There was a bit more on the personal side, but for the most part, Lerner — and The Repository in a detailed one-on-one interview — stuck to chatter about his football team.

He seems comfortable talking all day about that.

Coming off a 4-12 year, Romeo Crennel was on the hot seat. Coming off a 10-6 year, Crennel has removed himself from the ranks of NFL head coaches playing the fire-drill version of musical chairs. Lerner shared his view of his 60-year-old head coach. Here is Part 2 of The Repository's face-to-face interview with Lerner:

Rep: How sold are you on Romeo as the right coach to lead the Browns the rest of the way through the so-called window of opportunity?

Lerner: I'm not sure what the word 'sold' means. In this particular business, when a guy is burdened with wins and losses and is constantly judged according to how many of each ...

If the question is, am I sold on Romeo's ability to win and make an organization feel good about itself, and feel confident, and exploit whatever skills or potential that's within the building? Then, yeah, I am.

Here's a guy who's been in the Super Bowl every five years for his entire career. He knows about winning, about high-pressure games. He's dealt with pressure, with the limelight. He's committed his entire life to NFL football. He's done it successfully, with passion, with honesty. He's a very special guy.

Can I say that I'm sold that we'll win Super Bowls with Romeo? I mean, how could you say that with anybody? But you could say that I think our chances are good that we will continue to have a strong, serious team and be in the best possible position to win.

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Rep: From time to time, the Browns, Indians and Cavaliers have been criticized for not hiring experienced head coaches, managers and general managers.
Lerner: From time to time?

Rep: OK, every 10 minutes ... Fact is, you hired a head coach and GM who were new to those jobs, but now they're going into their fourth years.

Lerner: It means a lot. One of the risks to (hiring Crennel and Phil Savage) was not bringing in experienced guys. But one of the upsides was we got guys who were hungry to do it ... and they'd be uniquely proud to have done it with the Cleveland Browns.

Now that we're getting guys who have had some degree of experience, and it's been with the Cleveland Browns, and their loyalty is to the Cleveland Browns, maybe we can have the good fortune of getting the benefit from that continuity.

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Rep: Last September's opener against the Steelers was as bad as any loss you can name. How did the organization dig out of that, coming off a 4-12 year?

Lerner: Sometimes you look forward to your school break and it rains. You've got to be able to handle disappointment.

It was not all that clear in 1964 that the Browns were going to win a championship. It was not all that clear in the Giants' 2007 season they were going to win the Super Bowl.

One of the players I talked to after the Pittsburgh game was Willie McGinest. We were sitting in the fieldhouse chatting. Guys like that help create perspective. You support those guys who are on the front line, in this case the head coach and the GM.

They had to make their move, and they did make their move (trading Charlie Frye and installing Derek Anderson at QB).

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Rep: You don't come off as the panicky type.

Lerner: (Smiling) I try not to show that side.

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Rep: Over the next three years, five years, seven years, how will the Browns look in terms of what is predictable?

Lerner: Over three years? I don't know. I don't see why with some luck and some hard work you won't see (business chief Mike) Keenan, Savage and Crennel working together over three years. Will Romeo want to do it for five more years? I don't know. Keenan, Savage and I are similar ages. Romeo is older than us, obviously.

I would say over three to five years, the hope is continuity. Seven years? Seven's a biblical number, so ...

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Rep: The team is going into its 10th season since coming back. You're going into your seventh season since taking over for your father. How odd is it that you began just watching behind the scenes, never dreaming you would run the team so soon, and now being in the position of doing it longer than your father ...

Lerner: I guess when I think about it, it's certainly not what I expected. It's a shame. ... It's disappointing, and it's unfair to a certain extent ... or a total extent, I should say. I haven't thought about it, though. I probably would do well thinking too much about that.

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Rep: The guess is people around you would tell you, and maybe they do, that your dad would be proud of what you're doing.

Lerner: I think he'd be OK with it. I think I can say that because I do track the decisions that I've been faced with against what it is I would expect he would do or say or advise. So ... I don't know ... proud's a funny word. I'd like to think he'd be proud. I think that he would be OK with it.

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Rep: Do you have a sense your dad (who died in 2002) looks in every now and then?

Lerner: Constantly. Oh God, yeah. It's more in more subtle or symbolic ways in my case, but I definitely sense his presence, yeah. God yeah.