Cleveland Browns to Hire Ex-New York Jets Head Coach Eric Mangini

The Cleveland Browns will hire Eric Mangini as their next head coach, with multiple reports indicating that Mangini and the Browns have already agreed on a four-year contract, and the deal will be formally announced tomorrow.

Mangini was fired last week after three seasons as head coach of the New York Jets, where he made the playoffs in his first year -- earning the "Mangenius" nickname -- only to have back-to-back disappointing seasons. Now he'll get a second chance.

The 37-year-old Mangini has reportedly begun assembling a coaching staff, and since he and former Browns coach Romeo Crennel run the same defense, he may keep some of Crennel's defensive assistants in place. It's even possible that Crennel will stay in Cleveland and work as Mangini's defensive coordinator. He will also likely try to hire several of the assistants who worked for him on the Jets staff the last three years.

Mangini returns to a Cleveland franchise that he worked for in the 1990s, when Bill Belichick was the head coach. Mangini's first NFL job was as a Browns ball boy; 15 years later he's the head coach.