Poor Cleveland. Is it piling on to also mention that Belichick finished a flop there, too, in his first head coaching job from 1991-95?

At least Crennel wasn’t hated. So far, neither is 33-year-old Denver coach Josh McDaniels, the latest Boy Genius to be plucked off the Belichick tree. McDaniels’ Broncos have suffered three straight losses after a 6-0 start that included him running around the field as if his copycat Belichick hoodie was on fire after his Broncos beat Belichick and the Patriots in Week 5.

For some reason, Belichick — the king of the dead-fish postgame handshake — didn’t hold it against him. He sought the kid out in the Broncos’ locker room to congratulate him.

It was a rare public grace note for Belichick.

He and Mangini and Weis tend to inspire great irritation and charges of arrogance wherever they go.

Belichick seems downright constipated when people ask him to perform normal adult functions like, you know … talk to the people. Weis got to Notre Dame and acted as if sweet-talking the alums was beneath him. Mangini’s gimmicky, hard-driving approach has left his Browns players rebelling. His tenseness and insistence on team-wide news blackouts grate on people just as it did with the Jets. One long-suffering Cleveland native, normally mild-mannered sportswriter Joe Posnanski, has blasted Mangini as the worst hire in NFL history.

Fan ranker Who’s on NFL’s ‘hot seat’? The Bears are out of the playoff chase. What does that mean for Lovie Smith? How hot is his seat? Here’s your chance to rank all the NFL coaches. NBCSports.com

Belichick will at least survive the recriminations he brought on himself. It seems impossible that Weis and Mangini will last.

Notre Dame’s program, which is run by a unique combination of Catholic fathers and outside Sugar Daddies, has publicly said the $18 million the school still owes Weis will not prevent firing him.

Browns owner Randy Lerner, who hired Mangini without even interviewing anyone else for the job just days after the Jets canned him, seems unlikely to make a move till after the season. But if Lerner doesn’t clip Mangini then and go shake some other coaching tree, he might want to look into a nice rental in Cabo next fall and winter. Something without DirecTV.

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