A Cleveland sports blog, Waiting For Next Year, probes deeper into this messy situation with the Browns, and asks some good questions:

So, in the end, is Kokinis being “fired” (or, is just “no longer working with the organization”) for being a wuss who wouldn’t stand up to his friend? And possibly for “trading secrets”? My first reaction to that last point is: what secrets? What could he possibly tell other teams that would be ground-breaking? It’s not like other teams need help to pound the Browns into the turf each weekend.

At any rate, it sounds like a great experience all around. Could this lack of assertion on the part of Kokinis be one of the “doubts” that Lerner supposes to have had about him in training camp? Most importantly, what does this mean for the future of the front office? Lerner has given no indication of wanting to remove Mangini from the equation anytime soon: “I still believe in Eric, and we’re trying to give him the resources he needs to be successful. We all knew the situation we were in when Eric took over.”

King mentions the names of two men: Ernie Accorsi, and Mike Holmgren. We’ve talked about the former already, and the latter seems like an odd fit to me. Holmgren only had playoff success in Green Bay while working with Ron Wolf, and only had it in Seattle after being forced to give up the GM duties and returned to being solely a coach. Doesn’t sound like the ideal GM candidate to me. The only thing there is that Holmgren definitely has the personality experience to stand up to Mangini, and has the (coaching) resume to back up his words.

Eric Mangini might not be a good football coach. He might not be a particularly pleasant gentleman. But he can win an intra-organizational power struggle with the best of ’em. George Kokinis was actually his close friend before the two began working for the Browns. Not so much anymore:

“He thought he was getting the job of a lifetime working with one of his best friends, but it wasn’t that at all,‘’ said a league source who is familiar with both Kokinis and the Browns organization. "It was working for Eric Mangini, not with him. Eric was in charge of everything, and George resented that. It wasn’t the job he thought he’d taken. It wasn’t the partnership as he thought it would be. And he would have never taken it if he thought it was going to go that way.

“Ultimately what happened was he started to question his own existence in the organization. He was very unhappy. He takes the job, and from day one it was like they both had recipes for chicken soup, but they ended up trying to combine the recipes and all they did was ruin the dish.’’

Browns Randy Lerner wants to make one thing clear: He didn’t fire apparently deposed GM George Kokinis. Um, sort of:

Cleveland Browns owner Randy Lerner, under fire after parting ways with general manager George Kokinis midway through his first season as GM, denied today that Kokinis had been fired and said he hoped to find a veteran NFL general type like Ernie Accorsi or Mike Holmgren to help shape the organization and help embattled coach Eric Mangini.

“George is no longer active within our organization, but at this time has not been fired,’’ Lerner said in a telephone interview.

This could be simple semantics because it’s widely expected the Browns will attempt to cancel the remainder of Kokinis’ five-year contract without paying him, citing "for cause’’ and contending that he wasn’t doing his job.

What happens to GMs when they’re not fired but are “no longer active” with an organization? Do they randomly show up on The Island, like in “Lost”? Is George Kokinis going to try to detonate an atom bomb to go back in time and prevent the Smoke Monster (i.e. Eric Mangini) from ever being hired? And what about Brady Quinn? Will he ever re-unite with that polar bear?

Aw, screw it. “Lost” always confuses me.

The Cleveland Plain-Dealer reports that Browns head coach Eric Mangini will reportedly have say over who the team hires as its new general manager.

Mangini told reporters that the team may wait until the offseason to fill the vacancy. According to the Plain-Dealer:

[Mangini] indicated that the Browns have strong enough pro and college departments to function without a GM for the rest of the season. […] He said he has no doubt the team can operate efficiently right now without a GM. According to several league sources, Kokinis’ role was reduced so much that things won’t operate much differently than they did with him here over the past few months.

The admission that Kokinis was largely a figurehead is certainly an indictment of the roles within the front office, particularly regarding Mangini’s position. It was widely assumed when Kokinis was fired that Mangini would be next on the chopping block, although this report seems to suggest that Mangini may merely be consolidating power, as he wears the GM hat as well. Given the large contract the Lerners gave Mangini this past offseason, it’s certainly plausible that they could give him another year to try to revive the franchise’s fortunes while he acts as both de facto general manager and head coach.

