Hartford native Eric Mangini is going back to where he began his NFL career.
The Cleveland Browns introduced Mangini, 37, as their new head coach Thursday.
The announcement comes less than two weeks after Mangini was fired by the New York Jets.
Mangini, who grew up in Hartford, and attended Wesleyan University in Middletown, coached the Jets for three seasons before being let go.
Mangini started out as a ball boy with the Browns in 1994 under then-coach Bill Belichick, who liked the Hartford kid's work ethic and quickly promoted him to a public relations assistant before adding him to the scouting department. Now Mangini's taking over the job of one of his best friends in the game, fired Browns coach Romeo Crennel.
Mangini hopes to turn around the Browns who went 4-12 this season.
