Eric Mangini keeps getting NFL jobs. I was a little surprised when I heard that the former New York Jets and Cleveland Browns head coach was hired by the San Francisco 49ers as a consultant. It may not be a coaching position but it is an NFL job with a real NFL team. He'd spent the couple of years since his last NFL gig working as a football analyst for ESPN. I avoid ESPN for the most part but I hear that he was terrific with the TV work. There was never any doubt that Mangini knows his football. That's why he kept getting NFL gigs. There aren't many coaches that are hired as a head coach months after being fired as one. Mangini was fired by the Jets. Before he was packed up in New York he was hired by the Browns. Prior to his head coaching stints, he was a defensive assistant for the Jets from 1997-99. After those learning years, he was the defensive backs coach of the New England Patriots. Working with Bill Belichick always accelerates a coaching learning curve. Mangini had also spent some time with the incredible football think tank that Belichick put together with the original Browns in the early and mid '90s. In 2005, Mangini was Belichick's defensive coordinator. That lasted a year. Head coaching was next for the youngster that some took to calling "Mangenius." The rapid firing that went with his head coaching gigs seems to contradict that cute little name.
The surprise for me was that the 49ers hired Mangini as a "senior offensive consultant." Nearly all of his NFL coaching experience has come on the defensive side of the ball. It might be a shock for someone with Mangini's experience and expertise to be calling offensive plays but he wasn't hired to do so. After a little reflection, I was impressed with the move. The 49ers have a terrific, innovative offensive play caller in Greg Roman. Mangini giving Roman the defensive view of the 49ers offense can only help Roman take apart a defense. Despite being on television for a few years and being fired a couple of times, Mangini really knows his football. "Mangenius" might have been a ridiculous nickname but it was far more right than wrong. The 49ers added an asset to their program.
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