BEREA, Ohio -- A point of clarification is in order about Mike Holmgren's tenure as Browns president.

When he chided the media to forget about coming to him for extra playoff tickets, he did not mean because he expected to be bought out of his contract a year later.

If the most secure job in Berea -- his -- suddenly looks shaky with the team's pending ownership transfer, it's because NFL sources told The Plain Dealer on Saturday that former Eagles president Joe Banner is an integral part of Tennessee businessman Jimmy Haslam III's group.

Sources also believe the sale could be approved by league owners by September. With a full season ahead, Haslam could begin the changeover immediately.

Strangely enough, one knock on Holmgren has been the perception that he's not immersed in Cleveland -- whether it's because much of his family is in Seattle or he's near retirement age. Nobody thought that his story could end here with the organization not being all-in with him.

Another annoyance for an impatient fan base is the slow crawl of progress since Browns owner Randy Lerner beat the drum for Holmgren's hiring as the advent of "serious, credible" leadership. Suddenly, he could be on borrowed time, dragging a 9-23 record on his watch into meetings with a new ownership group.

"My future is bright," Holmgren said this week when asked about the changes an ownership change can bring. "You control the things you can control and do the best you can."

Holmgren is still owed $8 million a year through 2014. So his future is indeed bright and comfortable.

His legacy is not as certain, tied as it is to his choice for head coach (Pat Shurmur) and the recent attempt to deliver a quarterback (Brandon Weeden) who can take this team to a Super Bowl.

That wouldn't be the legacy of most NFL presidents. Holmgren's coaching pedigree put him in a different class and raised expectations for a more immediate payoff on the field. It proved problematic for a few different reasons, not all of his doing.

He made a mistake in keeping Eric Mangini on for a year, even if he did so out of an old football coach's empathy for Mangini's work ethic and stiff upper lip.

That set the makeover back and slowed the pace of General Manager Tom Heckert's inevitable detonating of an aging roster heavy with role players.

Heckert has been one of Holmgren's best moves. New ownership would be smart to keep him in place whatever other changes it makes.

Here's what else we know about Holmgren in his third year as Browns president: He knows quality coaches. At least quality assistant coaches. It was true of him as a head coach and it's true of him now.

The hiring of Dick Jauron to coordinate the defense and bringing in Brad Childress to run the offense has given Shurmur an experienced, accomplished support group.

After a difficult rookie season as head coach, Shurmur needs to validate Holmgren's faith in him. The sooner the better. If not, Holmgren's tenure is doomed to be remembered as the bumpy ride of a first-time team president.

Holmgren was supposed to know quarterbacks and coaching. It's why his legacy is connected to Shurmur and now to Weeden. They will be the measure of him as a football executive regardless of who owns the team.

What he didn't really understand was the passion and insecurity of a fan base that's been waiting since 1964 to crown a champion and since the 1980s for a team worth bragging about.

So when he didn't make himself available here -- saying it was out of deference to his head coach -- but instead kept appearing on a Seattle radio station, he was stunned to learn that for some fans it went over like an Art Modell statue in Public Square.

Holmgren carried olive branches to his most recent news conference, promising to try to become more open and available. He kept his word this week in assuring anxious Browns fans that Randy Lerner sought an assurance from the Haslam group that it would keep the team in Cleveland before agreeing to open negotiations.

As far as his job status, Holmgren said, "Right now I'm the president of the team and that's how I'm operating."

He just turned 64. Because of his age and the size of the renovation, there was always a pretty good chance he wasn't going to be around when the Browns' makeover became complete.

Now the ownership change could seriously, credibly accelerate his exit ahead of the big improvement he's been promising.