I'm not excited about Mangini, but for what was available I think it was a good hire. We needed an experienced coach & a disiplinarian..........he fits both of these requriements.
I'm not sure I understand the hang up about hiring the coach first. No one would have complained if Cower was hired before the GM, so why complain now? Mike Brown was hired before Ferry & that's worked out fine.
There are plenty of NFL teams that have the coach & Gm report to the owner/pres directly, instead of the GM making the decisions. All decisions will be on a concensus basis between a group of people & Lerner will only be involved if there is a stalemate between two options. There are many more checks a balances this way & the outcome has a better chance of success.
Some duties will be defined by position I'm sure, but for things like draft picks, ect. they will make decisions as a group. Group decicion making is powerful way to do things, especially if everyone likes & respects who they are working with.