Structural problems need new engineer

[plumcrazy73]

Structural problems need new engineer

 

http://www.ohio.com/sports/mcmanamon/36858599.html

 

Add McKay and Pioli to list of potential GMs

 

By Patrick McManamon

Beacon Journal sports writer

 

POSTED: 07:18 a.m. EST, Dec 30, 2008

 

BEREA: Count Rich McKay as a candidate to run the front office of the Browns.

 

And if he becomes a serious candidate, he'd be an extremely attractive hire.

 

New England Patriots Vice President Scott Pioli seems to remain the team's top choice, but McKay would bring much to the Browns.

 

Monday morning, Browns owner Randy Lerner confirmed that he had been given permission to interview Pioli, but he said there's another candidate with a team that he did not want to name.

 

It seems that candidate is McKay, president of the Atlanta Falcons.

 

McKay is as well-respected an individual as there is in the league. He's been successful in two locations — Tampa Bay and Atlanta — and for a decade, he's been co-chairman of the league's Competition Committee.

 

He's worked best as the man in charge who supervises football folks, and he's done that with the Falcons and Buccaneers. In 14 seasons as an NFL general manager, McKay guided six playoff teams, three NFC Championship Game teams and one Super Bowl winner.

 

He was caught in the Mike Vick dogfighting mess, but he was not with the Falcons when Vick was drafted.

 

McKay lost the GM's role when Tom Dimitroff was hired, but with him as president, the Falcons also returned to the playoffs after drafting Matt Ryan, signing Michael Turner and hiring Mike Smith as coach.

 

He is said to be interested in finding a job with a team that would involve more football-related responsibilities, but it's not known whether the Browns have asked for or received permission to interview him.

 

McKay would provide strong leadership as a president-type with the Browns, but would have to be given permission to leave the Falcons by owner Arthur Blank because the move would not be a promotion.

 

At the least, McKay is a strong and attractive Plan C for Lerner and the Browns — and perhaps the best of all the plans under consideration.

 

Plan A was Bill Cowher, but he took himself out of consideration.

 

Plan B remains Pioli, who has worked hand in hand with Bill Belichick and helped produce three Super Bowls for the Patriots.

 

But Lerner also needs to ensure that the structure for his new hires is strong and fits the people he hires. Because the last one didn't.

 

Flawed system

 

What started out as a coach-GM partnership eventually frittered into a GM-takes-the-turf scenario

 

That fact became more and more apparent as Monday went on and more and more folks started talking about the Browns' situation.

 

Lerner conceded Monday morning that former GM Phil Savage had final say in the hiring of assistant coaches.

 

Savage always was in charge of the draft.

 

And, as Savage said many times, he chose the 53-man-roster.

 

This had coach Romeo Crennel in a position of leading a team of players he didn't choose or draft and working with coaches that were not his.

 

Consider a head coach working with two coordinators he did not hire. That's what Crennel did this season.

 

This is not to say that Crennel did not like and respect Rob Chudzinski and Mel Tucker. He did.

 

But Savage picked them.

 

Coaches deserve the right to pick their staff and have strong input on players. Crennel didn't have either, a situation reminiscent of the position in which Al Davis has placed his coaches in Oakland.

 

The coaching staff, for instance, did not favor the drafting of linebacker Beau Bell or tight end Martin Rucker.

 

Savage decided to do so, and even traded a future draft pick to acquire Rucker.

 

As the season went on, neither played. Because the coaches did not think they could.

 

Jerome Harrison was used as a change-of-pace back, and at times, it was effective. But the coaching staff did not think he could handle a larger workload. Same with Joshua Cribbs, who had trouble learning plays at receiver, let alone quarterback.

 

Draft picks also found homes in Cleveland for a longer time than the coaching staff deemed worthy. Word around the league was that if a player was drafted by the Browns, he'd get three years no matter what he did.

 

Guys like Antonio Perkins, Babatunde Oshinowo, David McMillan, DeMario Minter and Isaac Sowells were carried for two or three years because the guy who drafted them decided on the final roster.

 

Other problems

 

Disagreements were exacerbated this season over the use of the quarterbacks — Brady Quinn was lifted in the loss to the Houston Texans because of his broken finger — and over the front office's decision not to add veteran help at receiver or cornerback.

 

The coaches believed all year long it was playing with cornerbacks who were not starting caliber, and they felt the lack of a second receiver hurt Derek Anderson and Braylon Edwards.

 

The total result: The coaching staff felt handicapped by decisions made by folks in the front office who were not on the field or in the meeting rooms every day.

 

Some of these problems come from front-office structure, certainly.

