Getty ImagesThe Browns may have taken their time selecting a new head coach, but they didn’t waste much announcing that they’d found one.
Shortly after Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that Mike Pettine had reached a deal to become the Browns’ head coach, the Browns confirmed the news. Pettine is the eighth head coach to lead the Browns since they reentered the NFL for the 1999 season and the 18th coach in the overall history of the franchise.
Pettine was one of 10 candidates — Dan Quinn, Todd Bowles, Josh McDaniels, Ken Whisenhunt, Ben McAdoo, Mike Munchak, Rich Bisaccia, Dirk Koetter and Greg Schiano were the others with Adam Gase choosing not to meet with the team — to interview for the job and entered the process later than some of the others on that list. In a statement, Browns CEO Joe Banner explained that the team cast a wide net by design.
“We wanted to be thorough right from the start and we interviewed as many people as we could,” Banner said. “From that group, we hired the best individual for this job. Our players and fans are going to really enjoy Mike Pettine and his leadership style. We’re excited to have him out in front of our team, and we look forward to working closely with him.”
The Browns have scheduled a 4:45 p.m. ET press conference to formally introduce Pettine.
As a Bills fan, let me just say, unfreakingbelievable. Just unreal.
Plan G? The Factory of Sadness continues!
More Minnesota Vikings news please
They just got themselves a boy, boy, or a tow the company line yes man. Good luck Dawg Pound.
Lol who??. . .They didn’t get the guy they wanted so they settled for this guy. . . Let’s see who they hire next year!
This was not the “one guy that they wanted” but hey, spin it however you feel is best.
Here is to another shot at keeping a coaching staff together, building continuity & sustaining success.
Now about Josh Gordon, Coach?
How about sending him to DC, so he could line up opposite of Garcon!!!!
HTTR
Good Luck Browns!
Great hire. None of these people in the media know who was higher or lower on their list. They interviewed a ton of guys and liked pettine. By all accounts he is a great coach.
I’d take him any day over the likes of Jim Caldwell
Got a job lined up for 2015, Mike? Now’s the time to plan ahead.
Eight head coaches in 15 years….that is just mind-boggling.
“The Super Bowl is coming through Cleveland! “
If at first you don’t succeed….try like 9 times and take the only coach who actually wants your job. Looking forward to Browns coach search 2015.
Its too bad he didn’t stay here in Buffalo. We were just starting to build something.
This definitely hurts the Bills.
There you go, that fixed it.
I feel bad for the Bills. So typical. They get a coordinator in there who turns their d around and he bolts after one year. Theyre now at squart 1 again. As if their offensive needs werent issue enough.
Well, the Browns could have done worse. At least they didn’t hire Schiano or McDaniels.
i also feel for the Browns too. But more so for their fans. The Bills seem to get struck with ineptness and bad luck. The Browns ineptness knows no bounds.
Someone please explain to me how this guy could be any better than Chudzinski. Should have just held on to Chud if the best you could do was the guy who led a defense that finished 20th in the league in points against this season.
Good thing they got a proven upgrade over Chud.
Um what?
Really thought Greg Roman would land the gig…
Why did the Browns hire Michael Chiklis as head coach, The Commish?
Has to win 8 games. Good luck. I usually give my Brown coaches the benefit of the doubt but it’s hard with this HQ.
Glad he’s out of the division. Best of luck, Mike. (And Browns fans)
What happened to the good ole days of pillaging coordinators from teams that go deep in the playoffs.
Look at the brightside, all you dissapointed Bills fans: no matter who you get to replace this guy, it wont be Monte Kiffin. That should make you feel good.
Better rent your home first Mike.
Schefter and Mortensen are now reporting that Browns fire newly named head coach Mike Pettine.
Anyone saying this is a bad hire, or that Pettine is underqualified, or that he’s a third rate candidate do not know what they’re talking about. They simply look at the Bills’s points against and think “well, he’s definitely no good.”
