While I agree that Holmgren likely decided against a change since his preferred Head Coach wasn't available there's a few other reasons he might have made the decision he did
Crennell and Savage are costing the organization $21 million in their remaining contract.
Kokinis is likely to cost them another $4 million.
Mangini's remaining contract is worth $12 million. His assistants collectively must come to a few million too.
Holmgren is now costing Lerner and the organization another $50 million.
Holmgren's in discussions with another GM candidate now.
Add it all up with the salary of a new head coach - maybe as much as the $7 million Carroll is demanding - and you're probably @ $100 million.
That's a lot to tie up in the front office - especially seeing as the majority aren't even working for the orgnanization.
And while there's no true cap on the Front Office, tying up $100 million isn't going to help you when you need to sign Cribbs and overpay to attract free agents.
Now, consider all of this against the backdrop of a possible lockout - freezing Lerner's cashflow which, even if he doesn't have to pay the players, still needs to come up with $100 million for all staff, past and present...
well, one would think Lerner might not be too keen to spend another $20 million on a new coach along with fulfilling Mangini and his assistants contract... and at the very least Holmgren might want to invest that money into quality players rather than fired coaches.
If Holmgren's desired candidate were available maybe this is a different matter - and if there were no threat of a disruption of income, perhaps different - but for now, what's the downside of Holmgren temporarilly giving into the Manlove for Mangini eminating from Browns fans giddy over 5 wins?
