The e-mail came to Eric Mangini last February asking, “Would Coach Mangini be interested in appearing in an upcoming episode of ‘The Sopranos?’ ” “I thought it was someone kidding around ...

Eric Mangini was back on the football field last ... He was nicknamed “Mangenius” and had a cameo on “The Sopranos.” Then it all collapsed two years later, and he was fired when Brett ...

In the penultimate episode of The Sopranos, Tony Soprano ... Artie Bucco's restaurant when he saw then-New York Jets coach Eric Mangini and excused himself to say hello. It's just a brief ...

"Tone, you know who's in tonight?" Bucco then asks Soprano. "Mangenius." The camera pans to a table where Mangini, looking dapper in a suit instead of his usual black Jets warmup top and shorts ...

Consider the case of Eric Mangini. Two years ago, he was the toast of New York, the Big Apple's wunderkind, the Mangenius. Forget Broadway, he scored a cameo on The Sopranos. That's the big time.