LERNER DIGGING IN By Terry Pluto, ABJ Friday, 20 January 2006 BEREA - After spending 90 minutes Thursday with Randy Lerner, it's obvious the Browns' owner truly loves and cares about the franchise he owns. It's just as clear that he was very unprepared to take over when his father Al Lerner died Oct. 23, 2002. It's also apparent that he still has a lot to learn about the job, as the blowup between former team president John Collins and General Manager Phil Savage demonstrated. But for the first time since assuming control of the team, Lerner said he's ``really digging in'' and taking part in the daily operations of the team. He admitted having his football people report to Collins turned out to be ``a risk.'' That's an understatement. It verged on becoming a disaster, since it led to a personality clash between Collins and Savage and nearly led to Savage being fired or quitting, until Collins resigned a few weeks ago. ``I can't let anything get between Phil Savage and myself,'' Lerner said. ``I handled this clumsily. I think we've got it right now.'' Lerner doesn't talk about this subject, but he has never managed an operation anything like the Browns. His background is banking. He has a very creative streak, loves fiction and art. None of that prepared him to work in a public arena such as pro sports. No one expected his father to pass away at 69, at least not until the last few months of his life when it seemed the cancer was just getting worse. Just as Al Lerner relied on team president Carmen Policy, Lerner leaned on Collins. Unlike Policy, who had experience working with football people from his days with the San Francisco 49ers, Collins came to the Browns from the NFL's headquarters in New York. Like Lerner, much of this was new to Collins. Nonetheless, the 43-year-old Lerner should have known you can't allow the football people to feel threatened by those from the business department. It's acceptable for the owner to ask the general manager, ``Is there anything I can do to help you with the salary cap?'' It's different when it comes from a marketing executive such as Collins, especially when the Browns are more than $25 million under the salary cap and seemingly have things under control. Savage believed Collins wanted to hire someone and wrestle away control of the salary cap -- and that would limit his ability to sign players and allocate the funds available as he thought best. Besides, Savage thought salary-cap coordinator Trip MacCracken had done a good job. Lerner admitted, ``I think our cap is in great shape,'' and said he sees no reason to change the Savage/MacCracken setup. Matter of divorce Lerner said the problems between Savage and Collins weren't so much about power as personality. ``It was like a marriage gone bad,'' he said. He talked about how deeply he cares for the Browns and for the city of Cleveland. While he still lives in New York, he commutes to Cleveland several days a week. He was stung by the criticism during the fallout of the Collins/Savage fiasco. ``It was a kick in the teeth, but I should have seen this coming and handled it better,'' he said. Lerner declined to say anything negative about Collins. They were close friends during the 18 months that Collins served as team president. He believes Collins helped stabilize the business end of the operation. Lerner plans to take over those duties himself. He will spend even more time on the team, more time communicating with Savage and coach Romeo Crennel. ``Rather than bring in someone else from the outside and create more uncertainty, I can have the various people report to me,'' he said. ``Will it be long-term? That's up in the air. But when they ask who is in leadership, the answer is me. I'm digging in to do this job.'' Savage is relieved by that. Savage said Wednesday night that he's spoken to Lerner more in the past few weeks than in his entire first year on the job. ``I really think things are good now,'' Savage said. Lerner agreed. ``I realize that this is how it should be,'' he said. ``If we don't keep our football in order, we'll be a perpetual expansion team. That's beyond unacceptable to me. That will lead to nightly vomiting, divorce and personal ruin.'' I asked Lerner if he wanted to repeat all that for the record. He said he did, and he indeed repeated it. He stressed that his marriage is solid, but the point he wanted to make was he's passionate about reviving the Browns. ``As a boy, I lived here, I went to games. I love this team,'' he said. ``I know what the fans want. No one wants to hear my problems or anything about the internal operation. They just want to win, and I don't blame them.'' Committed to Savage The Browns made the 2002 playoffs in the last year of Al Lerner's life. Since Randy Lerner took over, the Browns have been 5-11, 4-12 and 6-10. Former CEO Policy has left. Butch Davis resigned as coach. Collins has come and gone. Lerner said he long favored that the football operation be run by a general manager who picked the players for the coach. But he inherited Davis, who did not want a player personnel director with any real power. When Davis resigned, Lerner was given a chance to put the classic model of a general manager leading the football operation in place. The GM then would pick the coach. ``I wanted Phil Savage, I recruited Phil Savage to come here and nothing that has happened since has changed that,'' he said. ``Phil and Romeo should be the public faces of the franchise. The business part should be as invisible as possible. I want us to be like the Dallas Cowboys of 1960-89, when (GM) Tex Schramm and (coach) Tom Landry were the faces of that franchise. For us, it's Phil and Romeo.'' Lerner stressed that he had no objection to Savage spending time on the road scouting. ``I don't know where those reports came from,'' he said. He declined to talk about a report in which he said the Browns have been losing money. ``I don't see any reason to get into that,'' he said. He said Collins ``is out of'' the Browns' operation, other than to consult and wrap up some deals he had been negotiating. Lerner added that he talks regularly with Bernie Kosar, but indicated that Kosar was not interested in being a candidate to be the new team president. Kosar and his family live in Florida. ``I don't know about the title, but I want Bernie involved in some way,'' Lerner said. ``Bernie said he was available if I needed him. We're still talking. But as of now, I'm going to serve as president.'' Which is what Savage wanted, a clear and open line to the owner with no interference from anyone else. ``I'm doing all I can to make this work,'' he said. ``Phil and Romeo have given me reason for hope. I'm determined to do all I can to help them succeed.'' From HERE