 

Most league observers reacted with great surprise when they learned Crennel did not choose his coaches.

 

They wondered how the team could set up that structure, and why Crennel didn't fight it.

 

But some of it, too, was personality.

 

Then-President John Collins wanted to remove Savage after his first season. It seemed (and was) ridiculously early in Savage's tenure to make that move, but some of the reasons Collins gave then make sense now.

 

Then, when Collins left, Savage stepped into a power void.

 

And after the following season — a bad one — Savage gave Crennel a list of assistant coaches he had to fire. Savage then hired the replacements.

 

When Tucker replaced Todd Grantham a year ago, it was assumed Crennel had asserted authority. The move was Savage's.

 

Both Savage and Crennel received contract extensions in the offseason, but Savage got one more year than Crennel did.

 

The Browns were coming off a 10-win season, so things looked positive.

 

Falling apart

 

When the team started losing, Savage started to make statements that he did not coach the players. One report (from Channel 3's Jim Donovan) said Savage drew up a list of possible coaches for Lerner following the loss to the Denver Broncos — with seven games remaining.

 

Crennel never went public with his concerns. He also never demanded changes in the structure — even after he learned that alleged statements and questions Lerner asked through Savage were never actually voiced by the team's owner.

 

The won-lost record reflected the way the team had come apart.

 

Lerner let Savage go on Saturday, two days before he let Crennel go.

 

It was just two days, but it spoke loudly of the owner's feelings about how things were handled by the front office, and how Savage had reacted to proposed changes Lerner had brought to him.

 

The coach? He did not win enough, but he still has the personal respect of the owner, who spoke fondly of him even after firing him.

 

Lerner's style is to hire people and get out of the way. But he said Monday morning he was responsible for the current state of the team. He created the structure that allowed what happened to happen.

 

Lerner now will make the next hires in an attempt to turn the team around.

 

The people he is considering — Pioli and McKay — both are excellent choices with sound leadership skills.

 

Neither seems to have the ego to overreach and walk over the coach's job duties. But neither did Savage when he was hired. The longer he stayed, the more he wanted control and power and the more problematic things became.

 

The people Lerner is thinking of hiring are important.

 

But the way their jobs are defined and carried out might be more important.

 

BEREA: Count Rich McKay as a candidate to run the front office of the Browns.

 

And if he becomes a serious candidate, he'd be an extremely attractive hire.

 

New England Patriots Vice President Scott Pioli seems to remain the team's top choice, but McKay would bring much to the Browns.

 

Monday morning, Browns owner Randy Lerner confirmed that he had been given permission to interview Pioli, but he said there's another candidate with a team that he did not want to name.

 

It seems that candidate is McKay, president of the Atlanta Falcons.

 

McKay is as well-respected an individual as there is in the league. He's been successful in two locations — Tampa Bay and Atlanta — and for a decade, he's been co-chairman of the league's Competition Committee.

 

He's worked best as the man in charge who supervises football folks, and he's done that with the Falcons and Buccaneers. In 14 seasons as an NFL general manager, McKay guided six playoff teams, three NFC Championship Game teams and one Super Bowl winner.

 

He was caught in the Mike Vick dogfighting mess, but he was not with the Falcons when Vick was drafted.

 

McKay lost the GM's role when Tom Dimitroff was hired, but with him as president, the Falcons also returned to the playoffs after drafting Matt Ryan, signing Michael Turner and hiring Mike Smith as coach.

 

He is said to be interested in finding a job with a team that would involve more football-related responsibilities, but it's not known whether the Browns have asked for or received permission to interview him.

 

McKay would provide strong leadership as a president-type with the Browns, but would have to be given permission to leave the Falcons by owner Arthur Blank because the move would not be a promotion.

 

At the least, McKay is a strong and attractive Plan C for Lerner and the Browns — and perhaps the best of all the plans under consideration.

 

Plan A was Bill Cowher, but he took himself out of consideration.

 

Plan B remains Pioli, who has worked hand in hand with Bill Belichick and helped produce three Super Bowls for the Patriots.

 

But Lerner also needs to ensure that the structure for his new hires is strong and fits the people he hires. Because the last one didn't.

 

Flawed system

 

What started out as a coach-GM partnership eventually frittered into a GM-takes-the-turf scenario

 

That fact became more and more apparent as Monday went on and more and more folks started talking about the Browns' situation.

 

Lerner conceded Monday morning that former GM Phil Savage had final say in the hiring of assistant coaches.

 

Savage always was in charge of the draft.

 

And, as Savage said many times, he chose the 53-man-roster.

