The bidding war is on for Eric Mangini, with the New England Patriots, Cleveland Browns and Miami Dolphins all trying to land him as their defensive coordinator.</NITF>
<NITF>Each of the three teams has made a contract offer to Mangini, who has spent the past five seasons as the Patriots' defensive backs coach, and he is likely to pick a club within the next day or two.</NITF>
The Patriots seemingly remain the front-runner, but they might have to increase their offer to keep Mangini. He is said by people around the league to be loyal to Coach Bill Belichick, who gave him his first job in coaching. Mangini attended Belichick's alma mater, Wesleyan University in Connecticut, and used a connection with a former coach there to get a low-level job with the Browns -- assisting the equipment manager -- when Belichick was the head coach in Cleveland.</NITF>
<NITF>Mangini worked his way up to intern in the public relations department, and the long hours that he put in and his willingness to accept any task caught the eye of Belichick, who made him an entry-level assistant coach in 1995. Mangini followed the franchise when it moved from Cleveland to Baltimore and spent the '96 season with the Ravens, but reunited with Belichick in 1997 with the New York Jets and has been with him ever since. He was regarded as the successor-in-waiting to defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel, who was formally introduced Tuesday as the new head coach of the Browns.</NITF>
<NITF>But Mangini's contract with the Patriots is expiring, making him a coaching free agent, and he has worked closely with Crennel. The Browns and Dolphins appear willing to outbid the Patriots, who have a reputation for paying their assistant coaches less than market value. That became a contentious issue for former offensive coordinator Charlie Weis, who tried unsuccessfully last offseason to get his approximately $500,000 salary raised to closer to $1 million -- now the going rate league-wide for top assistants -- and probably would have left the Patriots this offseason even if he didn't get the head-coaching job at Notre Dame. Crennel made about $650,000 in his final season with New England.</NITF>
<NITF>The Browns could be attractive to Mangini because he has worked closely with Crennel. He also worked with Phil Savage, Cleveland's new general manager, when both were with the Ravens.</NITF>
<NITF>Mangini knows Dolphins Coach Nick Saban, formerly Belichick's defensive coordinator in Cleveland, but never has worked for him. Saban has been using lucrative contract offers to assemble his staff in Miami, so it's likely that Mangini's top financial proposal has come from the Dolphins while his lowest offer probably has come from the Patriots.</NITF>
<NITF>Belichick is conducting the Patriots' end of the negotiations long distance from California. He is competing in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am golf tournament beginning today.</NITF>
<NITF>If Mangini remains in New England, the Browns might try to hire Patriots defensive line coach Pepper Johnson as defensive coordinator and the Dolphins could attempt to get Patriots linebackers coach Dean Pees (formerly Saban's defensive coordinator at Michigan State). Both could be among the Patriots' candidates to succeed Crennel if Mangini leaves.</NITF>
<NITF>Meanwhile, the Browns appear close to completing a deal with Maurice Carthon, the Dallas Cowboys' offensive coordinator the past two seasons, to be their offensive coordinator.</NITF>
<NITF>[font=Arial,Helvetica][size=-1]Chow Plans to Streamline Titans' Playbook
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Newly hired Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Norm Chow is tending to family business and won't begin his first NFL coaching stint until Feb. 21. He participated in his introductory news conference Wednesday in Nashville by conference call.</NITF>
<NITF>Chow, 58, spent 32 years as a college assistant coach, including the past four as the offensive coordinator at the University of Southern California, but was lured to the pro game by Titans Coach Jeff Fisher, a USC alum. Fisher and Chow said that the Titans will keep their current offensive system basically in place but will attempt to streamline their playbook.</NITF>
<NITF>"When Jeff and I spoke, there were some reservations as to the sophistication of the NFL game," Chow said. "But after watching tape with the coaches and going over their offense and our offense, it made sense to me that it's football. It's a ballgame . . . . That's the challenge. That's the exciting part of an opportunity like this. It's to try to learn, improve, grow and help the Titans continue their winning ways."</NITF>
