CLEVELAND, Ohio — Kevin Stefanski didn’t meet most of his new Browns players until August, and spent the club’s first playoff game in 18 years stuck in his basement with COVID-19, but it didn’t stop him from winning the coveted Associated Press NFL Coach of the Year Award for 2020.
Stefanski, 38, became the first Browns coach to win since Forrest Gregg in 1976 — 44 years ago. He’s also the third first-year coach in the last four years honored. The award was announced during the annual NFL Honors Show Saturday night on the eve of the Super Bowl.
Stefanski earned half the votes of the 50 media members who regularly cover the NFL, beating out Buffalo’s Sean McDermott, who received 7, and Miami’s Brian Flores, who received 6.
“I’m incredibly humbled, especially given some of the coaching we’ve witnessed this season around the NFL,” Stefanski said in a video at the awards show. “My name may be on this award, but I think this speaks to the amazing support I get day in and day out from my coaching staff with the Cleveland Browns. I’m very glad I don’t have to do this by myself.
“Then the players — it helps to have good players. I appreciate how they work every single day, week in and week out and how they fought. I appreciate that from those guys.”
Stefanski, who was also named Coach of the Year by the Pro Football Writers of America and The Sporting News, attributed such honors to all of the coaches who have helped him along the way. In his 14 seasons with the Vikings, he worked with some of the best head coaches in the business, including his first mentor Brad Childress, Leslie Frazier, and Mike Zimmer. He also learned a lot there from former NFL head coaches Norv Turner, Pat Shurmur and Gary Kubiak.
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He’s the first to earn all three awards in the same season since Sean McVay in 2017.
“It’s a group effort all the way,’’ Stefanski said. “I’ve been blessed to have so many great mentors. I stayed in one spot and so many great people came in and out of my life. I also hope that I continue to have an evolution based on the coaching staff we have here, and I’ll continually strive to be better.’’
“Kevin is more than deserving of this award as he has consistently messaged and embodied a team-first approach in everything he does,” said Dee and Jimmy Haslam. “While Kevin will most certainly downplay his personal contributions, his steady demeanor and servant leadership have been and will continue to be incredibly impactful for our football team and entire organization. We are proud to have Kevin as our head coach and this honor reflects his and our team’s collective accomplishments.”
Stefanski, 38, guided the Browns to an 11-5 mark, their best since 1994. He also led them to their first playoff berth in 18 years, since the 2002 season, and helped them win their first playoff game since the 1994 season.
Stefanski’s 11 regular season wins were the most by any first-year head coach in 2020 and marked just the 11th time since 1970 a first-year coach has won 11 or more games. The Browns were the only team to make the playoffs this season with a first-year head coach.
What’s more, he did it with an All-Zoom offseason amid the COVID-19 pandemic, in which he had no preseason games in which to watch or evaluate his players. The first time he saw them play live was in the 38-6 loss to Baltimore in the opener.
“For him to be a first-time head coach, no real offseason and navigating the challenges of an NFL season amid a global pandemic, it’s remarkable,” said Browns EVP of Football Operations and GM Andrew Berry. “His poise, his ability to handle adversity and ultimately lead our team through adversity the entire year, whether it was a loss, injuries, having players, coaches, staff out for COVID-related reasons, he never lost his cool, he never lost his poise. It obviously showed with the on-field results.”
After that initial crushing defeat by the Ravens, Stefanski steered the Browns to four straight victories and they never lost two in a row — one of only four NFL teams to accomplish the feat.
“Every Monday, win or loss, was really the same thing for us,” Berry said. “He really did a great job of protecting our cocoon, so to speak. The season can be emotional. It can be emotional particularly externally whether you have a big win or an ugly loss. Kevin’s mindset was when we come in on Monday, we should look to improve and we should look to work. It really should feel the same regardless of the outcome on Sunday. That’s a credit to his steady hand.”
Two months after being name the 18th full-time head coach of the Browns on Jan. 13, Stefanski was dealt a tough blow when pandemic hit and the Browns facility was shut down, forcing him to galvanize his players and new staff virtually.
