The 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.