Kokinis fired in Cleveland (1 Viewer)

[Tecumseh]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2009/...g-in-cleveland/

There's a very strong rumor in league circles that the Cleveland Browns escorted G.M. George Kokinis out of the building today, the first business day into the team's bye week.

Jay Glazer has heard the same thing, and he'll be posting something soon at FOXSports.com.

For now, it's a rumor -- but a very, very strong one. (Or just "very". We're on the fence about it.)

Recently, the Browns fired Erin O'Brien, the director of football operations. O'Brien served as coach Eric Mangini's personal assistant when Mangini was the head coach of the Jets.

Kokinis was hand picked by Mangini to be the G.M. In many cities, the General Manager supervises the head coach and holds "final say" authority over the roster. In Cleveland, Kokinis is (was?) second fiddle to Mangini.

There previously had been speculation in league circles that Mangini would throw Kokinis under the bus if necessary to save Mangini's job. If the rumor of Kokinis' departure is accurate, the speculation will now be that Mangini sacrificed Kokinis now in order to get through the rest of the year, and possibly beyond.

UPDATE: We're hearing the same information from more and more sources, including one source who witnessed Kokinis collect his things and exit the building.

 

[Knobs]

Well, uhm...it's a start?

 

[drm1125]

Strange, I hope this means Mangini is on the way out also. It could mean that Mangini is going to have even more power, which I don't want at all!!

 

[nxmehta]

Wow what a weird story. I mean if you're going to fire the GM you think you'd announce it to someone?

It's got to be Lerner behind this... no way Mangini would fire Kokinis, he's a close friend and was hand picked by Mangini as a GM. If it's Mangini, holy cow would he be a back stabbing son of a #####! Pretty impressive.

If it's Lerner, you got to wonder what's the idea behind this move... Kokinis would be one of the last people I'd finger for being responsible for what's happened this year. Maybe next year if we have a terrible draft, sure, can the guy, but right now? Strange. Must be something else going on behind the scenes. Lerner DID say that he wanted to add someone high up in the Browns organization who was very visible... maybe this person is supposed to replace Kokinis.

I don't often criticize Lerner, I generally believe he does what I'd expect out of an owner which is open his wallet and get the hell out of the way, but if he's behind this he better speak up soon and explain WTF is going on. Firing the behind the scenes GM in the middle of a terrible season for which he's not really responsible is a questionable move with the information that we have right now.

 

[kaa]

In Tony Grossi's audio today. he comments on the GM job before the Kokinis story broke. He said Lerner could bring in a legitimate GM to run things, but its likely that GM would want to select his own head coach. Otherwise, he'd just be bringing in a figurehead and there's really no sense to it. The franchise seems very erratic.

 

[PizzaDeliveryGuy]

Wow what a weird story. I mean if you're going to fire the GM you think you'd announce it to someone?It's got to be Lerner behind this... no way Mangini would fire Kokinis, he's a close friend and was hand picked by Mangini as a GM. If it's Mangini, holy cow would he be a back stabbing son of a #####! Pretty impressive.If it's Lerner, you got to wonder what's the idea behind this move... Kokinis would be one of the last people I'd finger for being responsible for what's happened this year. Maybe next year if we have a terrible draft, sure, can the guy, but right now? Strange. Must be something else going on behind the scenes. Lerner DID say that he wanted to add someone high up in the Browns organization who was very visible... maybe this person is supposed to replace Kokinis.I don't often criticize Lerner, I generally believe he does what I'd expect out of an owner which is open his wallet and get the hell out of the way, but if he's behind this he better speak up soon and explain WTF is going on. Firing the behind the scenes GM in the middle of a terrible season for which he's not really responsible is a questionable move with the information that we have right now.

I'm fully expecting Dawg Pound Mike to be announced as the new GM at this point.

 

[nxmehta]

Here's a wild guess- maybe Kokinis is behind all this sitting of Brady Quinn to save $11 million nonsense... if that were somehow true I'd fire him twice, and fire his whole family too.

