Cleveland is Holmgren's new home

In case you haven't heard, Mike Holmgren is now running the Browns' front office. As my Chicago friend Mark Spencer put it, he's an accomplished football man, and I'm cautiously optimistic about having him here. I think he'll do a fine job.

I should mention that the new Browns have a history of hiring people who have had success in the NFL, but not in the roles they were hired for in Cleveland, and they've proven unequal to the task. That's not to say that will happen with Holmgren, but he's had his greatest success as a head coach. He took the Packers to two Super Bowls, winning one, and took the Seahawks to one also. When he was first hired in Seattle, he was executive vice president and general manager, in addition to being head coach. That position is probably somewhat analogous to the job he's taken in Cleveland, though at this time, there's no strong indication that he'll become the head coach (but that could certainly happen). He was fired from the front-office job after the 2002 season, but stayed on as coach. Maybe if he just does one or the other, he'll be successful. I guess we'll see. I look forward to finding out.