The Cleveland Browns were bizarrely silent for most of Monday night, as rumors and reports of the departure of G.M. George Kokinis spread like H1N1 in a house of ill repute.
And now, amid reports that Kokinis was fired not just because the team is terrible but “with cause,” the Browns are likewise saying mostly nothing.
But they’re saying just enough to create an environment in which speculation is certain to occur, especially in the wake of the abrupt termination of Erin O’Brien only days before Kokinis was fired.
Browns owner Randy Lerner has complicated the situation dramatically, in our opinion, by answering a long list of questions from Tony Grossi of the Cleveland Plain Dealer by e-mail.
Asked specifically to elaborate on the reasons for Kokinis’ presumed “with cause” departure, Lerner said, “We are not at liberty to discuss the details of George’s departure at this time.”
That response, standing alone, implies to us that the team thinks Kokinis did something pretty bad. We’d be willing to give them a pass on this, however, because Lerner had to say something in response to the question. (That said, “We cannot comment on the matter at the present time” would have been even better.)
But the “next question”-style response from Lerner came after he defended the timing of the move by saying this: “My justification for the recent change is that circumstances dictated
the action taken and I can assure you they were unforeseen.”
OK, now the message is clear. The Browns are saying that Kokinis did something he shouldn’t have done, without specifically saying that he did something he shouldn’t have done. And we believe it’s not fair to Kokinis to drop vague hints that will prompt people to wildly guess at possible reasons that likely are far worse than the worst reality the Browns could conjure.
By all indications and based on everything we’ve ever heard, Kokinis is a good and honorable man whose biggest mistake was to believe that a contract giving him final say over the Cleveland roster meant what it said. In eight-plus years of running this site, we’ve never heard a bad thing about Kokinis — and we’ve heard plenty of bad things about plenty of other coaches and personnel executives.
Though we’re not saying that Lerner should roll out the overhead projector and engage in a two-hour Davis-Kiffin rant regarding Kokinis, we believe that, if the Browns believe Kokinis did something to justify a termination with cause, the Browns need to say what it is, or they need to say absolutely nothing at all about the matter.
Our guess? The Browns are deliberately dancing around the edges of the situation in the hopes of squeezing Kokinis into accepting a settlement of his contract. If the truth is that Kokinis was made merely to be the scapegoat for coach Eric Mangini and that the Browns are now trying to trump up a case for a “with cause” termination in the hopes that Kokinis will take 50 cents on the dollar as to what he otherwise would have earned, we hope that Kokinis sticks to his guns and fights this thing hard.
im gonna go out on a limb and state the obvious
Randy apparently would prefer to surround himself with ingrates and failures than to have someone else be the smartest guy in the room all the time.
He’s just firing the wrong guy, clearly.
sad sad case
My guess is he went out for halloween as Charles Haley, and thrust his junk in the face of the owner, while screaming “I am MANKOK”!!!
OK, probably not, but it’s better than just saying he sucked.
Sure bet George is happy he left Baltimore to go to Cleveland. He was a highly successful director of pro player personnel at a consistently winning organization who left to join a supposed friend only to find out that said friend was a major league douchebag. I’m betting he did nothing wrong other than accepting that lousy job. Lerner just doesn’t want to pay him his contract. Come on back home George. The nightmare is over.
So did Kokinis get fired for trading Braylon Edwards? Or because he tried to stop them trading Braylon Edwards?
All very odd.
Lerner doesnt seem to have a problem paying a bunch of other losers the rest of their contract…think… The Hamburgler and Opie.
Vic Carucci just said on WEEI to stay tuned for the “freaky” details to come out. He says they are being very careful due to potential behind the scene legal issues…. He then went on to say he’s not sure how much of it will come out but it’s “freaky.”
Learner, Mangini…they are both a bunch of idiots in my mind, however, if this devolves into some sort of legal proceeding shouldnt he remain as quiet as possible. Oh yeah…has Mangini been fired yet?
Kokinis did nothing wrong except take the job. Organizationally, this Browns are cleaning the slate. Kokinis was the first to go, well the second after Erin O’Brien. Once a new GM is established they can either let Mangini stay under their terms (if they want him) or he can leave. I think Lerner is being told by Accorsi and Kosar that this draft (browns have a ton of picks) is crucial to the franchise. It is my hope that Lerner will rely on those in the know in the NFL and get someone with a pedigree to take this thing over.