 

[kaa]

By the way, apparently Randy Lerner attended the Bears game. They said he was in the tunnel watching from there. At halftime, as the players and coaches filed past, Lerner apparently looked into everyone's eyes with a very angry demeanor. Grossi says its a sure bet Lerner will be very visible at the next home game as well.

 

[Gr00vus]

The franchise seems very erratic.

Seems is a bit of an understatement.Man, I never thought I'd use understatement to describe a kaa/bgp/paimei post.

 

[kaa]

The franchise seems very erratic.

Seems is a bit of an understatement.Man, I never thought I'd use understatement to describe a kaa/bgp/paimei post.

 

[cowboyz]

their draft looked pretty good.

how are those guys doing?

alex mack, brian robiskie, Mohamed Massaquoi, David Veikune

 

[drm1125]

their draft looked pretty good.how are those guys doing?alex mack, brian robiskie, Mohamed Massaquoi, David Veikune

I don't think the draft was/is considered pretty good, it was pretty medicore and I seem to remember most people saying that. They reached for Mack and didn't get enough from the Jets to move up for Sanchez. IMO, of course.

 

[Das Boot]

By the way, apparently Randy Lerner attended the Bears game. They said he was in the tunnel watching from there. At halftime, as the players and coaches filed past, Lerner apparently looked into everyone's eyes with a very angry demeanor. Grossi says its a sure bet Lerner will be very visible at the next home game as well.

Maybe next week he will furrow his eye brows and make growling noises to go along with the angry look.

 

[J R]

Here's a wild guess- maybe Kokinis is behind all this sitting of Brady Quinn to save $11 million nonsense... if that were somehow true I'd fire him twice, and fire his whole family too.

Why? That seems like a pretty smart move.

 

[drm1125]

Here's a wild guess- maybe Kokinis is behind all this sitting of Brady Quinn to save $11 million nonsense... if that were somehow true I'd fire him twice, and fire his whole family too.

Why? That seems like a pretty smart move.

It would only be a smart move if Anderson was outplaying Qiunn, he's not if anything, he's worse than Qiunn. Quinn has only started 6ish games in the nfl, not enough to tell if he's any good or not and they need to find out, so they know whether to draft a QB or not.

 

[fatness]

Maybe Kokonis had a staph infection.

 

[RC94]

Kind of strange to allow all of those trades he pulled off and then fire him midway thru the season.

 

[Das Boot]

Maybe Kokonis had a staph infection.

or a staff defection.

 

[knowledge dropper]

Kosar could be taking over?

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/12462420

GM Kokinis 'no longer actively involved' with Browns

Nov. 2, 2009

CBSSports.com wire reports

BEREA, Ohio -- The Cleveland Browns invisible general manager has disappeared.

George Kokinis, the hand-picked GM of first-year coach Eric Mangini who was rarely seen or heard in Cleveland, left the team Monday under unexplained circumstances after less than one year on the job.

After reports surfaced that Kokinis was fired, the team issued an awkwardly worded statement saying Kokinis "is no longer actively involved with the organization." The Browns also denied reports that Kokinis was escorted from team headquarters.

Kokinis' apparent ouster came one day after Browns owner Randy Lerner said he wanted to hire a "strong, credible, serious" football adviser to help run his struggling 1-7 team. Kokinis was hired on Jan. 23, two weeks after the Browns named Mangini as their fourth coach since 1999.

But the Mangini-Kokinis team has been broken up, forcing Lerner to look quickly for help. One possibility could be Ernie Accorsi, who was Cleveland's GM from 1985-92, when the Browns went to three AFC title games with Bernie Kosar at quarterback.

Kosar was recently brought in by Lerner to serve in an unspecified consulting role. Accorsi could take over the vacant GM position and serve as a mentor until Kosar is ready. Accorsi was the New York Giants' GM for nine years before retiring after the 2006 season. His biggest move was a trade with San Diego for quarterback Eli Manning.

