Mangini Hires Five Assistants to Form Jets 2.0
The Browns made the hiring of five assistants official yesterday and, as you could probably guess, head coach Eric Mangini was plucking from his past job. Here are the five assistants hired:
Bryan Cox – defensive line
Jerome Henderson – defensive backs
Andy Dickerson – defensive quality control
Rick Lyle – assistant strength and conditioning
Carl Smith – quarterbacks
Out of those five guys, the only one never work to previously work with Mangini is Smith. In fact, Smith once held the same position in Cleveland during the Butch Davis era. After 2003, he left Cleveland to hold the same position with the University of Southern California. The last two seasons, one may have noticed him as the offensive coordinator of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
There are still a number of assistant positions that need to be filled, and you can expect Mangini to look in familiar places, but are the Browns really in need of Mangini’s Jets 2.0? At this point, there’s really nothing to be done about it, and we’re going to have to grin and bear it. The Jets did make the playoffs once in Mangini’s three-year reign, but so did Butch Davis. I still support Mangini; I just hope the Browns have the right personnel to handle M-m-m-m-m-Mangini and the Jets (musical reference!). The Jets were just always that fringe team with Mangini and you knew they would never make a peep in the postseason beyond the Wild Card round. However, they say a second job is where a head coach can improve and miraculously patch up the inconsistencies and blunders of a previous gig.
Could the Browns be to Mangini what the Patriots were to Belichick?
Oh, and Kokinis hasn’t been hired yet, for some reason. Perhaps it’s because owner Randy Lerner was so quick to pull the trigger on Mangini that he slowed the process down with Kokinis to prove to the league that “Hey, I know how to own a team! See? I’m being careful with this hire. I like owning the Browns, promise!” An announcement could be today, but don’t hold your breath.