Cleveland Browns head coach Eric Mangini is a self absorbed egotistical jerk

No one likes Eric Mangini. The players don’t and people around the league don’t. Not that anyone condoned “Spygate”, but people around the league didn’t like the fact that he “broke code” and squealed on Belichick.

There is a little published fact that deserves some attention here. When Mangini was obviously a hot candidate for a head coaching job, Belichick who disliked the Jets (that’s a whole entire different story, Belichick is a dope himself for hanging the Jets out to dry like that) asked Mangini to take any job except the Jets job. Not that he had the right to do that, but the reality is that Mangini would be a school teacher somewhere right now if it is wasn’t for Belichick so I guess some loyalty was warranted…..

When Mangini returned back to the Patriots complex after interviewing for the Jest head coaching position he’s key card did not work. Belichick was pissed and changed the lock. And there started the feud between Mangini and Belichick …

Let’s look at where Mangini is coming from:

College

Mangini has a Wesleyan University education. In college he played nose tackle at Division III Wesleyan and holds the school's single-season (11.5) and career (36.5) sacks records. During the second semester of his junior and senior years, he coached the Kew Colts, a semi-professional football team in Melbourne, Australia, to two regional championships. Mangini joined the Chi Psi Fraternity that coaching mentor Bill Belichick, a Wesleyan alumnus, was part of two decades earlier.

Coaching career

Assistant coach

Mangini first caught the attention of Bill Belichick, as a 23-year-old ball boy with the Cleveland Browns. His work ethic impressed Belichick, and the head coach was instrumental in promoting Mangini to a public relations intern, and later, an offensive assistant.

After spending 1996 as an offensive assistant with the Baltimore Ravens, Mangini rejoined Belichick and spent three seasons as a defensive assistant with the New York Jets. When Belichick was hired as the New England Patriots head coach in 2000, he brought along Mangini as his defensive backs coach. Mangini, who won three Super Bowls with the Patriots, turned down defensive coordinator positions with the Miami Dolphins, Oakland Raiders and Cleveland Browns before accepting the position with New England in 2005.

Head coach

Mangini, 35, became the youngest head coach in the NFL when he was hired by the Jets on January 17, 2006, to replace Herm Edwards. He beat internal candidates Donnie Henderson, Mike Heimerdinger and Mike Westhoff and external candidates Jim Haslett, Mike Tice, Tim Lewis and Joe Vitt for the job.

In his first season, Mangini led the Jets to a 10-6 record and a postseason berth. New York, which finished the previous year 4-12, lost to New England in a wild-card playoff game.

New York went 4-12 in 2007, failing to make the playoffs. Early in the regular season, Mangini complained to league officials that Belichick's Patriots illegally filmed the Jets' defensive signals, causing the "Spygate" scandal.

In 2008, a late-season collapse—the Jets missed the playoffs despite an 8-3 start—led to Mangini's firing on December 29, 2008, one day after the season ended.

Mangini was hired as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns on January 7, 2009, signing a four-year deal. Mangini currently has an 0-3 record as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns and is now replacing his young QB 3 games into the season. Not that I like Brady Quinn better than Derek Anderson to begin with, but if you are going to name your young “franchise QB” the starter, you have to have a longer leash than that.

Mangini seems to pride himself on running a tight ship. He does in fact run a tight ship over there on the Cleveland Browns. How do we know? Nothing says d-bag no-nonsense like fining a player $1,701 over a bottle of water snatched from a hotel mini-bar. (The NFLPA has filed a formal grievance.) Apparently, the parched player grabbed the H2O but didn’t pay for it during a team road trip. Are you serious?

Some other reasons Mangini is an called “A-Hole” we haven’t discussed yet:

- He kept Brett Favre’s injury hush-hush while coaching the Jets last season. Oops, there’s a fine.
- He made rookies take a 10-hour bus ride (each way) to and from his one-day football camp in Hartford, CT. This took place on a weekend between voluntary minicamp and team activities slated for the following Monday. Oh, and he took a plane on the way down. After some heat, Mangini rode the bus with them back to Cleveland.
- He showed up in Cleveland and had a mural of Browns greats removed. Something tells us that isn’t a team-building exercise in the NFL Coach Handbook.
- During training camp he fined a player for parking in a spot that he did not first pre-approve of. (Ok, I don’t know that actually happened, but I heard it did, and why wouldn’t you believe it?)