 

This had coach Romeo Crennel in a position of leading a team of players he didn't choose or draft and working with coaches that were not his.

 

Consider a head coach working with two coordinators he did not hire. That's what Crennel did this season.

 

This is not to say that Crennel did not like and respect Rob Chudzinski and Mel Tucker. He did.

 

But Savage picked them.

 

Coaches deserve the right to pick their staff and have strong input on players. Crennel didn't have either, a situation reminiscent of the position in which Al Davis has placed his coaches in Oakland.

 

The coaching staff, for instance, did not favor the drafting of linebacker Beau Bell or tight end Martin Rucker.

 

Savage decided to do so, and even traded a future draft pick to acquire Rucker.

 

As the season went on, neither played. Because the coaches did not think they could.

 

Jerome Harrison was used as a change-of-pace back, and at times, it was effective. But the coaching staff did not think he could handle a larger workload. Same with Joshua Cribbs, who had trouble learning plays at receiver, let alone quarterback.

 

Draft picks also found homes in Cleveland for a longer time than the coaching staff deemed worthy. Word around the league was that if a player was drafted by the Browns, he'd get three years no matter what he did.

 

Guys like Antonio Perkins, Babatunde Oshinowo, David McMillan, DeMario Minter and Isaac Sowells were carried for two or three years because the guy who drafted them decided on the final roster.

 

Other problems

 

Disagreements were exacerbated this season over the use of the quarterbacks — Brady Quinn was lifted in the loss to the Houston Texans because of his broken finger — and over the front office's decision not to add veteran help at receiver or cornerback.

 

The coaches believed all year long it was playing with cornerbacks who were not starting caliber, and they felt the lack of a second receiver hurt Derek Anderson and Braylon Edwards.

 

The total result: The coaching staff felt handicapped by decisions made by folks in the front office who were not on the field or in the meeting rooms every day.

 

Some of these problems come from front-office structure, certainly.

 

Most league observers reacted with great surprise when they learned Crennel did not choose his coaches.

 

They wondered how the team could set up that structure, and why Crennel didn't fight it.

 

But some of it, too, was personality.

 

Then-President John Collins wanted to remove Savage after his first season. It seemed (and was) ridiculously early in Savage's tenure to make that move, but some of the reasons Collins gave then make sense now.

 

Then, when Collins left, Savage stepped into a power void.

 

And after the following season — a bad one — Savage gave Crennel a list of assistant coaches he had to fire. Savage then hired the replacements.

 

When Tucker replaced Todd Grantham a year ago, it was assumed Crennel had asserted authority. The move was Savage's.

 

Both Savage and Crennel received contract extensions in the offseason, but Savage got one more year than Crennel did.

 

The Browns were coming off a 10-win season, so things looked positive.

 

Falling apart

 

When the team started losing, Savage started to make statements that he did not coach the players. One report (from Channel 3's Jim Donovan) said Savage drew up a list of possible coaches for Lerner following the loss to the Denver Broncos — with seven games remaining.

 

Crennel never went public with his concerns. He also never demanded changes in the structure — even after he learned that alleged statements and questions Lerner asked through Savage were never actually voiced by the team's owner.

 

The won-lost record reflected the way the team had come apart.

 

Lerner let Savage go on Saturday, two days before he let Crennel go.

 

It was just two days, but it spoke loudly of the owner's feelings about how things were handled by the front office, and how Savage had reacted to proposed changes Lerner had brought to him.

 

The coach? He did not win enough, but he still has the personal respect of the owner, who spoke fondly of him even after firing him.

 

Lerner's style is to hire people and get out of the way. But he said Monday morning he was responsible for the current state of the team. He created the structure that allowed what happened to happen.

 

Lerner now will make the next hires in an attempt to turn the team around.

 

The people he is considering — Pioli and McKay — both are excellent choices with sound leadership skills.

 

Neither seems to have the ego to overreach and walk over the coach's job duties. But neither did Savage when he was hired. The longer he stayed, the more he wanted control and power and the more problematic things became.

 

The people Lerner is thinking of hiring are important.

 

But the way their jobs are defined and carried out might be more important.

 

[Gips]

Romeo really got the short end of the stick but the fact remains romeo was not capable of making good decisions on his own and should have been fired instead of the gm using it as a means to have total control over the entire team lerner should have canned them both at the bye week and im still irked that randy hasnt released the coordinators or assistants these guys are really horrible and do not deserve to still be employed by the browns..

 

Its rediculous that reviewing these guys is one of the first things the new gm/coach will have to do and if the new gm/coach keeps any of these guys its not a good sign of things to come in my book..