Browns owner, angry fans to meet

Mangini said he would welcome anyone who could help the Browns get better.

"If you can add quality people that can help you get better, then you do that," he said. "You're always searching for those opportunities."

The Browns said they would withhold further comment of Kokinis' situation "in the interest of protecting the parties involved."

Citing unnamed team and league sources, ESPN.com reported that Kokinis refused to resign when pressed by Lerner, who then persisted in seeking a dismissal "for cause." The report said the team's security and legal department were reviewing phone records to build its case against Kokinis.

Before coming to Cleveland, Kokinis spent 13 years with Baltimore, the past six seasons as the Ravens' director of pro personnel. He had little or no authority with the Browns as Mangini, who was fired by the New York Jets after last season, has enjoyed full control over football operations.

Kokinis' strange departure is the latest twist for the Browns, the closest thing the NFL has to a daily soap opera.

Already in Mangini's first year in Cleveland, the Browns have dealt with a lengthy list of on- and off-the-field circumstances.

Mangini was criticized for making his rookies take a 10-hour bus ride to his football camp in Connecticut and later for fining one of his players $1,701 for not paying for a $3 bottle of water during a hotel stay. There's been the ongoing quarterback saga involving Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn, the trade of wide receiver Braylon Edwards two days after he allegedly punched a friend of NBA star LeBron James, a flu outbreak that hit 12 players, cornerback Eric Wright's car accident and other situations.

And of course, there has been the losing, something the Mangini-Kokinis team was supposed to fix.

Kokinis essentially was hand-picked by Mangini to be his GM. The two worked together under former Browns coach Bill Belichick in the 1990s.

Kokinis attended Cleveland's 30-6 loss in Chicago on Sunday. He sat in the press box and had little interaction with anyone, which has been his customary mode of operation since the day he joined the Browns. Kokinis had not formally spoken to Cleveland media members since draft day in April.

He was usually on the field during training camp practices, but Kokinis never held court with reporters like his predecessor, Phil Savage, routinely did for four years. When the Browns traded Edwards to the Jets last month, it was Mangini and not Kokinis who explained Cleveland's decision to deal one of its only stars.

And now Kokinis has left, gone without a word.

Copyright 2009 by STATS LLC and The Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and The Associated Press is strictly prohibited.

 

[J R]

Here's a wild guess- maybe Kokinis is behind all this sitting of Brady Quinn to save $11 million nonsense... if that were somehow true I'd fire him twice, and fire his whole family too.

Why? That seems like a pretty smart move.

It would only be a smart move if Anderson was outplaying Qiunn, he's not if anything, he's worse than Qiunn. Quinn has only started 6ish games in the nfl, not enough to tell if he's any good or not and they need to find out, so they know whether to draft a QB or not.

There'd be more reason to fire Kokinis if he needed more games to figure out if Quinn is any good or not.

 

[kaa]

Ernie Accorsi? He was terrible. He had nothing to do with building the Browns of the 1980s. In fact, it was under him that the team began to draft poorly. Its just that Accorsi's poor drafts didn't begin to really hurt the team until 1990. I don't know how things went in New York but I'm damn sure Accorsi would be another mistake.

COME ON!!!

 

[PizzaDeliveryGuy]

Kosar could be taking over?

The draft war room would look like a FF draft at hooters. 4rd round Cleveland selects.........(commissioner reads card) that Bradford kid from Oklahoma.

 

[kaa]

I still remember exactly what irritated me so much about Accorsi. When he took over the Browns GM job, it was clear that we had a good OL but it was long in the tooth and needed new blood. So Accorsi completely and utterly ignores the OL and allows it to decline. From 1985-1990 he selects only ONE OL in the first 4 rounds - Greg Rakoczy. And boy any Brown will tell you how bad Rakoczy was. But they kept trying to play him because they had no-one else. And then as a result of neglecting the OL, Kosar starts getting beat up and abused, and then the hit by Lloyd Burress ruins Kosar's career.

