DePodesta wins this time

At this time last year, Jimmy Haslam III sided with General Manager John Dorsey over Chief Strategy Officer Paul DePodesta and named Freddie Kitchens as his new head coach.

After a disastrous 2019 season under Kitchens, the Browns owner had a chance for a do-over and this time went with DePodesta, who chaired the selection committee, in naming Kevin Stefanski the franchise’s 18^th full-time coach Sunday, exactly one year to the day later.

The somewhat surprising choice of Stefanski was also Haslam’s fifth whack at getting it right for the top whistle. It was surprising because it was believed Josh McDaniels was the leader in the clubhouse to succeed Kitchens.

The native of northeastern Ohio, best known as the offensive architect for the incredible championship run by New England Patriots, was also a favorite of Haslam and his wife, Dee.

DePodesta pushed for Stefanski last year when he was just a neophyte interim coordinator running the offense for the Minnesota Vikings. But Haslam opted to stay in house and went for Kitchens, who was endorsed by rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield after enjoying success as an interim offensive coordinator in 2018.

Despite running eight candidates through the mill in the last few weeks, it’s obvious no one impressed DePodesta more than Stefanski, under whom the Vikings’ offense flourished this past season.

A couple of guesses as to why Stefanski emerged victorious: Either McDaniels flunked his interview Friday in Berea or he was not nearly as impressive as Stefanski, who has spent his entire National Football League career with Minnesota.

With no Dorsey around to challenge this time after his “mutual” departure at the beginning of the month, DePodesta probably pushed even harder. The only reason for the delay in the announcement was Stefanski was still involved with the Vikings in the playoffs.

The Vikings’ 27-10 loss to the San Francisco 49ers Saturday afternoon in an NFC divisional playoff game enabled the Browns to move in and make the offer. Terms were not immediately made public.

The timing of the announcement in the wake of that game is unfortunate. Stefanski’s offense looked pathetic against the 49ers. The week before, though, it was quite the opposite as the Vikings went down to New Orleans and upset the Saints in a wild-card game.

It’s unfair to judge the qualities of an incoming new head coach based on a game or two. The results of those playoff games should in no way be used as a barometer for what Browns Nation can expect from Stefanski. The Penn graduate is the head coach, not just one side of the football.

As the head coach, he talks to the entire team. If he was hired mainly to help rehabilitate Mayfield, who struggled throughout his sophomore season, he was hired for the wrong reason. He’ll have too many other items about which to worry.

Ignoring them is what led to Kitchens’ dismissal. After Mayfield lobbied for the ex-head coach, he proceeded to make the offense more important than the entire team. As a result, that offense – and the team – suffered most of the season.

If Stefanski is smart, and being an Ivy League school (Penn) graduate is a good start, he will not follow in his predecessor’s footsteps and call the plays on offense. He will hire his own coordinators on both sides of the ball. This assumes the departure of defensive boss Steve Wilks.

There’s also a chance the new coach might stick with Browns special teams coordinator Mike Priefer, with whom he worked for several seasons before the native Clevelander joined the Browns this past season.

One of the reasons Stefanski enjoyed so much success in 2019 was the presence of Gary Kubiak, the former Denver Broncos quarterback and head coach who was brought in to shepherd the young man in his first full season as a coordinator.

Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said Kubiak was “probably the best thing that’s ever happened to me since I came here.” The question now is whether the Browns will attempt to pry Kubiak loose to join Stefanski in Cleveland.

But for right now, all we know about Stefanski is he is young, he is bright, he is enthusiastic and he is about to enter the most dangerous head coaching job in the NFL by far.

History has proven in the last 21 years that Cleveland is where head coaches come to die. Stefanski is No. 10 since the resurrection in 1999 and the fifth Haslam hire since 2012.  That’s 10 new head coaches (not counting two interims) in 21 seasons, or about one every two years. Stefanski is the latest to try and dispel that notion.

How special is the new hire? We don’t know. No one knows for certain. Right now, he is a blank palette. We’ll all get a much better idea when he starts painting.

But he needs time, time to develop a culture, time to learn how to be “the man”, time to create a culture where the team becomes the embodiment of its head coach. It requires time and patience, attributes of which the Haslams are sadly bereft.

It’s the lack of those two vital ingredients on the executive level that has stymied whatever growth this franchise had begun. If that does not stop, the rinse-and-repeat machine will drone on.