 

 

The rumor of pioli bringing his good friend ferentz in as HC really does not bode so well with me either if its true then maybe pioli isnt the right guy..

[lemosley01]

Good read and sheds some light on what was happening.

 

I still believe at least 50% of this mess is on the coaches. Not playing rucker and bell because they dind't think they could play, when the guys you have out there obviously can't play? You have to play those guys to make sure anyway. You don't have say over the roster, so you don't have anyone else to try.

 

Tucker being hired by Savage is interesting, but the defense never really changed - it was still the same, soft defense we've seen for the last 4 years - that's Romeo.

 

I'm not sure a lack of a second receiver hurt Edwards. Edwards hurt Edwards.

 

Seems like Savage was definitely trying to put his stamp all over this team - he certainly accomplished that, just not in the way expected.

[Gips]

Good read and sheds some light on what was happening.

 

I still believe at least 50% of this mess is on the coaches. Not playing rucker and bell because they dind't think they could play, when the guys you have out there obviously can't play? You have to play those guys to make sure anyway. You don't have say over the roster, so you don't have anyone else to try.

 

Tucker being hired by Savage is interesting, but the defense never really changed - it was still the same, soft defense we've seen for the last 4 years - that's Romeo.

 

I'm not sure a lack of a second receiver hurt Edwards. Edwards hurt Edwards.

 

Seems like Savage was definitely trying to put his stamp all over this team - he certainly accomplished that, just not in the way expected.

 

It would be hard for any HC to effectively coach with coordinators and assistants that are not of your choice and they likely werent listening to romeo but to savage instead that explains why romeo looked so defeated all the time because he was nothing but the scapegoat luckily randy ended this joke of a regime he just did it way to late and still hasnt finished the job..

 

[DestinFunk]

Good read and sheds some light on what was happening.

 

I still believe at least 50% of this mess is on the coaches. Not playing rucker and bell because they dind't think they could play, when the guys you have out there obviously can't play? You have to play those guys to make sure anyway. You don't have say over the roster, so you don't have anyone else to try.

 

Tucker being hired by Savage is interesting, but the defense never really changed - it was still the same, soft defense we've seen for the last 4 years - that's Romeo.

 

I'm not sure a lack of a second receiver hurt Edwards. Edwards hurt Edwards.

 

Seems like Savage was definitely trying to put his stamp all over this team - he certainly accomplished that, just not in the way expected.

 

I think this is more proof that Savage was a bit crazy and power trippin'

 

Romeo while not cut out for HC from what little we could tell...got a raw deal...he kept his mouth shut and tried his best with the crap hand Savage kept dealing him...everyone has much respect for him..and they should they all knew how messed up savage had things going..and call him a whiner..but the SOLDJA may be the one who brought this all to light...and could be the catalyst for turning this all around with a REAL front office....

 

It is so obvious now , though in my brain i was in denial of what i was seeing,that the sheit rolled all the way down hill and into every aspect of the team...the more i think about it the more i am leaning Mckay...he has done it..with 2 teams!...Won a superbowl with tampa with many all pros that he pciked (Barber,Alstott) and then went to ATL and they went to the NFC championship his first year...maybe luck on that but he did NOT draft VICK...but he had to deal with DOg gate....I dont care how great of a leader you are...who is prepared to handle a situation like doggate?...and how could one not be ready for anything after dealing with VICK and his drama...and the guy was still retained by Blank (one of the best owners) ...and one last Mckay bit is he was up for the main NFL gig and at the last minute lost out to Godell...

 

anyways...there are both of my pennies.

 

lets fix this bitch.

 

 

[PlaygroundLegend]

As I said...

 

KELLEN WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG

 

And so many of you were calling him a whiney bitch...

 

our staff was f'ed up!

[Fooleeze]

I'm not sure how much of this is true, but assuming it is, then I fault Lerner. Why in the world would he set up a situation where his GM chose assistant coaches? Why would he allow Savage to get that much power? Seems to me Lerner should have recognized this, and made a change earlier. But some of the statements seem a little hard to believe. Perhaps Savage had to step in on coaches because Crennel was loyal to a fault to his coaches that were clearly struggling. And saying that Edwards and Anderson were struggling without a 2nd receiver? What the heck are Winslow and Stallworth? The Coaching staff didn't use Stallworth effectively, Savage didn't draw up those plays. Savage brought in the 2nd receiver that they wanted, only to see them not use him effectively (after the injury, of course).

 

And yes, Anderson and Edwards can't be excused for, they both struggled mightily.