This guy turned the Bills defense from one of the worst in league history into an average defense, despite a ridiculous amount of key injuries at the beginning of the year. His “shutdown” #1 corner is a second year player who missed the first 8 weeks of the season. His #2 corner is Leodis McKelvin, who this year went from being one of the worst draft picks in Bills’ history to being a very serviceable starting corner. His Pro Bowl safety Jairus Byrd missed 5 games. His only good linebacker was a rookie, and if you think Kiko Alonso’s DROY-type season wasn’t due to some serious help from Pettine, you’re crazy. The team finished 2nd in the league in sacks in interceptions despite all this, including 10 sacks from Jerry Hughes who coming into this year had 5 sacks in 40 games.
On top of that, I see some people calling him a nobody, or saying they’ve never heard of him. That’s because he coaches in Buffalo, which has been bad for a long time, and isn’t a big media market. He was also DC for the Jets’ top 10 defenses, and worked in Baltimore on an amazing defense. What makes him underqualified?
Do you really think Denver’s OC is THAT much more qualified, or do you think that maybe having Peyton Manning as a QB helps you look like a better offensive coach?
I wanna bang on this guy, but I’m a Pa. boy living in Cleveland, and his father was a tremendous high school coach who knew defense wins championships.
Start kicking ass Pa. Bro !
I promise you one thing…. will will now be hitters on D.
Mike Tomlin was Mike Who? and he has the big ring.
I just hope Jimmy Haslam gives this guy some time because what he did to Chud was just STUPID on any level.
Cleveland’s 18th coach? The old Cleveland Browns reside in Baltimore now. They’re two different franchises now despite the NFL’s best efforts to promote the fiction that they are one in the same.
Thank God the brilliant Banner is muckin it up in Cleveland and not in Philly any more. That being said…I don’t buy into the whole “who?” thing. Most of the successful NFL coaches were little known position coaches or coordinators before they made a name for themselves. Andy Reid, John Harbaugh, Belicheck, Mike McCarthy, Sean Payton to name a few current….
Wait, the Bills finished 2013 with a record of 5-11, 6-10… something like that right?
I’ll admit I didn’t watch any Bills games this year… am I missing something about this guy?
He’s a good coach. I’m happy he’s out of the AFC East. That defense could be legitimate under this leadership.
But as usual, Quarterback, Quaterback, Quaterback.
It could have been worse! It could have been Greg Schiano
Yeah screw Dan Quinn and Greg Roman when you can get Mike Pettine.
Man I wanted Jerry Glanville to be the next Browns HC
15th coach in last 20 years?
Well, at least they didn’t offer the job to Justin Bieber. Or Miley Cyrus.
Banner actually thinks we are going to believe that this is the guy they wanted all along?
What a clown.
Two head coaches from Bucks County PA! Pettine from CB West and James Franklin from Neshaminy High School
Glad hes not with the bills anymore or in the division. Hope he does well in Cleveland.
The city of Cleveland would have been better off if they never welcomed the Browns back after they bolted for Baltimore in the 90s
He may be a great coach, but this was no way “the plan” that they had in mind when they cleaned house, or it wouldn’t have taken this long to hire him.
“Awwww man…!” ~Mike Pettine.
WELL THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY!!!!
Who is left to be assistant coach? Everybody has jobs now. Mike Munchak could have been available to coach the O-Line a week ago, now he has a job. They are going to have to overpay under-qualified guys to come here, basically having a position coach as a coordinator when he should be a position coach. It is just a shame. I hate that this is my favorite team.
If Holmgren cannot succeed there, no one can.
Jim Schwartz 2.0
Book it !!
Pettine and what he did with the otherwise putrid defense was the only bright spot of my Bills. They don’t fire the awful special teams coach crossman or the awful offensive line coach. This is life as a Bills fan, managed by retards. What now? Wade Phillips who won’t come here? We are screwed. I’m happy for pettine but I really really hope that the new regime (number 5) since the 90s glory days has a great plan. I believe in Russ Brandon and Whaley but so far only good part of marrone left.