<NITF>Chow helped USC to the last two collegiate national championships, and denied reports that he and Trojans Coach Pete Carroll were having problems coexisting. There has been rampant speculation that Carroll and Chow each believed he deserved more credit than the other for the school's success, and that Carroll was nudging Chow aside to create a larger role for USC wide receivers coach Lane Kiffin, the son of Monte Kiffin, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive coordinator who is close to Carroll.</NITF>
<NITF>"There's nothing to all that," Chow said Wednesday. "How can there be? We won, what, two national championships and three [Bowl Championship Series] games in the time together. There's always going to be some time when you try to get together and try to figure out how you're going to get better. But no, all of that is exaggerated. I owe a lot to Pete Carroll. He knows that. He knows how I feel. I know how he feels. We can't control anything else."</NITF>
<NITF>But Chow acknowledged it was difficult for him to leave Matt Leinart, the Trojans' Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback who decided last month to pass up entering the NFL draft in April to return to USC for his senior season. One person familiar with the situation said this week that Leinart almost certainly would have entered the draft if he'd known that Chow was leaving. But it's too late now, since the deadline for college underclassmen to enter the draft passed last month.</NITF>
<NITF>Chow said: "That was tough. No question, that was tough. We had talked quite a bit. Obviously he didn't make the decision because of me, but we spoke some. He's a tremendous young man -- very talented, very humble, very disciplined . . . . It made it hard. But he understands. He knows. He's going to be very, very successful, and he wished us well." . . .</NITF>
<NITF>[font=Arial,Helvetica][size=-1]Sarkisian Returning to Southern California
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Oakland Raiders quarterbacks coach Steve Sarkisian returned to USC on Wednesday as part of Carroll's remade coaching staff. Sarkisian was USC's quarterbacks coach for two seasons before jumping to the NFL. Carl Smith, USC's quarterbacks coach this past season, left the school to become the Jacksonville Jaguars' offensive coordinator.</NITF>
<NITF>It was not immediately clear whether Lane Kiffin would be the offensive coordinator and Sarkisian the quarterbacks coach, or if the two would serve as co-offensive coordinators. Carroll likely will make an announcement on that subject in the next day or two . . . .</NITF>
<NITF>Chow said he saw Mike Williams within the last week or two and the former USC wide receiver looks fit and trim. Williams is eligible for this year's draft after sitting out this past season. He entered last year's draft after the initial court ruling in Maurice Clarett's lawsuit against the NFL temporarily made college freshmen and sophomores and high school players eligible. But Williams was left ineligible for the draft when the Clarett decision was overturned on appeal, and the NCAA denied his application to have his collegiate eligibility at USC restored.</NITF>
<NITF>Chow indicated that Williams is about 25 pounds lighter than he was as a sophomore at the school, and said: "He looks terrific . . . . I don't think the year off will hurt him at all . . . . He's excited. He's fired up."</NITF>
<NITF>[font=Arial,Helvetica][size=-1]Seahawks Nearing Choice
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The Seattle Seahawks appear close to hiring a new president of football operations to replace the fired Bob Whitsitt. The top candidates appear to be former Seahawks executive Mike Reinfeldt, Denver Broncos General Manager Ted Sundquist and Tony Softli, the Carolina Panthers' director of college scouting. Reinfeldt already is working for the club as a recently appointed front-office consultant . . . .</NITF>
<NITF>Patriots defensive lineman Richard Seymour returned from a knee injury to play in the Super Bowl but withdrew from Sunday's Pro Bowl. He was replaced on the AFC roster by Jacksonville's John Henderson . . . .</NITF>
<NITF>Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb told reporters in Hawaii that he wasn't sick during the Super Bowl. Eagles center Hank Fraley and wide receiver Freddie Mitchell had said in television interviews in Philadelphia earlier this week that McNabb was so sick in the huddle that Mitchell had to call one play. . . . </NITF>
<NITF>Detroit hired Fred Graves as wide receivers coach.
