Here's a list of the coaches hired after the 2008 season: Eric Mangini (Browns), Raheem Morris (Buccaneers), Jim Schwartz (Lions), Rex Ryan (Jets), Josh McDaniels (Broncos), Jim Mora (Seahawks), Jim Caldwell (Colts) and Steve Spagnuolo (Rams). It appears Tom Cable will stay on in Oakland and Todd Haley is a candidate in Kansas City. That's a list of 10 names. Only Mora and Mangini have been head coaches in the NFL before, although Cable coached the final 12 games of the past season as an interim coach. How does Mangini stack up in that field? It's not just the Browns who had to go to Plan B . . or Plan C . . . to find a coach.

For whatever reason, veterans Brian Billick and Marty Schottenheimer apparently didn't even have an official interview anywhere. After next season, the likes of Jon Gruden, Bill Cowher, Mike Holmgren and Mike Shanahan might be available. But the field is mostly rookies this season, which is why I didn't have a major issue with Randy Lerner turning to Mangini. I have no idea if the George Kokinis / Mangini combination will work, but I also can't go very negative on it, given the moves of other teams to fill vacancies.

I do feel better about the Kokinis hiring because former Browns and Giants executive Ernie Accorsi was heavily involved in it. His role included helping Lerner in the interview process, asking questions and supplying the Browns with background info on various GM and coaching candidates. When the Atlanta Falcons thought they had Bill Parcells coming in to run the team - but he went to Miami instead - Falcons ownership turned to Accorsi for help. He led them to Barberton native Thomas Dimitroff, who was working for Bill Belichick.

Yes, that's the same Thomas Dimitroff who has become the NFL Executive of the Year, the same Thomas Dimitroff who had 11 draft picks - 10 made the team, three became starters. And the same Thomas Dimitroff who nailed it when picking QB Matt Ryan and signing veteran free-agent running back Michael Turner. And yes, the same Thomas Dimitroff (whose dad was a scout for the old Browns) who worked as a scout with the expansion Browns before going to New England when Butch Davis came to Cleveland.

There was about as much enthusiasm in Atlanta for the hiring of Dimitroff (and coach Mike Smith) as there has been in Cleveland for Mangini and Kokinis. While Accorsi doesn't get everything right, he has a good batting average. Let's hope Lerner keeps Accorsi involved as a "senior Football adviser" of some type, because the Browns need someone to fill that role.

Before he was fired, GM Phil Savage thought the Browns could be effective at running back next season with Jamal Lewis as the starter, but with far more carries for Jerome Harrison and Joshua Cribbs in the backfield. He mentioned that teams such as Baltimore and the Giants used the multiback approach, and Lewis, Harrison and Cribbs all have different talents to attack defenses. Given all the needs the Browns have on defense, along with at receiver and the offensive line - it makes sense for the high picks to be used in that area, rather than running back. But I have no idea how the current Browns brain trust views the situation.

A friend of Kokinis said the new Browns GM believes that to win in the AFC North, you have to match the physical play of Baltimore and Pittsburgh. The division also has poor weather in December, and that puts a premium on defense and the running game. If so, he will have plenty of work to do on defense.

Part of developing a good running game is to run the ball. In the past three years, the Browns have had a 55-to-45 ratio of pass to run. It was almost the same every season, and the Browns had three different offensive coordinators in that span. What about Mangini's Jets in that span? It's a 53-to-47 pass-to-run ratio. In his 10-6 season of 2006, the Jets ran the ball more times (491) than they passed (488). With Brett Favre in 2008, it was 56-to-44 in favor of the pass. Maybe that was part of the reason the Jets fell apart down the stretch, losing four of five. They relied too much on the aging Favre, not enough on the run - the game plan that worked so well for the Jets in 2006.