I'm still mad about that whole situation. Please don't bring him back. PLEASE.

 

[Mr. Retukes]

Here's a wild guess- maybe Kokinis is behind all this sitting of Brady Quinn to save $11 million nonsense... if that were somehow true I'd fire him twice, and fire his whole family too.

Actually, the Browns were only saving $6.32 million, but they've already virtually guaranteed a savings of $5 million (since it would be almost impossible for Quinn to play in 70% of the offensive snaps this season). At this point the Browns would only save an additional $1.32 million if they prevented Quinn from playing 45% of the snaps.

 

[kaa]

The terrible thing is the Browns are close to completing the job of building a very strong OL through the draft. Accorsi would be like the absolute nightmare selection as GM, because the first thing he'll do is ignore the only unit that has potential to be great.

 

[kaa]

I just looked over Accorsi tenure with the Giants. Yep, he also completely ignored their OL in the draft. God help us if he comes back here.

Accorsi's wikipedia page states he is the current GM of the Browns. I am going to be very, very angry.

 

[davearm]

The terrible thing is the Browns are close to completing the job of building a very strong OL through the draft. Accorsi would be like the absolute nightmare selection as GM, because the first thing he'll do is ignore the only unit that has potential to be great.

One could easily argue that what the next GM ought to do is ignore the unit that has potential to be great, and concentrate on the ones that totally suck.

 

[kaa]

The terrible thing is the Browns are close to completing the job of building a very strong OL through the draft. Accorsi would be like the absolute nightmare selection as GM, because the first thing he'll do is ignore the only unit that has potential to be great.

One could easily argue that what the next GM ought to do is ignore the unit that has potential to be great, and concentrate on the ones that totally suck.

I hate that philosophy. Always have. If you think you can gain an edge somewhere, PRESS IT. And then of course in FOOTBALL, you win in the trenches. So if you actually have a shot at dominating on OL or DL, dear God in Heaven DO SO.

 

[J R]

The terrible thing is the Browns are close to completing the job of building a very strong OL through the draft. Accorsi would be like the absolute nightmare selection as GM, because the first thing he'll do is ignore the only unit that has potential to be great.

One could easily argue that what the next GM ought to do is ignore the unit that has potential to be great, and concentrate on the ones that totally suck.

I hate that philosophy. Always have. If you think you can gain an edge somewhere, PRESS IT. And then of course in FOOTBALL, you win in the trenches. So if you actually have a shot at dominating on OL or DL, dear God in Heaven DO SO.

 

[Jedeye]

Kind of strange to allow all of those trades he pulled off and then fire him midway thru the season.

I don't think he really had much to do with those trades other than in name only. Those trades were facilitated by Mangini. Makes sense to fire Kokikis as he essentially was getting paid for nothing. Mangini has been the acting GM since the day he was hired. So much so that he hired he GM.

 

[wadegarrett]

 

[Sweet Love]

With the trades this team made prior and during the season with the Jets screamed, REBUILDING, yet no one seems to admit this (from the Browns mgmt of course). Say what you want, but they picked apart the Jets depth (which is showing) and although it may seem odd the way they are doing it, they will have strong depth (and few, if no stars) going into 2010...if they can attract some talented players going into 2010, they should be in decent shape. Mangini was quick to toss Winslow and Edwards, yet bent over backwards when speaking about Cribbs, that it makes you think he has a plan (well, hey he should). I think they are in better shape than it seems and although they may have to clear out both Quinn and Anderson going into next year, they have the base...BASE...of being a decent team.

 

[FavreCo]

Just applied for the GM job on clevelandbrowns.com. 1st thing I'll do is fire Mangina immediately after the interview. You'll know if they hire me because they started winning. If they continue their losing ways with Mangina, then I didn't get the gig.

If you want your team fixed, you would be wise to hire me as your next GM. Over the past 18 years, I have compiled 4 FFL championships. I have the all-time best winning percentage in our league's history over that time. My player evaluation is light years ahead of your current management. If you want to win, hire me. If you like losing, continue with business as usual. Seriously, your organization is a mess and I can turn your current disaster around within a couple years. The mistakes are easily corrected.

