Browns’ Eric Mangini: ‘I’m proud of the job’

By MARY KAY CABOT

The embattled Browns coach could meet his new boss as early as today.

BEREA — Eric Mangini said Monday he doesn’t have a gut feeling if new Browns president Mike Holmgren will fire him or not, but that he’s not anxious about it because he’s proud of his work here.

Holmgren was set to arrive in Cleveland Monday night and meet with Mangini as early as today. Holmgren said last week on a conference call that he’ll “take a little time” to make his decision.

But Mangini said he won’t approach his meeting with Holmgren like it’s a job interview.

“I have a job,” he said. “I’m proud of the job we’ve done. I respect Mike. I respect the things he’s done as a coach. It’s a function of having a good, honest, open discussion about the things we did this year, and an anticipation of how things will operate moving forward. Just two guys sitting down talking about things as they are and as they’ll be.”

Mangini, who won his last four games to finish 5-11 in his first season here, said owner Randy Lerner congratulated him on beating the Jaguars and a strong finish, but didn’t discuss his future.

“I think it’s really a function of sitting down with Mike and figuring that out,” said Mangini, who added he’s not as concerned about his own fate as he is that of his assistant coaches.

“I’d like to get some clarity for them,” he said. “They’re a good group of coaches that I care about. It’d be selfish to be worried about myself when I’ve got all these other guys and families and kids I’m responsible for bringing here. Their lives will be dramatically affected one way or the other, so I want to make sure things are right for them.”

He said he’s not putting any timetable on when he hopes to know “but one thing I do know is the [assistants] are really good and they’ll be well thought of, if [they’re let go].”

He said it’s not tough answering questions about possibly getting fired after a four-game winning streak. “These things happen,” he said. “It’s just the way it works. Sometimes somebody comes in and your situation changes.”

One thing he’ll tell Holmgren is the same thing he told Sports Illustrated’s Peter King over the weekend: “This place was a mess when we got here, and it’s not a mess anymore,” he told King.