On his Facebook page, LeCharles Bentley brought up the possibility that Kokinis had a mental breakdown that led to his termination (OK, actually he was trying to dispel that suggestion, but since I hadn’t heard it elsewhere, he effectively brought it up). If this were true and it were 1) a medical condition that prevented him from doing his job and 2) something for which his contract allowed them to terminate him, could the Browns be bound by confidentiality laws about saying anything to the press?
Mike Florio said:
“But they’re saying just enough to create an environment in which speculation is certain to occur, especially in the wake of the abrupt termination of Erin O’Brien only days before Kokinis was fired.”
Dig deeper, Florio…dig a hole the size of Zeke Mowatt and see if anything is there.
here you go mr florio ,i guess u dont get good sleep daily till you bash the browns …..
please stop usless articles from old news line by line
and creating a new article when nothing is happenning ……
If Lerner is sticking this “with just cause” label on Kokinis not because he did anything “wrong” but rather just to save the cost of the man’s contract, then he is a bigger douchebag than Mangini.
This is Fran Foley-ish.
I’m tryin to figure out why this matters so much to Lord Florio. Does he have a personal interest in why Kokinis was fired/let go for cause? This is news for anyone outside of the Cincinnati area because why?????
oops…..Cleveland
Folks the writing is all over the wall. The female executive gets suddenly terminated just a couple days before the GM gets terminated “with cause” and the team is declining to go into detail. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon.
Sometimes the simplest answer is the correct one.
Hopefully the Browns learn that just hiring some jagoff from the Ravens front office isn’t a good idea. Didn’t work with Phil Savage. Didn’t work with Kokinis. Last I heard Phil Savage was working for the Crimson Tide Sports Network down in Alabama…thats how highly his work in Cleveland was reguarded around the league. I assume the same will happen to Kokinis, he will either crawl back to Ozzie Newsome and beg for a job…or he’ll be without a job. Just because someone is groomed by the great Ozzie Newsome doesn’t mean they are going to be a good GM….Browns have discovered this twice now. Fool me once shame on you…fool me twice shame on me. Hire someone NOT affiliated with Baltimore Mr.Lerner.
Why do you think the Browns owe you an explanation about this management change? It’s none of your friggin business. No other business is required to explain it’s decisions to the public. I think the Browns are really mis magnaged but it is their right to hire and fire who they please. Ohio is a “Right to work state”. The employer doesn’t even need a reason!
Hey mistakebythelake,
Did you know that most homophobes are so hateful because they are afraid of their own homosexual tendencies ?
Maybe if you walk out the front door, go left and walk a couple miles you can find the Wayback Machine and return to the 1950s when homophobia was cool.
boo…..Cleveland
It’s amazing that in the richest league in the world, owners are chiseling coaches and front office staff out of their money.
Al Davis won’t pay Kiffin what he owes him, Danny Snyder tries to humiliate Zorn into quitting so he won’t have to pay him off, and now this turd Lerner stiffs Kokinis because the Browns are off to a horrible start.
You’d think these guys were down to their last million or something.
Man what a loser organization this is. Why doesn’t this idiot owner just sell the team? This knuckle head is another Dan Synder.
So Randy Lerner is saying something without really saying anything at all…
What’s wrong with that? Isn’t that the basic tenent of PFT?
Florio, you slack-jawed Yinzer hypocrite.
George,
Now that you will be looking for a new position in the NFL, you may regret not returning phone calls to your collegues while you were GM. Let this be a lesson to all you men in ‘high’ positions. Respect other men that have been in the league as long as you or longer.
PGHDON
Ohio is not a right to work state. However, it’s immaterial as I would never allow my front office to be unionized.
Keep reaching Florio. The details will come out in due time. Trust me they are “freaky”.
rlerner
and oh ya its very obivous what going on here. Kokinis was messng around with Maginis personal assistant, got caught and they both lost their jobs.
What can they say at this point? Someone needed to be tossed into the volcano, and Kokinas was the guy. There will be others before the Browns get turned around.
I agree those comments make me think he did something wrong. The first thing that comes to mind is sexual harrassment. But there is no grounds for that like you said. Also you said people will make guesses that are alot worse then the case and thats right. Because there is nothing to make me believe he sexually harrassed anyone but that was the first thing to put into my head because of what Lerner said.
Florio, I challenge you to write an article that doesn’t slam the Browns at every chance you get.