The Here We Go Yet Again "New and Improved" Browns Coaching Search Thread

I thought you would enjoy this immensely. Now all they need to do is get Mary Kay to fall for the same trick.

 

Nah, she just retweets what Grossi or others say in the first place. Never an original thought of her own.

 

I've been giving this a lot of thought since I posted this over a week ago and haven't changed my mind. Of the remaining candidates, my wish list (in order) is:

1. Saleh. His age, passion for the game and demeanor put him in this spot.
2. Schwartz. He's only here because of his defensive background and HC experience.
3. Stefanski. If they're bound and determined to go with an offensive oriented HC - he's the one I would choose.

Those that would make me cringe (in order):

1. McDaniels
2. Daboll
3. Any college coach (especially Lincoln Riley and Urban Meyer).

Change. My. Mind.

 

No argument here Lym. I'm with you 100%

I admittedly know little about Saleh, but like his passion, and like the energy he would bring. His short coming IMO, is can he gather a coaching staff.

Schwartz: just no thanks. Too adversarial. Not a problem with opponents, but it doesn't stop there, and do we really want that guy to coach Garret, who already needs to learn how to chill, not get over heated. Pass

Stefanski: agreed, if you're going OC for HC, but I'd prefer not to.

 

Frankly, I believe this team could win on Defense, coupled with Chubb, and a "short" passing game. Not to diminish Baker, but it would allow him time to improve his ability to read a defense, and expand as he masters it.

I believe too much was taken for granted this year, relative to Baker, and he and the team suffered for it. Kitchens it turns out was an massive mistake by Dorsey, who had half a season to interview, and cull any HC candidates, and completely blew it. Can't fault Slam for making the change. Maybe for granting Dorsey the absolute power to make the HC decision, but not for correcting the problem.

Dorsey will probably get another job as a personnel guy or maybe even a GM, but won't be given that kind of power again IMO. Kitchens may have hurt himself even more. HC? no chance, OC? alsoo no chance, so if he wants to keep working in the NFL, it's back to position coach IMO

 

After 40+ years in management, one thing I learned about evaluating people being considered for promotion is talk to their peers and subordinates. Everyone in all levels of an organization have to work well with (and depend upon) their peers and subordinates. What I discovered is that people develop a very strong network of people that always cross functional lines. They all know who is the "go to guy" in a different functional area.

Granted, in my statement above, that network of peers is typically under one roof. But it wouldn't surprise me in the least if Saleh's network included coaches he's worked with covering 15 years in the NFL with four different teams. To give a comparison, there's a current NFL HC that had 7 years of NFL coaching experience with three different teams prior to being hired as a Head Coach for a team with an existing talented roster. In the 13 years he has been the Head Coach, he hasn't had a problem filling his staff with talented positional coaches or coordinators. His name? Mike Tomlin.

Now, before someone jumps in and tries to say Saleh is a job hopper because he's been with 4 teams in 15 years . . . in every case, he was promoted to a higher job with each move made. That tells me that he was successful after each promotion.

 

Can't (or won't). Likely everyone has their favorite(s) and their, in your words, cringe-worthy candidates. It'll be up to Jimmy Haslam to *finally* make the right call.

 

Happy Josh McDaniels Day, y'all!

Guessing if all goes according to plan, they can announce the 18th head coach of the Cleveland Browns sometime this afternoon/late-evening.

 

Please, no.........I'd rather become a Ravens or Steelers fan.

The dude is damaged goods. Went to Denver and NE offense did just fine without him as he traded up to draft Tebow. Then came back to NE and virtually no change in offensive capability. He is a non-factor as a coach. He knows exactly how to hold Bill B's clipboard and how Bill likes his coffee. And nothing else. The Browns will be doing this all again in 2-3 years if McD is hired and I'll have probably given up watching football (except for the Lingerie League https://www.lfl360.com/).

 

If only @Tim would give us the "Dislike" button back for just one post. Sorry SAS.

 

Trying to be as objective as possible here, this would be my pros/cons list of the candidates.

1. Josh McDaniels, OC New England
Pros: Pedigree from a top-performing franchise, solid track record of offensive success, worked with - and pushed - one of the greatest QBs to play the sport, previous head coaching experience (although with poor results), local "gets us" guy (John Carroll)

Cons: Wishy-washy and high-maintenance, abject failure at last head coaching position (which included interfering in personnel decisions), no proven success outside of a top-performing franchise, Belichick tree bears little fruit

2. Jim Schwartz, DC Philadelphia
Pros: Prior head coaching experience, which included taking an 0-16 team to the playoffs; extensive resume as a defensive coordinator (14 seasons - 10 of which he commanded a Top 16 unit)

Cons: Four seasons as a coordinator with a Bottom 25 unit (plus two more as head coach), HC experience is tough to evaluate since it was for a very bad Detroit team and after a 10-6 post-season appearance, his team went 11-21 over the next two years, Fisher tree bears little fruit