-- Cleveland Browns Management a Complete Nightmare --

Thu Nov 5, 2009 --from FFMastermind.com

•SI.com's Peter King reports Cleveland Browns owner Randy Lerner, under fire after parting ways .......blah,blah,blah......The Browns have had a disastrous year, dating to the firing of GM Phil Savage with four years left on his contract and HC Romeo Crennel with three remaining years. The Browns owe Savage and Crennel an estimated $21 million. Mangini is in the first year of a reported four-year, $12-million deal, while Kokinis was believed to be making slightly more than $1 million per year. If the team parts ways with Mangini after the season, that's another $9 million the Browns will owe a former employee.

 

[Doug B]

If you want your team fixed, you would be wise to hire me as your next GM. Over the past 18 years, I have compiled 4 FFL championships. I have the all-time best winning percentage in our league's history over that time. My player evaluation is light years ahead of your current management ...

Weren't those basically Theo Epstein's credentials before being hired as the Red Sox GM?

 

[FavreCo]

If you want your team fixed, you would be wise to hire me as your next GM. Over the past 18 years, I have compiled 4 FFL championships. I have the all-time best winning percentage in our league's history over that time. My player evaluation is light years ahead of your current management ...

Weren't those basically Theo Epstein's credentials before being hired as the Red Sox GM?

Never heard of Theo.

 

[Doug B]

Never heard of Theo.

Epstein was touted as being a young wiz-kid statistician when hired as the Red Sox' GM at age 28. He was not a player, scout, or anything like that. He did work in the Paders' PR dept for a while, and was briefly the Pad's Director of Baseball Operations (weird leap).As I understand it, Epstein was basically so good at sabermetric analysis, he got himself lined up for a legit MLB front-office job. That's about as close as you can get to "fantasy expert takes over real-life team".

 

[RC94]

Kind of strange to allow all of those trades he pulled off and then fire him midway thru the season.

I don't think he really had much to do with those trades other than in name only. Those trades were facilitated by Mangini. Makes sense to fire Kokikis as he essentially was getting paid for nothing. Mangini has been the acting GM since the day he was hired. So much so that he hired he GM.

Where did you read this?

 

[FavreCo]

Never heard of Theo.

Epstein was touted as being a young wiz-kid statistician when hired as the Red Sox' GM at age 28. He was not a player, scout, or anything like that. He did work in the Paders' PR dept for a while, and was briefly the Pad's Director of Baseball Operations (weird leap).As I understand it, Epstein was basically so good at sabermetric analysis, he got himself lined up for a legit MLB front-office job. That's about as close as you can get to "fantasy expert takes over real-life team".

Oh yeah. I remember that dude. That was hilarious. I'll do better right out of the gate because I'll fire Mangina. That will make me an instant legend in Cleveland.

 

[FavreCo]

Kind of strange to allow all of those trades he pulled off and then fire him midway thru the season.

I don't think he really had much to do with those trades other than in name only. Those trades were facilitated by Mangini. Makes sense to fire Kokikis as he essentially was getting paid for nothing. Mangini has been the acting GM since the day he was hired. So much so that he hired he GM.

Where did you read this?

Mangina brought that clown in and will be involved in selecting the next GM. Who gets to hand pick their own boss, and what are the odds that works out?

 

[Doug B]

Oh yeah. I remember that dude. That was hilarious. I'll do better right out of the gate because I'll fire Mangina. That will make me an instant legend in Cleveland.

The story got even better -- Epstein has been smashing success, and is still the GM of the Red Sox right now. The Sox have won two World Series (after a famous century-long drought) under his watch and with his acquisitions.So, not only does "fantasy geek" take over a real-life squad, he kicks butt and shakes off the Curse of the Bambino.Randy Lerner needs to hustle up and get you on the team plane.