What the fudge
In other news the Browns have announced they have created a panel to start interviewing for the 2015 head coaching position.
“what he did to Chud?” By that, do you mean the $6mil he’ll get over the next two years while he plays golf and goes hunting or to the beach?
BREAKING: The Cleveland Browns have announced they have fired Mike Pettine….Global search for new coach to begin at once.
Let me get this straight 18th coach overall, 8th since the ‘reboot’ of the franchise in 1999
The Browns joined the NFL in 1950 and moved in 1995, so for 45 years they had 10 coaches, averaging 4.5 year lifespans
Since they came back, from 1999-2013 they’ve had 7 coaches fired and now on number 8, for an average of 2.1 years per coach a pathetic number that will actually go down when Pettine starts his first year
I’m no NFL executive, but I think I discovered one of their major underlying problems
Cleveland, you got a very good coach. It’s the Bills loss. He did some amazing things with the Bills and Jets. My concern now is who will replace him in Buffalo.
BTW, 3 pro bowl dlinemen, 1 probowl DROY ILB and a pro bowl, soon-to-be-very-rich FS all guided by Mike Pettine. Buffalo’s defense was 2nd in INT’s and sacks. With the remnants of last season’s Browns defense, you will be very, very tough.
Pay close attention to the OC selection, the other two phases there are sound!!
BREAKING NEWS: PETTINE ON HOT SEAT IN CLEVELAND.
Pettine sucks. Defenses are overrated as they give up a lot of points. Enjoy
Bucks County!?!? I thought the only thing that comes out of there is speeding tickets..
Good luck coach.
I don’t know how long he will last because the Browns ownership makes changes almost every year. It takes time for players to get used to a new system. Give this new coach two or three years. Firing someone after a year makes no sense. Part of the problem with the Browns is ownership.
And may God have mercy on his soul
I’m sure the guy’s a stud. But, didn’t Jimmy promise an experienced HC, a proven winner?
And, if he was the choice all along, why did it take so long? It’s not like the Bills were going anywhere.
Besides, Ray Horton came to us as a defensive stud, too? Why didn’t they just offer him the job?
I wish Mike well, but there is so much BS behind this hiring….Jimmy just needs to go away now and pay for his crimes.
The Haslam Bros. Hillbilly Circus has a new act.
I give it until 0-1 in the preseason before the writing is on the wall for this guy…
…
whoever he is.
This is actually really smart on Pettine’s part. Odds are no matter what he does next year they won’t fire him because they have a year of re-building they can sell the fans. Most likely a rookie QB will give him two years to develop so he has a job for at least 2 1/2 before they re-tool again. They just might luck into a few wins to really make it look like they are progressing and if so it might take four years to figure out he is the wrong guy. Kind of like Jim Schwartz in Detroit.
Kinda makes being a Skins fan not too bad!
The Browns will be all about defense; the big deal will be how the coach raids the offensive staffs of the Ravens, Jets and Bills. Not a high profile hire, but dude is a football man, so I will reserve judgment until the next Black Monday.
Marty Schottenheimer is the only man who can succeed in Cleveland.
“Odds are no matter what he does next year they won’t fire him because they have a year of re-building they can sell the fans.”
Rob Chudzinski had the same thought about a year ago.
Espn did a documentary called ” the season” that followed pettine Sr and junior coaching at rival high schools in pa Dirk g the 1999 football season. Nice look into a young pettine early in his career.
Lou Brown was unavailable.
Seems like a decent fellow. I predict 19-0.
Now the have someone to scout the Senior Bowl practices.
FINALLY! Someone said “yes”
Cleveland has a football team?
I dont really know much about the guy, but I find it unbelievable that teams like the Bills and Bengals are losing coordinators and none of the top teams are getting pilfered?
No wonder some franchises remain stuck in mediocrity.
And with this hire, the Cleveland Browns have officially been eliminated from the 2014-2015 playoffs.