3. Eric Bieniemy, OC Kansas City
Pros: Has commanded a Top 5 offense two consecutive seasons, tutelage under Andy Reid (great coaching tree), experience with a "gunslinger" quarterback, prior to OC was a running backs position coach

Cons: Limited experience, no track record outside of the last two seasons where he got to work with Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes, resume reads similar to Freddie Kitchens, team is still playing in the post-season

4. Greg Roman, OC Baltimore
Pros: Tore down and rebuilt an offense and quarterback in a single offseason (which went on to be the best offense and MVP of the League), terrific track record of a successful running game in all stops (8th, 4th, 3rd, 4th, 1st, 1st, 1st in rankings), not talking about enough -- taking away what made a division rival special, local (John Carroll) guy

Cons: No prior HC experience, for all the success in the run game has always had a lagging pass game,mixed record of coaches from the Billick tree, team is still playing in the post-season

5. Brian Daboll, OC Buffalo
Pros: Experience under the best-of-the-best (New England, Bill Belichick and Alabama, Nick Saban), previous experience in Cleveland (OC under Eric Mangini)

Cons: Has *never* commanded a good offense as coordinator, Belichick tree bears little fruit, kinda boring

6. Robert Saleh, DC San Francisco
Pros: Rah-rah/intense personality, has engineered a successful defense, track record in (mostly) high-performing organizations (Houston, Seattle, San Francisco)

Cons: Limited experience (three seasons, two of which ranked 25th and 28th in points allowed), Kyle Shannahan tree has literally not produced any coaches, given limited experience -- what sort of staff would he be able to assemble, team is still playing in the post-season

7. Kevin Stefanski, OC Minnesota
Pros: OC for a very successful offense, 13 seasons in Minnesota under three separate head coaches (indicates value to the team/organization), even-keeled

Cons: very limited experience (resume reads like Freddie Kitchens'), spurned in 2019 for the same position, team is still playing in the post-season

 

I mean, I (mostly) only meant because he's interviewing. Very difficult to see, though, how all the moves this offseason so far and Jimmy's pining since 2012 aren't all signs pointing to him becoming our next head coach.

It's tough to argue those points. All reports are that he "learned" from his failed time in Denver... maybe that's true.

As much as folks think it's a slam dunk he's the guy... part of me wonders. Coaches don't get third chances. He flamed out in Denver. He balked at Indy. If he takes this job, with a notoriously impatient owner, who's to say he has success? And who's to say Bill B. is there in a few seasons to go crawling back to if this doesn't pan out?

If you're Josh McD, you have to think this next opportunity had to be the most perfect one. If he views this roster and Baker Mayfield as that, great. If not, I do think there's a good chance he goes back to New England for one more run with Bill and Tom.

 

And now to be subjective... my rankings/preference:

1. Greg Roman
2. Eric Bieniemy
3. Kevin Stefanski
4. Jim Schwartz
5. Robert Saleh
6. Josh McDaniels
7. Brian Daboll

 

And how I think Jimmy & Co. will rank/hire them:

1. Josh McDaniels

That's it. That's the list.

 

Well we, as fans, can only hope that - for the first time in his tenure as owner - he doesn't make another asinine, franchise throttling, wait 'til next year decision and hire this Patriot hype induced douchbag.

 

Maybe Dee has a nice big box of shiny things for him to play with when the interviews are over and they actually have to decide who to hire.

 

Re: Josh McDouchbag,

How many of you watched the NFL Network' "100 Greatest Players" series? The first and last episodes of this series told me all I need to know about this guy. Bill Belichick was inducted (?) in the 1st episode and Tom Brady in the last episode. Throughout the series (especially when a coach was added) they added a lot of behind the scenes footage showing how a particular coach interacted with his staff and players. At the time the footage was recorded, they had no way of knowing it would end up being used in this series.

Brady was added in the last episode. They included a lot of footage showing Belichick and Brady discussing upcoming opponents and how to incorporate various modifications to best attack their defense and/or personnel. McDaniels was no where to be seen in any of this footage. One would think that, when discussing a game plan or modifications to receiver's routes, it would be advantageous to include your Offensive Coordinator in those discussions.

Both Belichick and Brady were on the set of this series (Belichick for the entire series) and talked extensively and in some detail about things and people that helped them succeed and excell. Not once was McDaniels' name even mentioned.

 

I guess the truth is: I don't know who I'd choose for our next HC, but I do know who I don't want: Josh McDaniels or Brian Dabol.

The rest have pluses and minuses, but generally I'd like to get a Defensive minded HC. The allure of the "hot" OC just doesn't do it for me, and I'd like to see the O become accountable, so I'm thinking a Defensive HC, might be more demanding of them.

Probably not particularly well thought out, but there you have it. Of course this Defensive HC needs to be capable of identifying and gaining the loyalty of a team of assistants, with particular attention to the OC, and QB coaches, as I believe that the development of Baker will make or break this team.

 

BTW, it's nearly midnight and no announcement, which I interpret as "no to Josh", and possibly a more thoughtful coaching search than I could have expected from Slam. Yah!