Madre Hill, Superstar wrote:Lead Pipe wrote:Kokinis, who is nowhere close to getting a GM job but here, is going to go with whatever Mangini wishes, and I don't think you need the details on why this is a huge problem.
Wait. Kokinis (or another GM to be named later) answers to Mangini? Really? Everything I'm reading says that Lerner wants his GM and coach to be able to work well together. He hasn't said that he wants the GM to be the coach's water boy.
This goes back to my original question: Look at Cowher 'n Colbert and Pioli 'n Mumbles. These aren't top-down or down-up organizations, from where I'm sitting they look like partnerships. I don't think it was any coincidence that those were the first two guys that Lerner talked to - or that he got skittish when Pioli demanded all the power.
You're right in that the coach has the win first mentality, but that's why Lerner's going to a guy like Kokinis or Sundquist upstairs. They're not the scouting whiz, I imagine that's McCreight's job to lose at this point. Instead, they're guy at the top who goes 'Whoa there,' the Savage without the attitude.
Partnerships with objective outlooks from both parties. This is getting closer to one of my main points, that is, Kokinis isn't close to being a GM anywhere in the league unless Mangini brings him in. Now, I'm not going to call him a water boy, as you suggest, but I certainly have reason to believe that Mangini calls the shots, and the guy who knows what side of his bread is buttered is going to allow Mangini to call those shots.
And of course Lerner wants them to be able to work together, especially with what he just went thru with RAC and Savage, but allowing a head coach to bring in his own man is not the way to achieve that cohesiveness.
Lastly, I'm not advocating bringing a commandant in as GM. If Pioli demanded the world, Lerner was correct in telling him to go pound salt. I'm simply stating that you are losing a real key facet of professional football when you have a GM who is not going to push his weight around at certain times and provide an objective view of the organization as a whole and convey that to the head coach.
Again, it's Merry Christmas time for Kokinis. The other GM's that the Browns considered have other options now or in the future as NFL GM's. This job has fallen from the sky to Kokinis. He'll go into that interview laughing at jokes and chewing his food with his mouth closed hopin' he doesn't screw anything up before he signs on the dotted line.