How exciting for him! This is going to be the best eleven months of his life!
Waiting for Jay Glazier to announce on twitter that the new Browns coach looks like Jay Glazier.
The owner told fans he was looking for the best candidate but the truth is no one wanted the job
thanks for screwing over your fellow brethren of have-nots Cleveland – you couldn’t steal from a team that has a chance of hiring a quality replacement? we’ve really got to stop this blech-on-blech violence.
Lets hope the three blind squirrels of Cleveland have finally found their acorn.
Is he a former Pilot Flying J employee?
I guess this was the plan to announce another nobody and get the fans excited. Jimmy is a joke so is this organization. Try getting the fan base excited with this goof
For some reason, it’s hard to tell who’s who between Gus Bradley, Mike Pettine, and Dan Quinn.
I told you it was gonna be slim pickens for HCs this offseason. Now we’ve got quite a few teams with either inexperienced HCs or career retreads. Its gonna take 2-3 yrs for all the new hires to be contenders, except maybe Detroit.
Well, now there maybe one guy in the building besides Farmer that has a clue…. No chance he might be here for the cash.
The Browns (and yeah, I’m still a Browns fan), have problems – Banner is no.1, I’d say Lombardi is #2 but I am not sure he is still there, never hear from him…… And yeah, Lombardi is a #2
Banner was very cowardly talking in front of the media, and not taking questions, and shame on Jimmy Haslam for letting him get away with being an A$$.
Here is the problem here: accountability here is: you get to duck questions, you make bad choices, you get fired, you don’t have to work and get MILLIONS for years after you are gone! (If I was a bad coach that sounds like the freaking lottery to me!) Lerner is probably still paying people to coach a team he hasn’t owned in a year and a half!
Thanks league office for hooking up Jimmy Haslam with the Browns AND THEN BANNER!!!!
Pet in’ the Dawg Pound
Ruff Ruff
Browns are Super bowl bound in 2 yrs.
Yeah, my browns finally have a coach! Only time will tell, now hire solid staff, and don’t muck up the draft! Trying to figure out who Pettine reminds me of in the looks dept. maybe that Jared punk from Storage wars, or Bill Goldberg, minus the muscles.
… and with the 3rd overall pick in the 2015 NFL draft the Cleveland Browns select _______________
Who is Mike Pettine?
Banner says the FO looks forward to “working closely with” Pattine.
Translation: “We look forward to micro-managing and browbeating him, making him uncomfortable, lowering his morale, and not giving him the tools he needs to succeed.”
“We felt very positively that Rob (Chudzinski) was the man,” Haslam said. “This organization has had a lot of change in terms of leadership, so it was exceptionally important that we get that right. An hour through dinner, we felt like that definitely this was the right guy.”
Let’s hope they didn’t make their decision this time until after dessert.
As a lifelong Browns fan, I can honestly say that my expectations are so low right now that I’ve got to work to get up to somber. Who knows, maybe we can catch lightening in a bottle with this guy, but I just think banner is too meddling to let that happen. Haslem needs to fire banner next IF anybody goes. The only thing I can think of right now is that I NEVER even heard the name mike tomlin when cowher left pittspuke, so there’s that. Besides, tomlin is still living off of cowher’s construction. Once “rothlis-you know who” goes down for good, we’ll see where the yinzers go from there, but at least the Browns can’t go anywhere but up at this point.
I hope a Browns fan comes face to face with Geekboy Joe coffee stained teeth Banner, and punches his geek face in
I think guys like mike make better coaches. I mean think about it, how hard is it to be OC for Denver or New England? How good of a DC do you have to be in Seattle or San Fran? Guys like mike know how to get the best out of their personnel. I still believe Cleveland isn’t far off from contending. They have a lot of the pieces they just need someone to put them into the right place.
There ain’t enough money for this sorry ass job with the NFL’s “whipping boys”…\
They have been sorry since Jim Brown..
