Bob Frantz: Get Jon Gruden on the Browns' sideline now

Many Browns' fans are still wrought with sadness and despair over Eric Mangini's dismissal from the Browns, which is probably due more to the fatigue of changing coaches again than it is to confidence in Mangini's ability itself. But if it's appropriate to do so, I'd like to stop mourning and look forward.

While the Browns talk with coordinators Mike Mularkey, Perry Fewell and Marty Mornhinweg, and fans clamor for big names like Bill Cowher, I'd like to make the case for another heavy-hitter to take over the Browns' sidelines:

I want Jon Gruden in Cleveland.

Gruden is best known for the Super Bowl he won in 2002 with the Buccaneers, but critics diminish the accomplishment by claiming he won the title with Tony Dungy's team. One question for those critics: If it was so easy for Gruden to win a title with Dungy's players, then why couldn't Dungy win it with Dungy's players?

The truth is that Dungy was a phenomenal defensive mind, but was never able to integrate an effective offensive system to win in the playoffs. Gruden took his own version of the West Coast offense, which of course is favored by Browns' president Mike Holmgren, and won the championship for the Bucs with Brad Johnson at quarterback.

Think about that for a moment. Gruden won with Brad Johnson.

He was fired, like Dungy, after winning seasons, going 9-7 in each of his last two years.

Prior to the championship in Tampa, Gruden had resurrected a Raiders' franchise that was on life support. He took over Joe Bugel's 4-12 Raiders in 1998, and went 12 and 4 and into the AFC title game in his third year. He followed with a 10-6 season, and was within a "Tuck Rule" of going back to the conference championship.

Along the way, he took a journeyman quarterback named Rich Gannon, with his average arm, good mobility, great accuracy, great intelligence, and tremendous leadership qualities, and turned him into the league MVP.

Look closely and tell me if you see those very same QB traits in young Colt McCoy.

Gruden is a high-discipline, high-intensity guy, and a tremendous motivator. As a Sandusky native and childhood Browns' fan, he understands Cleveland football. He has a great relationship with Holmgren, and would be an absolute superstar in Cleveland.

Get Chuckie, I say.

Hypocrisy Bowl

On a separate note, congratulations are in order for most of the Ohio State Buckeyes on their exciting Sugar Bowl win Tuesday night in New Orleans. The Buckeye seniors will leave Columbus on a winning note, and for all players not being suspended by the NCAA for selling their treasured OSU awards for profit, it was a wonderful sight to see.

Less wonderful, however, was watching the infamous "Buckeye Five" playing such an integral role in the victory over Arkansas. The sole reason the five were permitted to delay the start of their suspension was that the NCAA, the BCS and ESPN could not afford the enormous financial hit they would have taken had the game been played without them. A lack of star players equals a lack of TV ratings, and a lack of ratings equals diminished revenues.

It was another case of selective rules enforcement by the hypocritical NCAA, placing money before rules designed to keep collegiate athletes as amateurs.

We'll see another example of it next week, when Auburn QB Cam Newton takes the field in the BCS Championship Charade. The NCAA confirmed in the days before the SEC championship game that Newton's father had tried to sell his services to several SEC schools, and the powers that be decided that somehow, Newton himself knew nothing about it.

And why? Because if Newton missed that game, the Tigers could well lose their spot in the BCS game, leaving them with Oregon vs. a non-BCS conference school — TCU — for the crown. Naturally, they would never allow the travesty of the Horned Frogs invading their elitist world — so Newton was in. Beautiful.

Returning to the Sugar Bowl, it was disheartening to see OSU coach Jim Tressel, a man of perceived honesty and integrity, chest-bumping suspended quarterback Terrelle Pryor after big plays. Tressel's decision to play his disgraced stars smacked of desperation from a man who had never beaten the SEC in a bowl game; a man willing to sell his reputation for a big win.

Tressel claims he played his stars only after their promise to return for their senior seasons to face their punishment. You can be assured that if any or all of them return to Columbus, it will have everything to do with their draft status, and nothing to do with honoring their word.

To add perspective, I've asked other Buckeyes fans to ask themselves what Woody Hayes would have done. You can bet your gold pants, or at least Pryor's, that he'd have suspended the offenders immediately — and probably kicked them off his team.

At today's OSU, however, that wasn't even a consideration. The only question remaining is which item would pull more money Wednesday morning on eBay: Pryor's Sugar Bowl MVP trophy, or the sweater-vest full of integrity Tressel sold Tuesday night.

Bob Frantz hosts "The Bob Frantz Show" on WTAM-AM 1100 from 7 p.m. to midnight weeknights, and following Cavaliers, Indians and Browns games.

Sports@News-Herald.com

Tags: coaches , headline