The Cleveland Browns have followed a familiar NFL path when filling their most recent head coaching openings. Like many teams around the league, they have identified a coordinator on another staff and given him his first head coaching job.
That was true of Kevin Stefanski, who was the offensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings before the Browns hired him as their head coach six years ago. Now, with Stefanski fired after an up-and-down tenure that ended with two disappointing seasons, Cleveland is back on the hunt again.
This latest list of candidates again includes several up-and-coming coordinators seeking their first top job, but analyst Bruce Drennan is warning the Browns about their coaching search based on their previous results.
“I’m so sick and tired of all these decades of, ‘What a great defensive coordinator we’ve hired. What great offensive coordinator we have hired.’ Coordinator, coordinator, coordinator. They’ve all failed. All of them,” Drennan said.
"They've all failed! All of 'em!" #DawgPound
Bruce wants NOTHING to do with your young, hotshot coordinators.
presented by @FanDuel https://t.co/UCxs9le8gJ pic.twitter.com/zziOyHnknl
— Bruce Drennan Show (@Bruce_Drennan) January 16, 2026
Stefanski was hired in January 2020 to replace Freddie Kitchens, who lasted just one season after being promoted from within as the offensive coordinator from Hue Jackson’s staff. Jackson had lasted into a third season after he was hired following a stint as the offensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals.
Going back even further, Mike Pettine was a former defensive coordinator, and Rob Chudzinski was a former offensive coordinator, as was Pat Shurmur. The last head coach the Browns hired who had previous experience in the role was Eric Mangini in 2009, after he was fired by the New York Jets.
The record speaks for itself. Not only have the Browns made more head coaching hires than any team except for the Las Vegas Raiders franchise since 2002, but Cleveland never made the playoffs under any of those aforementioned head coaches until Stefanski got it there twice, in the 2020 and 2023 seasons.
That is why Drennan and others may be rightfully skeptical of a long list of coordinator candidates that includes current staff members Jim Schwartz and Tommy Rees, Dan Pitcher of the Bengals, Aden Durde of the Seattle Seahawks, Todd Monken of the Baltimore Ravens, Jesse Minter of the Los Angeles Chargers, Grant Udinski of the Jacksonville Jaguars, and Chris Shula of the Los Angeles Rams.
Of that group, only Schwartz, who has been granted a second interview, has previous NFL head coaching experience.
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