New Browns head coach Mike Pettine was ready to tell the team he was no longer interested if their 25-day coaching search had gone much longer.
Pettine told WGR-AM 550 in Buffalo that he didn’t want to put his old boss, Bills head coach Doug Marrone, in a difficult spot where he needed a new defensive coordinator a month into the offseason. And so Pettine was ready to tell the Browns, “Thanks, but no thanks,” if the Browns hadn’t finally offered him the job.
“That was starting to wear on me these last couple of days,” Pettine said. “I talked to Doug and it was getting to the point where I’d say, ‘Hey, if this goes on much longer I need to pull out, because it’s just not fair to the Bills.’”
That may explain why the Browns decided not to wait to have another interview with Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn after the Super Bowl: If Pettine had pulled out and then Quinn turned them down, the Browns would have been left scrambling to find a new coach.
Instead, they’ve got their new coach. Finally.