Baseball vs Football
January 3, 2008Forget Derek Anderson and Jamal Lewis…
January 4, 2008One coach extending stay, one coach leaving?
It hasn’t taken long, but the coaching carousel has begun to spin, and a couple of the Browns coaches are on the ride.
According to Mary Kay Cabot of the Plain Dealer, the Ravens will be interviewing Browns offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski for their vacant head coaching position, while the Browns will be looking to extend head coach Romeo Crennel’s for up to possibly 3 seasons.
I said in my last post that we should expect Coach Chud to have an interview or two, so this is no big surprise. I also predicted that he would be unlikely to get a job quite yet, and I still 70% believe that, although I feel like Coach Chud might be exactly the kind of candidate the Ravens are looking for.
Regardless, you gotta believe guys like Rex Ryan and Jason Garrett will be the top candidates for this job. Ryan for his familiarity with the franchise and Garrett for his experience. He has been groomed as a head coach candidate for several years now, and is believed to be one of the brightest young coaches in the NFL. He would seem to be more head coach-ready than Coach Chud at this point in time. Other candidates for the job, according to Cabot, include Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz.
Here’s GM Phil Savage’s take on the situation:
“Obviously with the turnaround we’ve had, and with the way the offense played, Rob is going to be sought after by a lot of teams either this year or in years to come. . . When you have success you have to anticipate losing your good people.”
The only thing that bothers me about this is the thought of Coach Chud leading the hated Ravens. I really like Chudzinski a lot, and I think he is going to definitely be successful wherever he coaches. I just hope that it is not with the Baltimore Ravens.
As for the Romeo situation, Cabot writes:
“Meanwhile, the Browns have begun talks on a three-year contract extension for coach Romeo Crennel, said Joe Linta, the coach’s agent.
Crennel, who went 10-6 this season, has two years remaining on his five-year deal.
“The talks were very positive,” Linta said. “I really believe [Browns owner] Randy Lerner will want to make Romeo the face of the franchise for the next five years. Hopefully we can work toward that end.”
Linta said an extension for Crennel, who earned consideration for coach of the year this season after the Browns went from 4-12 last year to 10-6, will send a great signal to potential free agents that there’s stability in this franchise.”
I think this is a great proactive move by the Browns. Look, we all know Romeo is far from the best coach in the NFL, and he had more than his fair share of really bad moves this year (remember the double time out challenge at Pittsburgh???), but as I said in my season recap, stability is the key to any successful franchise. I can’t help but think of the way the Steelers showed so much patience with Bill Cowher when he was a young coach with them. He made his fair share of dumb coaching moves, but the Steelers stuck with him, kept extending his contract, demonstrated franchise stability, and built success around it. I feel like that’s the ultimate model of a winning franchise, and I have no shame in saying I hope the Browns emulate the Steelers’ business style.
I’ll be keeping an eye on the Crennel talks, but I once again feel like the Browns are starting to do things the right way. It feels crazy writing these words in describing the Browns, but it also feels good. So mark this website as being in favor of this decision by the Browns. You can hold me to it.
3 Comments
I really hope Chud doesn’t leave, but on the slight chance that he does take the Ravens job we need to snatch up Cam Cameron real quick like.
Excellent point Shane. With Cameron, the offense would be able to stay within this current system, more or less.
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