By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

It came as no surprise that Bengals coach Dick LeBeau was fired Monday morning, a day after his team finished a franchise-worst 2-14. Team president Mike Brown then made it clear that - despite 12 years without a winning record or playoff appearance - the Bengals would make no other major changes.

Brown said:

He will not hire a general manager.

The new coach will have discretion on hiring assistants or retaining members of the existing 15-coach staff. ( Brown anticipates a mix of new and old staff members.)

Changes will not be made in the club's five-member scouting department.

Assistant coaches and coordinators will continue to have scouting duties, rather than expand the scouting staff.

Scouting consultant John Cooper, the former Ohio State coach, is not a candidate to replace LeBeau.

Numerous former Bengals players and NFL experts have said that, unless the Bengals hire an experienced general manager to make personnel decisions, the team's fortunes aren't likely to change.

Said former Bengals receiver Mike Martin, "It'll be the same situation unless he lets the new coach do things the way he sees fit."

Brown said the Bengals would look inside and outside the organization for a successor to LeBeau. Assistant coaches Jim Anderson and Mark Duffner will interview for the job.

No timetable was set by Brown. "We plan to get about it as soon as we can," he said.

LeBeau and Brown met before 9 a.m. Monday. LeBeau, whose two-year contract expired, immediately left Paul Brown Stadium and did not return messages left on his home phone.

Brown's refusal to yield player personnel power might prevent him from attracting top coaching candidates.

ESPN commentator and former Vikings head coach Dennis Green, a name on the Bengals' wish list, said Monday that he is not interested in the Cincinnati job because he wants both coaching and front office responsibilities. Brown is unlikely to go for that.

"I would say, as much as most, (the head coaches) are involved in the draft here," Brown said. "What they say here carries great weight. Our draft is not run on a dictatorial basis."

The perception, which Brown contends is inaccurate, is that he makes all major decisions, meddles in coaching and scouting areas and is excessively frugal.

He says the "Bengal Way" is not as broken as it might appear from the outside, despite a 55-137 composite record since Brown assumed control of the franchise in August 1991.

But many fans think the organization is badly fractured. The last three home crowds of the season were the smallest in 24 Bengals games in Paul Brown Stadium since it opened in September 2000.

"I'm just glad we lost that last game," said Bruce McCarty of Westwood. "We needed to have the worst record ever to make changes."

Darlene Cummins of Dayton, Ky., said the team's owner is simply trying to distract from his own failings by firing LeBeau.

"Dick LeBeau has been made a scapegoat," she said. "What they really need is to get rid of Mike Brown."

Said Brown: "I am not unaware how the public feels. They have a right to feel that way. We've disappointed them. Changing the coach is a big thing. It is turning the direction of this team over to someone new."

If the Bengals find a coach from outside the organization, it will be the first time since hiring Sam Wyche in December 1983. Wyche, a former Bengals quarterback, was then the head coach at Indiana University.

The last time the Bengals hired someone with no ties to the franchise: Forrest Gregg (1980-83).

LeBeau's downfall as Bengals coach came after a promising start in 2000. Brown promoted him to replace Bruce Coslet, who resigned after an 0-3 start. LeBeau restored order to chaos and led the Bengals to a 4-9 finish.

His 2001 Bengals, bolstered by a handful of free-agent signings, started 2-0 and were 4-3 at their November bye.The team then lost seven straight and finished 6-10.

The Bengals have lost 21 of their last 25 games, including Sunday's 27-9 loss to the Buffalo Bills.

In a statement released by the Bengals media relations department Monday, LeBeau said, "I got the job. I kept it for three years, and lost the job. In between, I worked as hard as I could."

LeBeau was 63 years old at the time of his Sept. 25, 2000, promotion, becoming the oldest rookie head coach since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger.

A knock on LeBeau as a coach was his apparent failure to sternly discipline players. He had a reputation of being soft, a label Bengals quarterback Jon Kitna says did not apply.

"He wasn't a yeller and a screamer," Kitna said. "He had his own style. One thing you have to be in this league is yourself.

"There was a little bit of guys who kind of took advantage of him."

Fullback Lorenzo Neal agreed.

"They might not know what they had and what they lost in Coach LeBeau," Neal said.

LeBeau often spoke of the head coaching opportunity being one he thought he would not get after 28 years as an NFL assistant. And he exited as gracefully as he handled the stress of the job.

"Dick and I have a very open and good relationship," Brown said. " I think he understood when he walked in the door where this was going. We talked for a few minutes. I thanked him because he really made a tremendous effort. I hold him in high regard as a coach and I consider him a friend."

E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com