Pettine: Shanahan would've been 'dark cloud' over Browns if he stayed
Cleveland Browns head coach Mike Pettine says he let former offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan leave the team because he wanted to prevent a “dark cloud” being placed over the coaching staff.
Shanahan only spent one season with the team. He was hired to be the offensive coordinator with the Atlanta Falcons earlier this month.
“It was something that we didn't want to drag out,” Pettine said to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "It's just very hard to win in the NFL [even] when everybody's into it and they truly want to be there, and again if you have somebody that just doesn't want to be there.”
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Shanahan left with two years left on his contract and Pettine said he spoke with him before Pettine left for vacation after the season. When the head coach got back from vacation, that’s when the team and Shanahan decided to part ways.
“I got out of town for a little bit, spoke to him briefly before I left, and then during that time I was away, he had gotten ahold of me that he wanted to get together, so I knew there were some issues that we were going to meet on,” Pettine said.
Cleveland hired Oakland Raiders quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo to replace Shanahan.
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