Comments on: Fettucini, Linguini, Martini, Mangini

By: David in NYC

David in NYC — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:31:45 +0000

“I mean, everyone in New York — players, fans, media members, everyone — DESPISED Mangini. I mean, I’m still wondering who in New York Manigini could have put down as a reference.”

Tony Soprano?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0995838/

By: Mr. Stoner

Mr. Stoner — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:12:08 +0000

How did the 49ers hiring of Dennis Erickson not even make the list? It showed fans the organization wasn’t even going to try to win. Hands down worst hire in 25 years. Mangini’s garbage, but at least he seems to be stocking up on picks for the teams future without him.

By: INT. ERIC MANGINI’S OFFICE — DAY :: The Kardiac Kid

INT. ERIC MANGINI’S OFFICE — DAY :: The Kardiac Kid — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:43:20 +0000

[...] they want to fire me after only three games? We’re not even to the bye week and I’M THE WORST NFL HEAD COACH HIRE IN 25 YEARS? ARE YOU SHITTING ME, JOE PO-WHATEVERYOURNAMEIS? I’M [...]

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:29:29 +0000

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/kawakami/2008/02/11/jim-zorn-to-the-redskins-probably-the-worst-nfl-hire-of-all-time/

worst hire ever. at the time of writing.

By: Mo

Mo — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:13:33 +0000

Thanks djl, that’s interesting info on Aikman and Manning. As soon as I read it, I remembered those tough years for those teams.

I stand by my Leeman Bennett claim. Nice to see that SI put up a photo collection of bad hires. Bennett didn’t make it– would have been neat to see a pic of him standing next to an RV or something.

Posnanski’s arguments for Mangini being the worst ever are really soft:
1. Not having a winning record as a Jet’s head coach. Feel free to list all Jets coaches with winning records during their time as Jet’s head coach… Bill Parcells, and…. and… oh, that’s it… since they became the Jets in 1963… one winning coach… Mangini’s overall record 23-25. Plus he had a winning record in two out of his three seasons. Including a winning record last season.

2. Cleveland needs a working class coach? What the heck does that mean? A subjective rating of how ‘blue-collar’ someone appears to be…

3.’What had he ever done to convince anyone he could be a head coach in the first place?’ Two winning seasons in NY as head coach. A 10-6 record in his first year with a team that was 4-12 a year earlier. He had been involved in coaching NFL teams for several years, and had previously been offered def. coordinator positions at other teams.

4. He tore down a mural or something… Well, as was pointed out, this happened after the hire, so it reflects more on his time as a coach, and not so much on the hiring process. Perhaps they should screen future Browns coaches by walking the by the mural and asking “Anything here you’d like to change if you were head coach?”

I doubt Mangini will work out long term at Cleveland– particularly not after an 0-3 start, but if he was the worst hire in the past 25 years, why could Posnanski write this stuff before they were 0-3.

By: jsbeck

jsbeck — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:50:04 +0000

I just read your article about mangini being the worst hire ever.
this is what we are saying in cleveland too!
i started a website that had 1000 hits in one day!
and we have a petition going around with over 2500 on it!

http://sellthebrowns.com
Jamie

By: lazy perfectionist

lazy perfectionist — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:22:38 +0000

Lou Holtz with the Jets in ‘75. The Petrino of his time.

Gawd I’m old…

By: jamey

jamey — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 06:15:05 +0000

Please. No where near the worst hire. This is a silly discussion after 3 games, and an even sillier discussion when you put any thought into the craptastic hires that have occurred in the NFL.

The Browns are coming off of four years of Camp Romeo. They need a guy who has coached in the NFL and has shown a willingness to build a team and make unpopular decisions. They need a tough guy.

But, ignoring the rhetorical tool to get us to assume Mangini is in this class, just for fun lets think about bad hires:

The niners had two terrible hires in a row.
Dennis Erickson then Ted Nolan?

No and No. Especially no on Erickson, right after he took a dump on Seattle. No one thought that would work.

And at Nolan’s first press conference… well, you could just tell he wasn’t a reader. Mangini is brusque but he’s not a mouth breather.

Nic Saban might have been hot, but Cam Cameron was an insta-bust.

Rich Brooks was a lock of a bust.

Al Groh?

For gods sake the chiefs TRADED to get Herm Edwards. He might be a likeable guy, but no one thought that was going to work. The AFC west basically chuckled.

Can I get a Joe Bugel?

Look, I’m sorry you are a Brady Quinn fan, and I’m sorry he’s not going to be a pro player. That’s not Mangini’s fault. He was basically forced to start Quinn and let us all see what we were dealing with, in reality, not on EAS commercials or Teen Beat magazine covers, Quinn don’t got it. Sorry. He was supposed to be “NFL ready” when he was drafted. He ain’t. Get over it. Quinn can’t play and no coach would play him.

And the hype over Mangini’s decoration changes is way overdone. I’m starting to think, Sr. Poz, you are in bed with Tom Condon.

By: somebody

somebody — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 03:09:48 +0000

at least art shell didnt punch his assistant coach.

By: Ron

Ron — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:40:21 +0000

4. Basically the first thing Mangini did — first thing — was have them tear down a mural of great Cleveland Browns players on the wall in the Browns offices. Now, there are differing opinions about what really happened, whose fault it really was, does it all matter, etc. You know what? The Cleveland Browns have never been to a Super Bowl. Never. Not one. But Browns fans still have a whole lot of pride. Browns fans grow up on a glorious history. If you allow something stupid like that to happen on your watch … just a horrendous hire.

Joe this is bad information. Oh sure it was reported by unnamed sources but it was disproved. What Mangini really did was move the wall to where fans could see it. He moved it to a more fan friendly spot. I get reporters hate him. I get there is a grudge there. But passing along WRONG info weeks after it was disproved is bush. Apologize or fix your mistake.

http://cursedcleveland.com/?p=325
“I apologize for writing it was painted over. I was wrong. That’s what I was told, and it came from several people who reasonably assumed that’s what happened. That’s no excuse for me; I was wrong.” – Patrick McManamon