Callie Brownson Becomes Browns’ First Female Coach

The Cleveland Browns named Callie Brownson as their chief of staff, the team announced Friday.

Brownson becomes the first woman to hold a coaching position with the Browns.

From Super Bowl Live: The #Browns made history with the hire of Callie Brownson as coach Kevin Stefanski’s chief of staff. pic.twitter.com/qvHEmWFCw2

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 31, 2020

“I’m excited because Coach [Kevin] Stefanski is one of these up-and-coming coaches who has a lot of great ideas,” Brownson said in a news release from the team. “He’s a progressive coach and he loves the game of football. He understands that football is ever-evolving, which is cool to be a part of on a staff like this.”

Last season, Brownson served as a full-time coaching intern for the Buffalo Bills under Sean McDermott.

“We talked through it and he had this very specific vision for how he [Stefanski] wanted this role to work out and how involved he wanted it to be, and to me it sounded like a phenomenal opportunity and I was very impressed with him and impressed with everyone in this building and I’m excited to be here,” Brownson said.

Brownson’s role is similar to the one Stefanski had with the Minnesota Vikings under Brad Childress in 2006, when he took his first full-time NFL job as assistant to the head coach.

“It’s very involved in every aspect of a football operation,” Stefanski said. “Callie is uniquely situated where she can go interact with football ops or PR or the locker room or the equipment room. She’s really the liaison to the rest of the building for me. I’m going to lean on her heavily and already have. 

“I think she’s a go-getter. She’s self-motivated. She’s going to put all of her energy into this gig. What’s exciting for me is ultimately I want to develop young coaches. She’s someone that has worked on the offensive side of the ball, worked on special teams, has a great knowledge of the game and I want to let her expand that knowledge and develop her as a head coach.”

The news comes two days before San Francisco 49ers offensive assistant coach Katie Sowers becomes the first woman to coach in the Super Bowl.

Before Brownson became a coach, she played football from 2010-2017 in the Women’s Football Alliance for the D.C. Divas.

“Browns hire Callie Brownson as chief of staff” https://t.co/BmkmlVdcRC@willpowerentllc #WP #NewBROOKLYN #NyC #IAintDoneYet #Pray4Me #KAYA #RSKTKRS #THEWOLFOFFLOSSSTREET #WHATITSGONNABE

— WILLPOWERENT (@willpowerentllc) January 31, 2020

She played safety, running back and slot receiver.

Her professional playing career included five seasons as a captain and four as an All-American.

Brownson also won a good medal with Team USA at the International Federation of American Football Women’s World Championships in Finland in 2013 and Vancouver in 2017.

She got her first football coaching experience from 2015-2017 at Mount Vernon High School in Virginia.

Having already coached softball at the school, Brownson joined Barry Wells’ football coaching staff.

“I had the coaching skills and I was playing football so it made perfect sense,” Brownson said. “I had let society’s dialogue tell me that I hadn’t really thought about that. He opened that door for me.”

Brownson then attended the NFL’s first “Women’s Careers in Football Forum.“

Shortly after, she landed her first job in the NFL as a scouting intern with the New York Jets in 2017.

Brownson was invited to attend the Manning Passing Academy at their first women’s clinic.

She then became the first full-time female coach in Division I history after meeting Dartmouth head coach Buddy Teevens.

Brownson was an offensive quality control coach under Teevens in 2018.