This guy is more concerned with bullshit stuff that has nothing to do with playing the game. The bottom line is that he takes the fun out of it for the players as well as the fans and he won’t get the players to play for him or the fans to root for him.

I feel sorry for the Cleveland fans. I’m a Jets fan. I wished you would have asked me before hiring him, you would have saved yourself some pain. Get rid of him. -Keith A. Baker

Keith A. Baker is a sports agent in Stamford, Connecticut. His goal is to offer a unique insight to the world of sports and Major League Baseball in particular. Comments in his columns are for entertainment purposes only and do not reflect the views and opinions of his firm or his clients.

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I Hate Kevin Faulk!

Kevin Faulk.  Kevin Faulk.  Kevin Faulk.  Kevin Faulk.....

I can’t begin to tell you how much I hate Kevin Faulk. I hate to say his name and I hate to think about him. Watching the game this past Monday night made me sick. I can’t stand the guy. When he walks on the field I want to vomit.

Why you say...? He doesn't put up monster stats against your team?  And Monday night he only had 2 rushes for 7 yards and 6 catches for 51 yards.  What’s the big deal?

Well here’s the thing. I am a HUGE Jets fan. And more than any player that the Patriots have, I am jealous that they have Kevin Faulk.

I’m not jealous that they have Tom Brady, Randy Moss or Wes Welker etc. (they have a lot of great players) but it kills me that the Pats have Kevin Faulk.

For the last decade now, this guy has been the best player in football that no one talks about. The guy walks on to the field on third and 7 with everyone in the stadium and watching on TV knowing that Tom Brady is going to dump the ball off to him at about 4 yards, and that he is going to get the 1st down and he does it anyway.

He does it in the pre season, the regular season, the playoffs, the Superbowl. He probably does it to his kids in his back yard. The guy just does what it takes to win all the time and my team never seems to have a player like that.

I know it’s not literally true, but my perception is that he never misses an opportunity to stick a dagger in the other team’s heart. He’s clutch, he catches everything thrown in his vicinity and gets every necessary yard he needs each and every time he touches the ball.

He’s been at it since 1999 when he was drafted by the Patriots out of LSU and I’m sick of it. Even when the Patriots don’t score, he extends drives wearing defenses down or takes time off the clock. A 4 yard draw play to extend a drive here, a 9 yard catch and run to set up a field goal there. He gets out of bounds when he needs to stop the clock, he stays in when he needs to let the clock run. He catches it high, low, anywhere his hands can reach and sometimes even where they can’t. He’s not flashy and does not put up the best overall stats, but in crunch time he always comes through. No one talks about it but he’s an integral part of why the Patriots have been so good for so long and have won all these championships. The guys is the Derek Jeter of football.

Watching the Patriots vs. Bills the other night made me sick because I could see him doing the same thing this week against my Jets. He always does. If I had one player that I wished would miss this week’s Jets vs. Pats game it would not be Brady, Moss, Wilfork, Welker or any of the obvious great players they have it would be Faulk.

He’s a great player and I hate his guts because he's on my biggest rival.

I never whish for bad things to happen to people and on a personal level I really don't wish anything bad for Kevin Faulk - I'm sure he's a nice guy. But my team neads a win this weekend and I don't see how they do it if this guy plays so I need to do what I need to do to help out.

I am hereby officially putting on the Costa HEX on Kevin Faulk in the public domain. (Sorry Kevin.... well not really....) You can call it cheating and that's fine because I've just about lost all my morals at this point and Costa HEX works all the time (goes back generations in my family - it's the one talent we Costa's have - kind of a grandpa Munster thing)

Kevin Faulk, you are a gamer and I would take you on my team any day. But you are not on my team and my team needs a win.

"Kevin, I hope you get hemorrhoids real bad and can’t play this weekend."

There, I did it. The Costa HEX in in effect (there is only one way to take it off and I'm not telling :) – Peter Costa

Pete is a serious baseball Rotisserie participant playing the same league with the same guys for 17 years. Not only has Peter never finished in the money; he’s finished last 13 times and no higher than 10th (in a league with 14 guys). We’ve been following Pete’s trials, tribulations and frustrations on Around The Horn as he attempted to navigate his way out of the basement in 2009 (didn’t happen) and now he’s trying his luck at Fantasy football. Can’t blame a guy for trying right? Good luck Pete, you’re gonna need it…….

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Have a Fantasy Football or Rotisserie Baseball question? Want to know who to pick up, who to activate and who the hot prospects are? Ask Dr. Roto. Let Dr. Roto guide your team to a league championship!