washingtonpost.com</NITF>
<NITF>Each of the three teams has made a contract offer to Mangini, who has spent the past five seasons as the Patriots' defensive backs coach, and he is likely to pick a club within the next day or two.</NITF>
The Patriots seemingly remain the front-runner, but they might have to increase their offer to keep Mangini. He is said by people around the league to be loyal to Coach Bill Belichick, who gave him his first job in coaching. Mangini attended Belichick's alma mater, Wesleyan University in Connecticut, and used a connection with a former coach there to get a low-level job with the Browns -- assisting the equipment manager -- when Belichick was the head coach in Cleveland.</NITF>
<NITF>Mangini worked his way up to intern in the public relations department, and the long hours that he put in and his willingness to accept any task caught the eye of Belichick, who made him an entry-level assistant coach in 1995. Mangini followed the franchise when it moved from Cleveland to Baltimore and spent the '96 season with the Ravens, but reunited with Belichick in 1997 with the New York Jets and has been with him ever since. He was regarded as the successor-in-waiting to defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel, who was formally introduced Tuesday as the new head coach of the Browns.</NITF>
<NITF>But Mangini's contract with the Patriots is expiring, making him a coaching free agent, and he has worked closely with Crennel. The Browns and Dolphins appear willing to outbid the Patriots, who have a reputation for paying their assistant coaches less than market value. That became a contentious issue for former offensive coordinator Charlie Weis, who tried unsuccessfully last offseason to get his approximately $500,000 salary raised to closer to $1 million -- now the going rate league-wide for top assistants -- and probably would have left the Patriots this offseason even if he didn't get the head-coaching job at Notre Dame. Crennel made about $650,000 in his final season with New England.</NITF>
<NITF>The Browns could be attractive to Mangini because he has worked closely with Crennel. He also worked with Phil Savage, Cleveland's new general manager, when both were with the Ravens.</NITF>
<NITF>Mangini knows Dolphins Coach Nick Saban, formerly Belichick's defensive coordinator in Cleveland, but never has worked for him. Saban has been using lucrative contract offers to assemble his staff in Miami, so it's likely that Mangini's top financial proposal has come from the Dolphins while his lowest offer probably has come from the Patriots.</NITF>
<NITF>Belichick is conducting the Patriots' end of the negotiations long distance from California. He is competing in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am golf tournament beginning today.</NITF>
<NITF>If Mangini remains in New England, the Browns might try to hire Patriots defensive line coach Pepper Johnson as defensive coordinator and the Dolphins could attempt to get Patriots linebackers coach Dean Pees (formerly Saban's defensive coordinator at Michigan State). Both could be among the Patriots' candidates to succeed Crennel if Mangini leaves.</NITF>
<NITF>Meanwhile, the Browns appear close to completing a deal with Maurice Carthon, the Dallas Cowboys' offensive coordinator the past two seasons, to be their offensive coordinator.</NITF>
<NITF>[font=Arial,Helvetica][size=-1]Chow Plans to Streamline Titans' Playbook
[/size][/font]
Newly hired Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Norm Chow is tending to family business and won't begin his first NFL coaching stint until Feb. 21. He participated in his introductory news conference Wednesday in Nashville by conference call.</NITF>
<NITF>Chow, 58, spent 32 years as a college assistant coach, including the past four as the offensive coordinator at the University of Southern California, but was lured to the pro game by Titans Coach Jeff Fisher, a USC alum. Fisher and Chow said that the Titans will keep their current offensive system basically in place but will attempt to streamline their playbook.</NITF>
<NITF>"When Jeff and I spoke, there were some reservations as to the sophistication of the NFL game," Chow said. "But after watching tape with the coaches and going over their offense and our offense, it made sense to me that it's football. It's a ballgame . . . . That's the challenge. That's the exciting part of an opportunity like this. It's to try to learn, improve, grow and help the Titans continue their winning ways."</NITF>
