Top Men Review Browns New Head Coach

Your Cleveland Browns have a new Head Coach, Eric Mangini. The displaced NY Jets coach didn't have to wait long before he found his new gig. Top Men sat down and reviewed the Pro's and Con's of the Mangini hiring. Part One looks at the Pro's of the Browns new hire-

NFL Head Coaching Experience. Mangini is the first coach the Cleveland Browns have ever hired that has previous Head Coaching Experience. Crazy, but true. In his 3 year tenure with the J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets, he went 23-25. 2 winning seasons out of 3. Pretty good for a 1st Time coach. The last Browns coach to have a winning record in 2 out of 3 years was Marty Schottenheimer in '88-'89! (Sorry to all the Schottenheimer honks- looks like Marty ball wont be coming back to the Lakefront anytime soon)

He'll be coaching with a chip on his shoulder.
Mangini was the fall guy in NY. They spent TONS of money in the off-season on big name free agents. Alan Faneca, Calvin Pace, Kris Jenkins, and of course, rocket arm Brett Favre. After the Jets went 1-4 in their last 5 games, someone had to be responsible and you cant fire the players. He is a young coach with a lot to prove. He'll be anxious to show the Jets they were wrong.

He's never been described as being a "Players Coach"
The Crennel Country Club has officially repealed all memberships. Braylon, K2, the entire Defense, should all be doing some soul-searching right about now. One important item Mangini mentioned in his presser was accountability. Believe that he will hold these players to his demands. I don't think Edwards should plan on hopping on a charter flights to see U of M lose to a MAC team next year. He will be tough on his players, but don't expect to see a lot of fireworks coming from him on the sideline. He'll leave that to his coordinators. Top Men expect to see Rob Ryan (son of Buddy, bro of Rex) hired soon.

Cleveland Roots (kind of)

Top Men like the fact that Mangini is familiar with Cleveland and had a history with the organization. (The former ball boy even referenced Bucci's, Shaver Sports favorite Italian joint in Berea in his press conference) He will also get some advice and insight on this town from family. He is the brother-in-law of Indians Top Man, Mark Shapiro.

Around the Blogosphere: Part II

Chris Mortensen reported the Browns are interested in Marty Schottenheimer -to replace a coach they haven't fired yet - just before kick-off yesterday. Pro Football Talk had this response from Shottenheimer on its website today:

While appearing with Adam Schein of Sirius NFL Radio, a caller asked Schottenheimer about the situation. Said Schottenheimer in response, ”I don’t ever say ‘never’ if I don’t have to but I don’t see it as being likely. . . . I really don’t. "

As a Browns fan, I'm glad Marty didn't say 'never', because I would be happy to see him get his Joe Gibbs on in Cleveland next seson. Its a safe bet Chargers fan wishes he 'never' left San Diego. To that point, The Big Lead had this comment on its site today with respect to Schottenheimer:

"After Marty Schottenheimer finished 14-2 in 2007, coming up short at home against the Pats in the playoffs, his team was still viewed as a lock to be a force in the AFC for years to come. He was instead fired in favor of Norv Turner. Read that sentence again "

Whether its Marty coming back, Cowher, or Paul Brown himself, we at Shaver Sports would like to continue to reiterate that our only hope is that the Browns break form, and hire a coach with experience this time.

...lastly, we would like to send a shout out to our friends over at Deadspin for linking our Kosar post on Saturday - much appreciated.

Last Week's edition: Around the Blogosphere: Part I