 

Hopefully this whole experience has taught Lerner a thing or two about how to structure his organization. I'd be pretty bitter if my boss gave me a list of responsibilities and then fired me when he felt I had too many responsibilities. I think Savage and Crennel were both put into a bad position here.

 

And the stuff about Harrison is just absurd. Nothing was preventing them from giving him 8-10 carries a game. That's certainly not a full workload, but the way he was playing could have made a large impact on the game.

 

Oh well, here's hoping he makes it better going forward.

 

 

[Gips]

As I said...

 

KELLEN WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG

 

And so many of you were calling him a whiney bitch...

 

our staff was f'ed up!

 

Indeed kellen was right and perhaps now we can look at the teams overall lack of motivation and effort minus a few remarkable players as what it really maybe was...a silent descent and disapproval of what was going on the team didnt like playing for savages puppets while romeo took the rap ive said before edwards and other players didnt like the routes chud was making them run it was easy to see in their expressions..now we most likely know why and it makes me feel a little more hopeful for next year...

[Fooleeze]

Nail on the head, danamal. We saw too many lapses in concentration, discipline issues, bad fundamentals, bad clock management, poor playcalling, lack of aggressiveness, and unwillingness to be creative with playcalling and personnel. . . none of this can be pointed back to Savage or Lerner, this is all Crennel. Nice guy, just bad head coach.

 

 

[Guest Aloysius]

the more i think about it the more i am leaning Mckay...he has done it..with 2 teams!...Won a superbowl with tampa with many all pros that he pciked (Barber,Alstott) and then went to ATL and they went to the NFC championship his first year...maybe luck on that but he did NOT draft VICK...but he had to deal with DOg gate....I dont care how great of a leader you are...who is prepared to handle a situation like doggate?...and how could one not be ready for anything after dealing with VICK and his drama...and the guy was still retained by Blank (one of the best owners) ...and one last Mckay bit is he was up for the main NFL gig and at the last minute lost out to Godell...

My impression is that Tim Ruskell was a huge (perhaps essential) part of Tampa's draft success. If you check out McKay's two drafts in Atlanta in which Ruskell didn't set his board ('06, '07), you'll notice that they're not very impressive...

 

You're right that McKay didn't draft Vick, but he did give him a 10 year, $130M contract extension.

 

And you're also correct in saying that McKay can't be blamed for doggate. However, he was responsible for the second big embarrassment of Atlanta's '07 season, Bobby Petrino. That may have been the true reason why McKay lost his job.

 

To me, Blank's retaining McKay on his staff is more a reflection of the owner's class (in not wanting to embarrass McKay) than any statement about McKay's value. From what I gather, his FO position is supposed to be more of a placeholder position until he can find employment elsewhere.

[DawgTracker]

It sounds to meet like both sides spent too much time pouting like little kids. Harrison couldn't handle a workload bigger than three carries a game? How stupid is that? They are mad that Rucker was drafted so they refuse to play him. And then Savage stuck with players that the coaches didn't respect because he drafted them?

 

If you want to win you put the team first and put aside the p***ing contests. We need people who will work together.

[lemosley01]

It would be hard for any HC to effectively coach with coordinators and assistants that are not of your choice and they likely werent listening to romeo but to savage instead that explains why romeo looked so defeated all the time because he was nothing but the scapegoat luckily randy ended this joke of a regime he just did it way to late and still hasnt finished the job..

 

I'm sure it wasn't easy, but there were obvious head coaching issues - gametime management, preparing the team, training camp - these are all things RAC had control over. Like I said, in Tucker's case, the defense didn't change - it was still the same soft defense we saw 4 years ago. The constant there is RAC.

[Riffer X]

Phillip came off to me as an arrogant christian, kind of like Mark Price but with the power tripping behind it.

 

He definitely should have been reined in by Lerner sooner.

 

In my opinion Phillip's legacy will be the DA fiasco and not trading him when he was a hot commodity ala Scott Mitchell. The email and Winslow stuff was bad PR, but his failures are numerous in other aspects.

 

1) Signing DA and forcing the franchise to live or die by him.

2) Oklahoma draft fetish.

3) Trading away picks for other picks (Paul "Glue Fingers" Hubbard)

4) Making too big of a splash in FA with Baxter/Stallworth types.

5) Bringing along all his Baltimore scout bitches.

[Riffer X]

Oh, I think Phillip supplied RAC 'n ROLLS with enough talent to perform better than 4-11. RAC's whining about injuries after the season is bullshit too, that defense was healthy for the most part.

 

Rushing three in the B'more game with Flaxico on the ropes (3rd and 16) is the fat black man's legacy to me.

 

RAC was an atrocious head coach at game management and preparation.