<NITF>Chow helped USC to the last two collegiate national championships, and denied reports that he and Trojans Coach Pete Carroll were having problems coexisting. There has been rampant speculation that Carroll and Chow each believed he deserved more credit than the other for the school's success, and that Carroll was nudging Chow aside to create a larger role for USC wide receivers coach Lane Kiffin, the son of Monte Kiffin, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive coordinator who is close to Carroll.</NITF>
<NITF>"There's nothing to all that," Chow said Wednesday. "How can there be? We won, what, two national championships and three [Bowl Championship Series] games in the time together. There's always going to be some time when you try to get together and try to figure out how you're going to get better. But no, all of that is exaggerated. I owe a lot to Pete Carroll. He knows that. He knows how I feel. I know how he feels. We can't control anything else."</NITF>
<NITF>But Chow acknowledged it was difficult for him to leave Matt Leinart, the Trojans' Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback who decided last month to pass up entering the NFL draft in April to return to USC for his senior season. One person familiar with the situation said this week that Leinart almost certainly would have entered the draft if he'd known that Chow was leaving. But it's too late now, since the deadline for college underclassmen to enter the draft passed last month.</NITF>
<NITF>Chow said: "That was tough. No question, that was tough. We had talked quite a bit. Obviously he didn't make the decision because of me, but we spoke some. He's a tremendous young man -- very talented, very humble, very disciplined . . . . It made it hard. But he understands. He knows. He's going to be very, very successful, and he wished us well." . . .</NITF>
<NITF>[font=Arial,Helvetica][size=-1]Sarkisian Returning to Southern California
[/size][/font]
Oakland Raiders quarterbacks coach Steve Sarkisian returned to USC on Wednesday as part of Carroll's remade coaching staff. Sarkisian was USC's quarterbacks coach for two seasons before jumping to the NFL. Carl Smith, USC's quarterbacks coach this past season, left the school to become the Jacksonville Jaguars' offensive coordinator.</NITF>
<NITF>It was not immediately clear whether Lane Kiffin would be the offensive coordinator and Sarkisian the quarterbacks coach, or if the two would serve as co-offensive coordinators. Carroll likely will make an announcement on that subject in the next day or two . . . .</NITF>
<NITF>Chow said he saw Mike Williams within the last week or two and the former USC wide receiver looks fit and trim. Williams is eligible for this year's draft after sitting out this past season. He entered last year's draft after the initial court ruling in Maurice Clarett's lawsuit against the NFL temporarily made college freshmen and sophomores and high school players eligible. But Williams was left ineligible for the draft when the Clarett decision was overturned on appeal, and the NCAA denied his application to have his collegiate eligibility at USC restored.</NITF>
<NITF>Chow indicated that Williams is about 25 pounds lighter than he was as a sophomore at the school, and said: "He looks terrific . . . . I don't think the year off will hurt him at all . . . . He's excited. He's fired up."</NITF>
<NITF>[font=Arial,Helvetica][size=-1]Seahawks Nearing Choice
[/size][/font]
The Seattle Seahawks appear close to hiring a new president of football operations to replace the fired Bob Whitsitt. The top candidates appear to be former Seahawks executive Mike Reinfeldt, Denver Broncos General Manager Ted Sundquist and Tony Softli, the Carolina Panthers' director of college scouting. Reinfeldt already is working for the club as a recently appointed front-office consultant . . . .</NITF>
<NITF>Patriots defensive lineman Richard Seymour returned from a knee injury to play in the Super Bowl but withdrew from Sunday's Pro Bowl. He was replaced on the AFC roster by Jacksonville's John Henderson . . . .</NITF>
<NITF>Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb told reporters in Hawaii that he wasn't sick during the Super Bowl. Eagles center Hank Fraley and wide receiver Freddie Mitchell had said in television interviews in Philadelphia earlier this week that McNabb was so sick in the huddle that Mitchell had to call one play. . . . </NITF>
<NITF>Detroit hired Fred Graves as wide receivers coach.
washingtonpost.com</NITF>
