January 2009
Lerner defends sequence of hiring
POSTED: 09:44 p.m. EST, Jan 09, 2009
Now that he's landed his coach in Eric Mangini, Browns owner Randy Lerner vowed to be ''thorough and thoughtful'' in his search for a general manager.
That means widening the scope of his search beyond Baltimore Ravens director of pro personnel George Kokinis, a close friend of Mangini's whom he's scheduled to interview Sunday.
''If George Kokinis is the right guy, he's getting hired,'' Lerner said by telephone Friday afternoon from his Long Island home. But he added, ''I'm not rubber-stamping anything,'' and said he won't hire Kokinis on Sunday night.
Lerner seemed aware of recent criticism that he's going about the process backward by hiring the coach first. Many have suggested that Lerner should have found the right general manager and allowed him to assist or lead the search.
''Fans say I don't get it, I'm not a football guy, but I've been doing this six years in a row,'' Lerner said. ''When you think about it every day of your life, you do pick up one or two things. The Browns are trying to become a legitimate organization with checks and balances, roles and responsibilities.''
Lerner said he felt more urgency to hire a coach.
''The GM operates in a spring cycle — talent evaluation, free agency, the draft board, getting rid of players, negotiating. The GM has a certain time of year, while the coach operates on the calendar year,'' Lerner said.
Lerner didn't seem to feel that a new general manager would have offered much to the process.....
....Cleveland.com reported that Atlanta Falcons President Rich McKay no longer is interested in the Browns' top football job and Kokinis is not sure whether he'll leave Baltimore. But Lerner mentioned other possibilities like Nick Caserio, a Lyndhurst, Ohio, native and John Carroll University graduate who is the New England Patriots' director of player personnel, and Charley Casserly, who spent 16 years as a GM with the Washington Redskins and Houston Texans and now works for CBS Sports.
''I'm talking to more people and scouring around more stones. Young guys like Nick Caserio, older guys, middle guys like Charley Casserly, there's a lot of them,'' Lerner said. ''There's much more to finding a guy when you have a structure with a club president. Clubs like the Colts have a different approach.''
Browns President Mike Keenan handles the team's business operations, while Indianapolis Colts President Bill Polian oversees football and administration.
Former Denver Broncos General Manager Ted Sundquist, fired last March, has expressed interest in the job.
''I don't know Ted. He's out there,'' Lerner said.
Another name that has been mentioned is Polian's son Chris, the Colts' vice president of football operations.
''Interesting,'' Lerner said. ''That would be a rookie situation.''
Lerner said he never got into contract talks with Patriots vice president of player personnel Scott Pioli, the second man he interviewed after Mangini but not seen as an option now. Pioli also interviewed with the Kansas City Chiefs.
''We talked for hours about football organizations,'' Lerner said. ''Money never came into the conversation with Scott.''
As for reports that Pioli made exorbitant demands, Lerner said, ''That's completely and utterly untrue.''....
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