Kevin Stefanski Introduces Himself to Cleveland
New Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski was humble to open his press conference, thanking any number of people for this opportunity; from ownership to the coach searching committee to the Minnesota Vikings, coaches he's worked with and players he's coached. He then humanized himself by talking about his family and suggesting he bribed his three kids with the promise of a dog and a trip to Disney World in order to move to Cleveland. A rarity in especially professional football, Stefanski had coached for the Vikings for 14 years, so where as a lot of coaches in the professional ranks never put down roots, his children have never lived anywhere else.
Stefanski was confident without making declarative statements about what the Browns will be under his leadership or the being overly definitive on a number of details about the team. He had an answer for every question even if it was to say he hadn't come to a final decision.Malleability seemed to be a theme for Stefanski. He had core values he expressed, mostly about how hard he's going to work, but when it came to aspects of the team like who will call the plays, Stefanski wasn't in a hurry to decide, waiting to see how the coaching staff comes together first. Even as it pertained to the offensive scheme, Stefanski said that the scheme he ran for the Vikings this past year would be a starting point, but that ultimately gave the impression that it will evolve.
He wants his offense and defense to be aggressive and he stressed that the passing and running game go together. Stefanski mentioned his background as a Penn defensive back and how difficult it was to defend against run plays that looked like pass plays and pass plays that looked like run plays. With the Vikings, he took satisfaction in practice when Harrison Smith would tell him it's a difficult scheme to defend.
As it related to the coaching staff, Stefanski intends to take a similar approach as the team did with the coaching process. That's a methodical approach that isn't in a hurry, intends to reach out to a number of candidates to try to find the best fits to fill out his staff. He was specifically asked about minority candidates and Stefanski talked about how the Vikings did that last year in the form of a few quality control coaches to get younger African American coaches, specifically on the offensive side of the ball. He seems intent to hire a diverse staff with the Browns. That seems to be his focus over at least the next two days.
Stefanski was asked about analytics and it's benefit in football. He pointed out that if it can provide him an edge, he'd use it, noting that it just helps him to make more informed decisions. Stefanski did shoot down the notion that he was required to hand gameplans over to the analytics department.
He's excited to work with Baker Mayfield and has already spoken to players such as Mayfield, Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry even if only briefly. Stefanski believes the sky is the limit for Mayfield. One comment that stuck out was when he said "Personality is welcomed. Production is required."
