Eric Mangini spoke to the media today about the firing of GM and personal friend George Kokinis:

“In terms of the decision that was made yesterday, I can tell you that anytime a decision like this is made it is difficult personally and professionally. George (Kokinis) is a friend of mine and I respect him and I wish his family well. I can tell you that for a variety of reasons things didn’t work out. You never go into a situation like this with the intention of it not working out. We felt that, organizationally, this was the best decision in order to move forward. We have a strong structure in place on both the pro side and the college side and things will continue to operate effectively on a day-to-day basis. I understand that you all have a lot of questions and there is really nothing that I’m going to add to this. I hope that you can respect that. What I will talk about are the things that we’re doing as a team over the course of the week in order to improve.”

(On if a new General Manager will be hired this season)- “As I said, in terms of this topic, there’s nothing else that I’m going to add. What I will talk about is anything that is to do with the things that we’re doing this week and things directly related to the team that we’re working on.”

(On why he won’t talk about the General Manager situation)- “This is really, for a variety of reasons, all that I can say at this point.”

(On why he did not mention the General Manager change yesterday)- “In terms of the timetable, things like that, it’s the same thing. I’ve really said all that I can say, Jeff (Schudel).”

(On who will address the General Manager situation if he will not)- “I understand, Mary Kay (Cabot), and I appreciate the questions that you guys (the media) have. I completely appreciate that, but I hope you can also respect that I’ve added all that I can add right now. What I can talk about are the things that we’re doing here today.”


(On what having two dismissals in the past week says about the stability of the organization)- “We’ve had one situation where that was the case. What I can say is that I feel like we have a very strong structure in place on the personnel side and I’m confident that day-to-day we’ll be able to execute the things that we need to execute.”


(On if Bernie Kosar will fill some on Kokinis’ responsibilities)- “Mary Kay (Cabot), I understand the question, but really, this is all that I can say. I hope you can understand that as well.”

(On if there are legal reasons why he can’t talk about Kokinis)- “There’s really a variety of reasons, Tony (Grossi), and I’ll just leave it at that.”

(On if Randy Lerner plans to address the situation)- “I think that you have to talk to Neal (Gulkis) about that. I can just tell you what I’m addressing.”

(On if he understands why fans want to know what is going on within the organization)- “I completely understand the questions and I respect that. I can just tell you the things that I can address and it’s for a variety of reasons. I hope that you can understand that as well.”

(On how he keeps this from becoming a distraction to the players)- “In talking to the team, the important thing that I’ve stressed, whether it be today or yesterday or at any point, is the important thing for us is to be able to focus individually first on what we can improve, and then collectively what we can improve. Those things are the important things that we need to do. We need to get that done this week and that’s what we’re focused on, all of us are focused on. I spent a lot of time with the coaching staff yesterday, this morning and trying to really work through the different things that we think need to be addressed short term, need to be addressed long term. We’ll meet more on personnel, in terms of player performances and evaluation and things like that on Thursday, but that’s also a component of this. [I have] historically made a lot of strides during the bye week. It is a unique time where you can put some more emphasis on individual technique, can sit down with the players one-on-one and either address their performance, address their concerns, address what they’re hoping to achieve over the course of the rest of the season. I look forward to those meetings. We have, like I said, point of attack tapes made on each guy, whether it be actual game tapes or whether it be practice tapes, where they can look at that individually to help them get a better feel for what they’ve done or with their position coach, with the coordinator, with myself, where we can go really share some time and I can give them my perspective on things. Just from my experience over the last three years, those meetings have been very valuable.”