They are sorry now…
They will continue to be sorry….
Nough said…!!
Haha the Browns are a bunch of losers!!!! At least Caldwell was the HC in the Super Bowl!!!
If the guy is successful it doesn’t matter if he was first choice or last choice. Which is actually true for all coaches. It doesn’t matter where on the choice list you fall. Would a team keep a HC longer if he won 8 games in 3 seasons, beause he was thier first choice when they hired him? No they would dump him just like they would any other coach.
The only sense in the delay in hiring, if they strongly believe in this guy, was that there was zero competition for him. But its still reeks of “he should be OK but, there must be a better option.”
Chud was more on the HC radar last year than this guy was this year. But it is the same type of hire. So why repeat what the team deemed to be a mistake? That’s where I find issue. They hired what they hope/expect will be a better version of Chud.
As a former CB West alum I’m very familiar with Pettine… total football guy but is he really gonna get the tools he needs to succeed? Being a CB West guy I’m also familiar with Joe Banner, as Im an Eagles fan… dude is the worst. The only people that hated Banner more than the fans here were the players (and subsequently the coaches). Banner is total cheapskate who will brag about salary cap position while his team is failing to make the playoffs. Good luck Cleveland; my support goes out to the fans there, you’re in for some more rocky years.
Tomlin is not a good comparison at all.
Tomlin took over a team that is backed by one of the most solid ownership / front offices in football history. He took over the defending Superbowl champs.
Pettine is taking over the Cleveland Browns.
I’m sure Pettine could have been a great coach in Pittsburgh in 2006.
Tomlin would have lasted a season and a half in Cleveland.
There’s nothing that Banner or Haslem can possibly say to get anyone excited about this hire.
Time will tell if it’ll work or not. No one has any idea how this play out.
There is absolutely no confidence in this front office or in this coach (deserved or not by Mr. Pettine) by the Cleveland fan base.
A month later, Mike Pettine. Yawn.
Whatever.
Mike Pettine is a good coach. He had the linebackers in Baltimore when Rex Ryan was defensive coordinator. He helped Bart Scott go from UFA to a Pro Bowl player. He then became a defensive coordinator for the Jets and elsewhere. Give the man and the Browns a chance since at least they are not re-cycling a former head coach. They have some playmakers on defense and a playmaker or two on offense. With a solid draft and some free agents, they could cause real problems in 2014. It all depends on what they get and how they respond to coaching.
I see there are a lot of casual fans on here (that also moonlight as comedians) that haven’t heard of this guy. Well don’t underestimate him he is a really good football coach. I would hire him in a heartbeat. Good enough to succeed in Cleveland you ask? Perhaps. If he fails though I think it will be more because Joe Banner refuses to believe that the NFL hasn’t changed since the early 2000s but we’ll see. Good luck Mike
The dude looks like the guy in ‘Pawn Stars’
Good luck
Here’s a hot stock tip:
INVEST IN SADNESS!!!!!
and a sucker is born…..
Dear Coach Pettine,
Rent, don’t buy.
The Factory of Sadness has officially become The Factory of Stupidity.
@thegloriousone:
the steelers were 8-8 and a year removed from the superbowl before tomlin got there…it’s a common, lazy overstatement of the team tomlin inherited when he arrived.
I was actually pleased with the improvements to the team even though they only won four games. They had a terrible situation at QB having to use three in the season, but they still generated a lot of offense and improved greatly going downfield under Norv Turner. It was really something to build upon. And their defense was decent under Horton but the players folded in the fourth quarter. It is a young team, and with the number of draft picks it would the Browns would have gotten better.
The front office is the problem. I think Pettine will be fine but it makes it difficult on players to have to learn new offensive and defensive schemes every year rather than fine-tuning what they already learned.
And the comments about it not being the Browns because of the move to Baltimore. That is nonsense. Sure it has been a difficult rebuild because of managerial mistakes. But it is Cleveland’s Browns regardless if the team moved and changed it name.