But given that Mangini hand-picked Kokinis as GM before this season, it defies belief that the Lerners would accommodate him again when they choose a new general manager. The other possibility is that ownership will wait until the offseason to pick a new front office and coaching staff, and that in the interim they will let Mangini operate in both roles since there is only so much a general manager can do in-season.

We’ll keep you updated with any other developments.

Reports that the Browns were bringing back Ernie Accorsi, who served as Cleveland's GM from 1983 to 1992, are not true, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Tony Grossi.

Accorsi, who last served as general manager of the New York Giants, said he is "happily retired" and has not been in contact with Browns owner Randy Lerner regarding a consultant position.

Accorsi was retained by Lerner in January as a consultant during the Browns' search for a general manager. His top recommendation to Lerner was Dave Gettleman, Giants director of pro personnel. Lerner chose George Kokinis, the preferred choice of coach Eric Mangini.

Kokinis was fired on Monday and now Lerner is looking to rebuild his organization again.

"I am not taking any GM job anywhere. Period," Accorsi said. "I am not taking any full-time job. I serve the league office as a consultant. I have consulted in various areas with four NFL clubs the past two years."

Accorsi said he would offer advice to the Lerner family if they asked for it, but they have not talked recently.

According to a publication called The News-Herald (serving Northern Ohio), the Browns have brought back ex-GM Ernie Accorsi:

Sources said Ernie Accorsi was hired as the team’s GM. The move is a blast from the past for Browns’ fans. Accorsi was the Browns’ GM from 1985 to 1992.

He also served as GM of the Colts from 1982 to 83, and also worked in the Giants’ front office from 1994 to 2004, including a stint as New York’s GM from 1998 and on.

In 2004, he spearheaded a trade to get No. 1 pick Eli Manning from the Chargers.

ESPN’s Chris Mortensen confirms that Accorsi is “consulting” with the Browns, but has no knowledge of Ernie being re-hired as the team’s GM.

Since 1980, the Browns have made the playoffs nine times. Ernie Accorsi was the GM for five of those.

Here’s the statement released from the Browns to the media late last night regarding the rumored dismissal of GM George Kokinis:

“[Kokinis] is no longer actively involved with the organization.”

“In response to rumors and reports that Kokinis was escorted out of the building today, the Browns deny those reports. In the interest of protecting the parties involved, we will withhold further comment.”

As SB Nation’s Dawgs By Nature points out, Kokinis was hand-picked by Eric Mangini to be the Browns’ GM. This despite Kokinis having only three years experience in an NFL front office (Ravens) before being hired in Cleveland last offseason. Given that — plus the performance of the team — It’s hard to imagine Mangini staying on board at this point.

We know now what that “something” was up at Browns HQ today: Kokinis was fired by owner Randy Lerner and escorted from the Browns’ grounds (heh) at approximately noon ET, according to a local news outlet.

Lerner is apparently partial to new coach Eric Mangini, which explains why Kokinis is taking the fall instead of the Mangenius. Regardless, the only thing more hopeless than firing a coach midseason is firing a GM; it’ll take at least a year to undo this damage.

The Browns are a mess. They just lost to 30-6 to a team with five reanimated zombie corpses playing offensive line. Their running back is planning on retirement because he's sick of losing. Eric Mangini probably punched a kitten recently. And, worst of all, there are what Jay Glazer calls "odd rumblings" coming out of Browns headquarters, where apparently general manager George Kokinis was escorted from the premises, maybe:

Several sources told FOXSports.com that general manager George Kokinis was escorted from the building at some point Monday. Two other sources believe that Kokinis has been fired, though another source inside the building maintains he has not heard that. I'm still trying to get to the bottom of what, if anything, has happened one day after owner Randy Lerner said he was "sick" of losing, but also said he would not fire head coach Eric Mangini this week, the team's bye week.

Glazer later clears his throat and clarifies that he's not reporting Kokinis was fired, but is merely passing along that "something went down." I hope it was something cool involving a lobby, duster jackets and slow motion CGI gun battles, but I'm betting it was much more tedious than that.