Kevin Stefanski is first Browns coach with two winning seasons since Marty Schottenheimer
The Browns won their ninth game of the season on Sunday, clinching a winning record this year. And that means Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski has accomplished something no coach did in Cleveland in the last three decades.
Stefanski now has two winning seasons as head coach of the Browns, this year and 2020, when Cleveland went 11-5. The last time the Browns had a head coach who had more than one winning season during his tenure in Cleveland it was Marty Schottenheimer, who had three straight winning seasons from 1986 through 1988. He was fired after the 1988 season.
That version of the Browns franchise became the Baltimore Ravens, but the Browns name has remained, and coach after coach failed to build a consistent winner in Cleveland. Between Schottenheimer and Stefanski, the following people served as head coach (or interim head coach) of the Browns: Bud Carson, Jim Shofner, Bill Belichick, Chris Palmer, Butch Davis, Terri Robiskie, Romeo Crennel, Eric Mangini, Pat Shurmur, Rob Chudzinski, Mike Pettine, Hue Jackson, Gregg Williams and Freddie Kitchens. Only Carson, Belichick and Crennel even had one winning season; no coach had two winning seasons.
Now Stefanski has had two winning seasons, accomplishing the second one in a year when he's had four different starting quarterbacks. He deserves a lot of credit for taking the worst franchise in the NFL and bringing them back to respectability.
