The Browns took a shot at some of the biggest names in their search for a head coach, but they didn’t wind up hiring any of them.
The Browns have confirmed that they will officially introduce Panthers offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski as their head coach on Friday. Chudzinski interviewed for the job this week and must have impressed Browns owner Jimmy Haslam and CEO Joe Banner quite a bit to jump over some candidates considered more likely to become head coaches this offseason.
Chudzinski has been the Panthers’ offensive coordinator for the last two years and spent two years running the Browns offense in 2007 and 2008. The Browns thought they had their quarterback in the first of those seasons as Derek Anderson led the team to 10 wins, but they crashed and burned the next year to help lead to Romeo Crennel’s departure from Cleveland. He’ll need to find that quarterback to avoid a similar fate this time around.
It’s an unexpected choice in terms of the magnitude of the name after Chip Kelly, Nick Saban and others were talked about for Haslam’s first hire. We’ll hear the Browns explain why Chudzinski’s their man on Friday.