Browns owner wants to act fast

By TONY GROSSI

Lerner was turned down by Bill Cowher, but there’s a lot of viable candidates.

BEREA — The future of the Browns could be shaped by the end of the week when owner Randy Lerner hopes to land the club’s next chief football executive.

Spurned by top choice Bill Cowher in a face-to-face meeting Saturday night, Lerner now turns his attention to trying to attract an experienced NFL executive to reshape his football operation.

Lerner fired general manager Phil Savage by telephone Saturday and released Romeo Crennel as coach in a meeting at Browns headquarters Monday.

Lerner has received permission to interview Scott Pioli, New England’s vice president/player personnel. Lerner could meet with Pioli, a longtime protege of Bill Belichick, as soon as today.

Other possibilities, said a league source, include Rich McKay, president of the Atlanta Falcons, and Tom Heckert, Philadelphia general manager. But neither of those potential candidates can be approached until their teams are out of the playoffs.

Heckert’s father, Tom Sr., is a native of Youngstown and a graduate of Austintown Fitch High School and Youngstown State.

Mike Holmgren, Seattle’s departing coach, is not in the mix, Lerner said, because he’s been informed that there is a “99.9 percent chance” that Holmgren will take a sabbatical in 2009.

The possibility of Bill Parcells leaving the Miami Dolphins puts him into the mix, Lerner said, but that would be a long shot because it has been reported that Parcells would not compete for a job with Pioli, who is married to Parcells’ daughter.

With Cowher no longer a viable candidate for head coach, Lerner prefers to have the executive position filled first, but will proceed, he said, to line up interviews with prospective head coach candidates.

“I think what you need to do is be nimble and move as quickly as you possibly can,” Lerner said. “I think it’s imperfect, given this particular situation where you have two openings. You’ve got to be very sensitive and nervous about the idea of missing out — and I am.”

Per NFL rules, coaching candidates on teams among the top two playoff seeds in each conference can interview for jobs only during their playoff bye this week. That’s why Lerner has to act fast to get his foot in the door with coaching candidates Steve Spagnuolo, New York Giants defensive coordinator, and Jim Schwartz, Tennessee defensive coordinator.

Potential Browns coaching candidates out of the playoffs include Josh McDaniels, New England’s offensive coordinator and son of former Warren Harding coach Thom McDaniels; Jason Garrett, Dallas offensive coordinator, and Eric Mangini, who was fired as Jets coach Monday.

Baltimore defensive coordinator Rex Ryan, who was probably Savage’s top choice, can’t be interviewed until the Ravens’ season is done.

Lerner also has to comply with the NFL “Rooney Rule” by interviewing at least one minority candidate. Perry Fewell, Buffalo defensive coordinator, and Greg Blache, Washington defensive coordinator, are potential candidates.

Lerner was disappointed that Cowher declined to be considered for the job.

The meeting in New York was initiated by Cowher, who clearly understood that he was atop the Browns’ wish list and knew that Lerner would be in the city Saturday. Cowher was in New York for his Sunday role on CBS’ “NFL Today” studio pregame show.

Lerner described it as an informal conversation, and money was never discussed. Lerner said that Cowher told him that he was “very focused on his kids and on his life in North Carolina and the way that he was living a non-coaching, civilian existence and that he wasn’t finished with that.”

As for Crennel, it was the second time he has been released from a job with the Browns. He was let go as defensive coordinator after 2000 prior to becoming head coach in 2005. Lerner said Crennel was open to the possibility to returning in a reduced capacity.

“He’s a gentleman through and through,” Lerner said. “He said he understood and wanted to wait and see what happens around here [before deciding his next job].”