In a packed press room at Browns headquarters, new Head Coach Eric Mangini admitted to feeling - out of place.
MANGINI: "It's different to be back in this context. I feel like I should be getting coffees or something." (laughter)
The 37 year old former PR assistant and ball boy for the Browns has become the face of the franchise, less than two weeks after being fired from his job as head coach of the Jets.
He called his three years coaching in New York a learning period, but isn't anticipating that experience will make this NEW job... any easier.
Mangini inherits a football team that failed to live up to expectations in 2008, but a team that he twice referenced as one of the most storied, if not 'THE' most storied franchise, in pro football; and he repeatedly called himself 'honored', to be a part of it.
While he wouldn't talk specifics about his players, or his on-the-field plans, Mangini was free with his praise for what brought him back to a city that he said 'lives football" - the Browns owners.
MANGINI: "One of the things that I was so deeply impressed with in talking to the Lerners is how much they care about this team, how much they care about this city, how much they care about their fans."
Mangini is a good friend of fired head coach Romeo Crennel, and says he would not rule out asking Crennel to stay on in some capacity. And he looks forward to working with management to choose not only his sideline assistants, but also a new General Manager to replace Phil Savage - who was fired along with Crennel.
Yet he maintains that being given the power to influence those choices - isn't what matters to him.
MANGINI: "What matters is that the GM and I work together every single day and create decisions that are based on consensus. That's what's most important."
Mangini will spend the next few days getting to know the remaining coaches and staff of his football team.
