As Gladiators mature into a playoff contender, so does Bernie Kosar as an executive

Ron Jaworski said he caught part of Bernie Kosar's playoff pep talk in the Gladiators' locker room on cable television recently. "I gotta write some notes for him," said the voluble "Jaws," the ESPN analyst and top football man with the Philadelphia Soul.

Kosar, the president of the relocated and formerly sad-sack Gladiators, has mastered most of the material quickly, pep talks aside. "The game's not going to be won by what's said in the locker room anyway," said Kosar of Saturday's National Conference Arena League Championship Game in Philadelphia.

It once would have been hard to coach for Kosar. He butted heads with the conservative play-calling of Marty Schottenheimer's staff during his glory days with the Browns. Bill Belichick fired him for drawing up a play in the dirt in his last game as a Brown in 1993.

The Browns' story was that Kosar had diminished skills, but his perceived insubordination was a big part of it, too. The play in the dirt, by the way, went for a touchdown.

After some difficult times personally and professionally, Kosar seems rejuvenated by the Gladiators' playoff run to the brink of a title game. Kosar has always had a big ego, which is almost a necessity at the quarterback position in the NFL, as well as one of the finest football brains ever to get knocked around by a blind-side blitz. "I'm not the quietest guy in competitive situations, even if it was in my best interests not to talk too much," he said.

For too long, Kosar was estranged from the Browns by the insecure football men who led the team after its rebirth. But anyone who has heard Kosar deconstruct the Browns' offense on television in exhibition games knows he still sees the field with a wide-angle lens. Exasperation memorably fought with disdain when he watched Maurice Carthon's offense.

But he has grown enough as Gladiators president that, although he sometimes wears a head-set to listen to play calls on the sideline, he lets Coach of the Year Mike Wilpolt and his staff run the game.

He would be a plus for the Browns too, although he would probably have to show more of his developing restraint to ever get a shot. Toward this season's Browns, a team that is supposed to contend for a division championship, Kosar takes the diplomatic approach.

"Derek Anderson threw 29 touchdown passes in his first full year in the league," Kosar said. "You're going to get better if you have a guy like that in your corner. No matter how it comes out with Derek and Brady [Quinn], you need two quarterbacks nowadays."

The compact size of the Arena League field speeds up the decision-making process and accelerates quarterback growth. The quality of play also rose after NFL Europe folded, sending many of its 300 players in search of Arena League jobs.

There were good players in the USFL, some of whom fueled the Browns' rise to power in the 1980s. The Arena League developed former NFL Most Valuable Player Kurt Warner. Even the deplorable XFL provided players to the NFL.

The same should hold for team executives.

"I've been in this five years, and this is my first [conference] championship game. Cleveland did it in one year. Bernie must be doing pretty good," Jaworski said.

(plaindelaer.com)