NFL Insider Details Wildly In-Depth Process Browns Are Taking for Head Coach Hire

Cleveland is reportedly making their candidates take a personality test and write an essay, among other requirements.

Browns GM Andrew Berry and owner Jimmy Haslam are leading the team's coaching search. | Jeff Lange / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Browns are in the midst of a head coaching search after firing Kevin Stefanski following a 5–12 finish to the 2025 season, and it's apparently been an extensive process.

Cleveland has interviewed nine candidates for the opening—including defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz and offensive coordinator Tommy Rees, who has since made a lateral move to Atlanta—and reportedly has those candidates jumping through plenty of hoops to show their worth.

During an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show this week, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero peeled back the curtain on what exactly the Browns are asking of their potential next head coaches throughout what's become quite the operation.

“The Browns search process, and interview process—[that] they have run a number of times—is unlike any other in the NFL," he explained. “And it plays to certain types of candidates. They are a data-driven operation in Cleveland, and so they spend an extraordinary amount of time gathering data on their coaching candidates. You’re talking about taking a personality test, you’re talking about writing an essay. You’re talking about completing homework assignments going into both the first and the second rounds of interviews. It plays toward the types of candidates they have in the mix, which is very, very smart people, in a lot of cases, that just often happen to be tall, thin guys that came from Ivy League schools—though that is certainly not a requirement. That’s the type of candidate, generally, that is going to fit into a data-driven environment.”

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Does anyone want to be the #DawgPound head coach?!#NFL pic.twitter.com/O3Pn2yVg6d

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The exhaustive search, led by owner Jimmy Haslam and general manager Andrew Berry, has already seen former Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel withdraw as he instead pursues other jobs—while also having the Chargers OC gig in his back pocket.

“You can imagine, then, when certain candidates decide not to follow through on interviews, ”Pelissero later explained. “Part of it may be more than just, ‘Show up in a nice suit and answer questions in the room.’ And that speaks to how the Browns organization operates.” McDaniel was notably spotted in quite the outfit earlier this month while on the road interviewing for other vacancies.

According to Pelissero, Jaguars OC Grant Udinski, and Rams pass game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase are “in the mix” to become Cleveland’s next coach. If those fall through, however, “the belief” is that the default would be to hire Schwartz:

“The Browns are the Browns. Their process is different than everyone else’s, and we’ll see where it leads them this time.”

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