whether you’re out on the field, whatever issue you’re working on, I do think you see it then. I think people are starting to really feel that we can move this organization forward.

Doerschuk: Is the overall chemistry the best you have seen it since Holmgren came on board? And why?

Lerner: Yes. It’s Mike. He’s got a very compelling, contagious personal style. He brings people together, and he gets the best out of you.

Doerschuk: How smart a fellow is Mike?

Lerner: I think he’s extremely bright. He reads books. He cares about people. He cares about ideas. He’s a very complete person. I don’t think you can go in and take a team like the Packers, turn them around and take them to a Super Bowl unless you’re extraordinarily intelligent.

Doerschuk: In the process of opting not to attend the Ring of Honor ceremony, Jim Brown used some harsh language toward the Browns, specifically alluding to Mike Holmgren. What would you like people to understand about the Jim Brown issue?

Lerner: Jim is an old friend. He was a friend of my father’s. He is a friend of my mom’s. He knows my children. It’s been a very nice relationship for me. I’ve learned a lot about football. I’ve learned a lot about other things from Jim. Certainly Jim was an adviser, but in practice what Jim did was he worked down with Jerry Butler in that area (player development), with players and with coaches, and dealt with matters that he has a background in. Social matters. Competitive matters. Football matters ... so on and so forth. And he played a real role with this organization. So, from a practical perspective, that’s what he was doing. From a nominal perspective, we had the word adviser. I understand that.

Now, when Mike came in, Jim knew and many other people within our organization knew that Mike was going to reorganize. And people know typically that when that happens, guys are either going to want to bring in their own guys, or make changes. I think Jim understood that and embraced that. I think that when the proposal for the changes that would effect him came to Jim, they didn’t work for him, and so he declined. And I communicated with him in early April. Mike communicated with him. Jim was communicative back. And Jim actually was never not supportive of our organization and of me.
When the issue of the Ring of Honor came up, it led to some give and take back and forth and it was obviously emotional and it was probably based on some disappointment of how things had gone down and what the transition or changes really meant, and my feeling was to let that go. I was seeing what was being said. I was reading the debate to some extent, and I thought that I understood where it was coming from and it needed to die down on its own. And I felt that the other parties agreed, despite their being some calls from some people for there to be more involvement, whether it be by the organization or by me. I thought that it had become incendiary at that point and that it should be left alone to die down play for another day, when relationships could heal, when cooler minds could prevail and we could move on.

Doerschuk: In terms of money, in a terrible economy, how well suited are you and how well positioned is the organization to be as solvent as you would like it be.

Lerner: I think we’re reasonably well suited.

Doerschuk: Might it get tougher for the Browns to stay competitive against the New Yorks and the Chicagos?

Lerner: It depends on how the broader sort of arrangements that span the league evolve.

Doerschuk: What is this job — your job — to you?

Lerner: I ask myself periodically what it is or how I feel. The first question is, do I still feel that it’s a privilege to have this job? And the answer is yes. And do I still feel motivated to come to work and try to be involved with issues and impact decisions that move the organization forward? And the answer is yes. And then finally, do I have thick enough skin to deal with the ups and downs or criticisms or what have you that may come with either making mistakes or the team not winning? And the answer to that one is, I hope so (laughs).

Doerschuk: Do you remember sitting there at Pittsburgh, up by 17, with the sense you were going to the second round of the playoffs?

Lerner: Yes. I’d have thought we’d have done well at Oakland.

Doerschuk: Does that seem like yesterday or a million years ago?

Lerner: Both. Sometimes it seems like a minute ago. Sometimes it seems like we’ve covered a lot of ground. My life’s changed in terms of the kind of things that I do. My children. Shifting my priorities. A lot of changes have gone on in those eight years.

Doerschuk: Did you know as a younger man, thrust into the ownership role, that you would get hit with some hard punches?

Lerner: I don’t know that I felt I knew that, and I still don’t know what I’m going to get hit by, necessarily. I feel all you can do is care ... care about the team and ask yourself how you can continue to hopefully make it better.

Doerschuk: How does the guy who owns the Cleveland Browns maintain his sanity?

Lerner: I think you maintain your sanity by what I just said. I think you need to remain ... you need to try to remain aware and conscious that it is a privilege ... it’s a very rare privilege ... and it’s also at times a narcotic that can not only make you act in ways that aren’t really who you are, as narcotics can do, but they can also get you to react to demands, whether they’re demands to handle situations that you aren’t comfortable with, in ways you’re not comfortable, rather than handling them in ways that are more comfortable given your style.

An example would be dealing with the question of media exposure. You may have issues ... there may be a feeling that you need to be out in front and more visible. Now, you may need to do that because there’s a sense the confidence in the team has declined. That’s very fair. But you need to do that according to the approach you have and who you are and how you’re wired.

So, when Mike came in, I know there was a sense I should have been more visible, and more out front. But the issue that I was facing was establishing Mike as the face of the organization, which meant that I should be less visible. So on the one hand I had visibility issues to address. On the other hand I had a superseding priority, which was to get Mike out there so that we could accelerate as much as possible a feeling in Cleveland that this was our guys.

So, that would be an example where, because of the pressures, you may feel you need to address an issue one way. You think about who you are and how you want to approach the problem that may suggest a different way to handle a problem. And so those are the sorts of things that I find at the core of maintaining my sanity.

To try to reason that out, I talk to people who can help me through this, and approach it in some sort of measured way, in order that I don’t in effect feel that I have to be somebody that I am not. That is when you really get in trouble.

Doerschuk: This is a question about your passion for owning the team. I think it’s safe to say some people look at you as ‘soccer guy’ and that you care more about owning a soccer team than owning the Browns, etc., etc.

My perception of you from years of observation is that you are at minimum passionate about owning the Browns as a means of honoring your father who owned them. Where are you with the perception and the reality along these lines?

Lerner: I’m not sure ... the first thing that comes to mind is making sure the Marine Corps flag is flown, And I think that that encapsulates a lot for me. Outside of that I’m not sure that I have a very ... I’m not sure I have an answer.

My passion and love for this team burns every single day of the week, and ... that’s how I feel. I know how I feel about the Browns, and the people around me know how I feel about the Browns. And it has nothing whatsoever to do with any other thing I may be doing or any other team I may be involved with. I was born in this town. I followed this team since before I could probably spell the name of the team. And I don’t have any personal issue about how I feel about this team. None. Zero.

I don’t feel that, having the background with you and having sat in this office for many years with you, I don’t feel defiant about it. And ... I actually think you know exactly how I feel.

[TheBestPlayersPlay]

Originally Posted by TheBestPlayersPlay

Colt McCoy’s got a lot of games to play for the rest of the season, and that provides to some extent a period of evaluation. So before you get to needing to address bringing in a guy, we’ll have — assuming he stays healthy — some football to watch.

Did Lerner let the cat out of the bag here?

[golfer704u]

I thought the same thing Gabe.

But also, just in this interview and every other interview I see from Holmgren to Mangini to Heckert, the one thing I really like about this new management is thething I posted about before. One team, One message. People know thier roles and don't speculate farther than needed on other peoples roles.

Given my background I probably focus in on this too much, but he Message and the PR of this team has been improved 10000000 fold. And in my opinion those things translate into having a better football team.

[Inspecta]

Great stuff Gabe, and I agree with you, Randy might of made a very rare slip of the tongue in what he said. And if anybody knows whos gonna start the rest of the year, I'm sure Randy is in on it