REPORT: BROWNS ATMOSPHERE IS “MISERABLE”

Since Eric Mangini took over as head coach of the Cleveland Browns, he hasn’t exactly been a beacon of sunshine around the office, the Canton Repository reports. According to the article, a Browns insider described “the atmosphere at headquarters is, to put it mildly, miserable. New Head Coach Eric Mangini is running the place like Napoleon.” Ouch. Repository columnist Todd Porter said that Mangini is already alienating players. At a public function attended by Mangini and Pro Bowl nose guard Shaun Rogers, Rogers said he hadn’t met the coach and hoped to do so that evening. Then, Mangini reportedly walked past Rogers without speaking. Maybe it was Rogers’ cologne? Just kidding. Porter also took a shot at new General Manager George Kokinis and the entire regime, writing, “If you want to know what kind of flavor new GM George Kokinis has when talking to the media, stick a piece of notebook paper in your mouth and chew on it for a half hour. I give Mangini and Kokinis no more than three years before Lerner has sold the team. That’s right. Lerner will sell the team before he hires another head coach.” Another much more favorable portrait of Mangini was painted by the Akron Beacon-Journal, chronicling his charity work, all-state high school football days, his time as a hard-working public relations assistant and ballboy for the Browns before breaking into coaching under Bill Belichick, strong family ties and self-deprecating sense of humor. ''He has another side,’' Graham Martin, Mangini’s football coach at Bulkeley High School in Hartford, Conn., told the Beacon-Journal. ''You have to have a fine balance when you’re working with people, be tough but give a little love and understanding. I believe Eric is one of those people, and it’s behind his success.’'