From searching for a new head coach yearly to Coach of the Year? No Cleveland Browns fans could have imagined this as a possibility back in January when the team was on another coaching search. Now not only is it a possibility, but it is almost a lock.
Kevin Stefanski has been incredible this year, there’s no way around it. This time last year, the Browns were below .500 and Myles Garrett had just slammed Mason Rudolph over the head with his helmet, adding another layer to a season full of dysfunction and disappointments. Today, the Browns are 10–4 and are basically a game away from their first playoff birth since 2002. Coaching matters. We’ve all known it, but the contrast from 2019 to 2020 is almost enough in itself to have Stefanski in the Coach of the Year conversation. But there’s way more to it than the record.
Stefanski has done numerous impressive things this season. He implemented a new offense and system over zoom meetings in a shortened off-season and pre-season. Trying to do that alone could have been a disaster. Instead, it has lead to one a top 10 offense and an exciting one to watch week in and week out. But wait, there’s more.
Perhaps the most impressive thing Stefanski has done is getting the players to buy in to the culture he’s building. The players are focused. The players are determined. And there have been ZERO distractions. He is a leader of men and it has trickled down to Baker Mayfield, who has stepped up and grown up right in front of our eyes. Getting players to buy in is very difficult, and we’ve seen countless Browns coaches fail to achieve this. Even after wins, no one in the building is satisfied. They’re hungry for more. This team is different.
To add to his impressive accomplishments this season, he’s also played a big role in bringing out Baker Mayfield’s full potential. After 2019, fans and the national media wondered if Baker was the future of the franchise. The relationship between Mayfield and Stefanski has grown more with each game and they’re 100% on the same page. Stefanski does an amazing job scheming receivers open and his play-calling has put Baker in positions to succeed. He plays to Baker’s strengths and what’s on display is very special. Baker is 5th in the NFL in Total QBR and has been one of the best QBs in all of football since week 7. A lot of that is Baker and a lot of it is Stefanski. This duo is the one Browns fans have been waiting for since 1999.
The play-calling, game-planning, and in-game adjustments from Stefanski look more like that from a seasoned coach instead of a rookie one. He remains level headed and leans on his other coaches on the sideline each week. This isn’t a coach with a massive ego. He understands that other people with more experience have valuable input, something that Hue Jackson and Freddie Kitchens could never comprehend. There is a clip from NFL Films earlier this season where he turns to Offensive Line coach Bill Calahan and asked him if he should run a certain play. That short clip demonstrated just the kind of coach he is. You can tell that everyone is on the same page weekly.
Browns fans have been waiting over 20 years for a Head Coach like Kevin Stefanski. It hasn’t been an easy road whatsoever, but it looks like we have our guy. The Stefanski/Mayfield marriage has the potential to be similar to the Payton/Brees marriage. There is no doubt that Kevin Stefanski deserves to be the Coach of the Year.
