BEREA, Ohio -- Mike Holmgren said he agonized over firing coach Eric Mangini – "a hard-working, bright, caring guy" -- and did not decide to do it until Monday morning.

But within two hours of relieving Mangini of his duties, the Browns president had formally launched the search for a coach who can "some day lead us to the championship."

Holmgren said the Browns requested permission to interview an undisclosed number of assistant coaches currently with other NFL teams. One has been identified as New York Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell. Another may be Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg.

Holmgren said the search will be "pretty wide" and would not be limited "in any way." He stressed that getting this decision right is "huge" because "I don't want to do this again."

Holmgren said the search would have no timetable and money would be no object. But in a mild surprise, Holmgren, 62, eliminated himself as a candidate "right now." He had hedged a little in a meeting with the players prior to addressing the media.

"I probably won't coach again," he said. "I really know what it takes to coach ... the time necessary, the emotion ... to do it correctly. Unless I was 100 percent sure I wanted to commit, I don't think you're being fair to anybody. The direction I want to go right now is to find someone to take this over and do a great job with it."

Expounding on that premise at different stages of his press conference, Holmgren outlined the general qualities he prefers -- but are not necessarily tied to: young, offensive-minded, and schooled in a system that can best develop quarterback Colt McCoy.

• On ruling himself out, Holmgren said, "I think I'm a pretty good coach, but there are a lot of good coaches, a lot of young coaches. I can get real excited about finding a young guy and having him take the ball and go with it."

• On considering McCoy's development in the search process, he said, "If Colt is the guy -- I see the potential there -- who the head coach is, who the offensive coordinator is, who the position coach is, they're important for any team. But if you have a young man you think will be the quarterback for the next 10 to 15 years, it becomes even more important. So absolutely that is going to be one of the considerations in the search."

• On whether he will demand the coach to run the West Coast-style offense, he said, "If I hire a coach, he's the coach and will run what he knows and is comfortable with. Will it be part of the process? Absolutely. But I am not going to interfere that way as the president. That's not fair. Is it a consideration in this process? I think it is. Maybe not the system, exactly, but something that allows our quarterback to be successful."

• On favoring an offensive-minded head coach over one with defensive expertise, Holmgren said, "I think there is an attractive part to both. We lost a lot of close games, a lot of low-scoring, close games. So I would like to put in a little more pizzazz, but that's not only on the coach. So I don't paint myself in a corner. But those questions will be asked in the interview, no question."

Mangini departs with a 10-22 record over two seasons and about $7.8 million left on his original four-year contract. Mangini's .312 win percentage (10-22) ranked 11th among the 12 full-time coaches in Browns history. Only Chris Palmer, the first coach of their expansion era, did worse (5-27, .156). Mangini's immediate predecessor, Romeo Crennel, had a .375 mark (24-40) in four seasons.

Mangini's separate 5-11 seasons came about in different ways. In his first year, the Browns were a franchise-worst 1-11 before winning their last four games. That winning streak earned Mangini a second season.

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Amid higher expectations this year, the Browns lost their first three games. They were 1-5 when they pulled off successive monumental upset wins over defending champion New Orleans (30-17) and future No. 1 AFC seed New England (34-14). The season turned in a 26-20 overtime loss to the New York Jets. They went 2-6 after that, losing the last four games.

"Our season had tremendous highs and lows for me," Holmgren said. "As good as we finished last year, we finished as poor this year. What I tried to do is not base my decision on any one game, one play, any two games ... any stretch but the body of work.

"As I told the players ... I have high expectations and I'm not going to settle [for less]. I'm just not going to settle."

In a statement issued by the club, Mangini expressed gratitude for the opportunity given him by owner Randy Lerner and thanked his players.

"Our goal was to build a team for long-term success," Mangini said. "The core characteristics we were dedicated to, I believe, will help achieve that goal, and have provided a strong identity for this football team and have helped to create a positive foundation upon which the organization can continue to build."

Holmgren was non-committal about bringing back any of Mangini's assistant coaches, who all are under contract for another year. He said they were given the week off and will return for a meeting with Holmgren next Monday. It was implied they could pursue other opportunities. Defensive coordinator Rob Ryan will be interviewed for the Carolina head coaching job.

Holmgren said he understood the "here we go again" mentality of fans, but felt change was necessary and more important than continuity for the sake of continuity alone.

"I really think I have to get this one right for organizational continuity, for the ability to keep people in place for a long period of time to develop the organization," Holmgren said. "I think we did some things this year that we can build on."