The mess in Cleveland gets worse

OK, just bear with me. Oakland has a coach who was cleared of criminal assault on an assistant coach last week only to be implicated in past violent transgressions with women this week. The Washington Redskins have become a rich joke, with their offensive plays being called by a coach who was running bingo games earlier this fall, and their head coach is doing his best impression of a condemned man from the movie, “Dead Man Walking.” But nothing is stranger than what is slowly seeping out of Berea, Ohio, and the Cleveland Browns facility. Apparently, GM George Kokinis is out, although whether he was fired, resigned or was escorted from the building by security or human resources or the Great Pumpkin is still unconfirmed. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports today that it was security and HR but not the Pumpkin.

Cleveland ousted GM George Kokinis last evening.

Here’s what is confirmed: The Browns are 1-7 and but for the 0-7 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, are headed for the worst record in the league. Even the St. Louis Rams, who are devoid of blue-chip talent, seem to be enjoying playing and winning for head coach Steve Spagnuolo. If only they could get more games against teams like Detroit. But things are a mess in Cleveland, and they just got crazier. Kokinis, a bright, young former personnel director from Baltimore, was hired to replace Phil Savage, who came to Cleveland as a bright, young former personnel director from Baltimore before wearing out his welcome and being let go with two years remaining on his contract. Kokinis was only hired in January, and while the honeymoon period in the NFL is usually brief, this is ridiculous.

Maybe there’s a deeper story here that will emerge, but initial signs point to owner Randy Lerner having brought in former Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar as a consultant, or Lerner’s eyes and ears. This decision seems to have flowed out of that and a statement made by Lerner about finding in “a strong, credible, serious leader.” But isn’t this the same Lerner who hired Kokinis less than a year ago? Wasn’t that Kokinis’ reputation when he was hired? Was Lerner there? Did the criteria suddenly shift?

There is even talk that Lerner, who is still paying Savage and ex-coach Romeo Crennell into the next decade, may claim Kokinis was terminated for cause, meaning that he wouldn’t have to pay the remaining three years on his most recent GM hire’s contract. If Lerner is unsuccessful in claiming that Kokinis was terminated for cause, he will be due to pay the remainder of his contract. And if Lerner is successful in asserting that Kokinis was in fact terminated for cause, that might dissuade other "strong, credible, serious leaders" with options from considering Cleveland. It would mean that Lerner would have three GMs on the payroll and that the Browns, in a bit more than a decade, will have fired chief executive officer Carmen Policy and Dwight Clark, Butch Davis, John Collins, Savage and now Kokinis. That’s six leaders in 10 seasons, not exactly a stable organization. And having that kind of turnover makes it so much harder to find “a strong, credible serious leader” from outside.

APHow much influence did Eric Mangini have in Kokinis' ouster?

Maybe Lerner, who is a Columbia University and Columbia Law grad, is reflecting wistfully on his tenure at Morningside Heights in the 1980s when the Lions had four head coaches in five years and three on the payroll for years after. I was on those teams during that time. I could tell Lerner, while admitting I was part of the problem and not at all part of the solution, that that kind of turnover is destructive and often takes twice as long to stabilize after.

Another school of thought suggests the Kokinis-Eric Mangini marriage was terminated by Mangini. The close working relationship they expected to have, like Mangini had with Mike Tannenbaum with the Jets, never materialized. That might give Mangini too much power, but this situation is still evolving.

One thing is sure -- there are as many teams competing to be the worst team in the NFL as there are competing to be the best.

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