Kevin Stefanski is Cool As A Cucumber
Last week, Head Coach Kevin Stefanski signed a contract extension with the Cleveland Browns. Let's be clear about one thing - This is very good news.
Say what you will about Stefanski’s stoic demeanor, his head-scratching playcalls, or his lack of fire. At the end of the day, he has done the only thing that matters in the National Football League - won football games.
When thinking about the last four seasons in Cleveland, two things have become exceedingly obvious. Winning games is a lot more fun than losing games, and Browns fans have no idea what a good head coach looks like.
Who can blame us though? If you haven’t witnessed a well run operation for twenty-odd years, why would you be able to pick out the real thing when it finally waltzes into Cleveland in some orange Air Force Ones? As Browns fans we have been in a twenty year cycle of hope, despair, and waiting, and at some point over the last couple of decades that cycle became ingrained. Like Pavlov’s dog salivating at the ring of a bell, we can’t help but call for a coach's job when he makes a mistake or a risky playcall doesn't turn out. Reason be damned, even if we just had our first eleven win season since 1994, if the coach calls a double reverse that results in a fifteen yard loss, everyone grab the pitchforks!
Maybe that speaks to why we can find Kevin’s emotionless demeanor so unsettling. He goes against everything the Cleveland Browns have been for nearly a quarter-century. He is the poster child for trusting the process - if you tried to judge the outcomes of games by how Kevin reacts on the sidelines, you would be left guessing if we won, lost, or if the game was played at all. He is, by all accounts, a cool customer - which understandably, can be infuriating when the Browns aren’t playing to their potential. Hell, I yell at the players through my TV, doesn't the coach give enough of a rip to yell at them on the field?
In contrast to the passionate, loud fan base of the Cleveland Browns, the head coach treats Sunday afternoons like a business meeting. Cold, calculating, cerebral, he dices up defenses with a level of seriousness that belies the children's game going on in front of him. He acts like it's a job, because it is a job - his key performance indicator is wins, and he has delivered at a higher level than his last ten predecessors.
So drink it up Cleveland - the tides have turned. No longer are we forced to live in the shadows of Tomlin and Harbaugh, bouncing from one failed head coach to another. Will it be perfect? No. Will he make an ass of himself and the Browns a few times a year? Absolutely.
But Kevin Stefanski is a proven winner, and he will be the head coach of your Cleveland Browns for years to come. If you ask me, that is something worth celebrating.