Browns Chief Strategy Officer Paul DePodesta recallss Stefanski jokingly asked him “Where is it in the first-year head coach’s handbook about dealing with a global pandemic?”
“It’s sort of the way he attacked everything all year — a sense of calm, a great sense of humor, undaunted regardless of the challenges that were thrown his way,” DePodesta said. “He was open-minded and flexible in terms of dealing with whatever came up on the field or off. Even in those really difficult times, being himself and being authentic. All of those things were evident to our players and ultimately translated to a phenomenal year as a head coach.”
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Stefanski and his staff vowed to do handle virtual coaching better than anyone in the NFL, and went the extra mile every day to help their players learn the new systems and improve. They videotaped their new mechanics and conducted virtual walk-throughs.
“There was never a sense of feeling sorry for ourselves or the proverbial ‘here we go again,’” DePodesta said. “You think about what he had to endure through the course of this year. Ultimately he didn’t just endure — he thrived.”
Stefanski helped his players and coaches bond through sharing their four H’s — history, heroes, heartbreaks and hopes. Players such as Kareem Hunt extolled the virtues of the soul-bearing sessions.
“It feels very special because I feel like now we’re playing for the man next to us,’’ Hunt said in October. “And that’s the biggest thing is, we’re playing for each other now and we’re putting the team before ourselves. And that’s what we have to do in order to win. It doesn’t matter how we get the job done. I just feel like we’re all playing harder and for each other.’’
Backup quarterback Case Keenum, who went 11-3 in Minnesota with Stefanski as his quarterbacks coach in 2017 and led the Vikings to the NFL Championship Game, marveled at the job Stefanski did this year.
“What other head coach has had to deal with what he has this season and put in a whole new system virtually and call plays like he has?’’ Keenum told cleveland.com in December. “Are you kidding me? That’s impressive. He’s Coach of the Year in my book and should be in everybody else’s book.’’
He certainly is in offensive line coach Bill Callahan’s book.
“He’s steady, and it bleeds through the organization,’’ Callahan told cleveland.com in December. “It’s positive. And it’s upbeat. He’s not very overstated and he’s very direct. He’s got a great pulse of what’s going on. He’s got a really good handle on the mechanics of the team, the day to day, you know, the locker room and how he manages all the personalities. His ability to communicate his message on a consistent basis to the team, it’s really been very impressive.’’
What’s more, said Callahan, “he truly loves the players he cares about their wellbeing. It’s not lip service. He’s genuine. He’s sincere about his actions and his thoughts and the way he carries himself, and that rubs off on everybody in the building.’’
Stefanski won over the players and held them together through the season, one in which he was forced to miss the 48-37 wild card victory over the Steelers because he tested positive for the virus.
“Kevin’s personality is steady and sturdy where Kevin is the same guy every day,’’ center JC Tretter said. “He’s very laser-focused on the task at hand. He focuses on the culture of our team and what we need to be thinking about every day, and he messages it every day to make sure that we are on the same page with what the expectation is to make sure we are all together on what our goals are and what we are focused on.
“I think he has a really good conscious effort on messaging that on a daily basis. I think that is one of the big things that helped us kind of stay on track on such a wild year with so many changes and so many unexpected twists and turns. To have your leader be so steady and so even-keel and message the right things every day, I think that keeps everybody on the same page.”
Stefanski called plays for the Browns and produced some of the best numbers in club history. The Browns’ 408 points were second-most in franchise history, and the Browns finished third in the NFL in rushing with an average of 148.4 yards per game.
Baker Mayfield’s quarterback rating climbed from second-last in the NFL in 2019 at 78.8 to No. 15 in 2020 at 95.9. He threw 20 touchdown passes and only two interceptions over his final 12 games, reduced his interceptions from 21 in 2019 to only eight in 2020.
“What what you saw was how well he knew his quarterback by the end of the season,’’ Kubiak told cleveland.com. “To watch that kid probably play his best football the last six weeks of the season, just tells you how much Kevin learned about him and put him in the right situations as time went on.’’
Kubiak believes one of Stefanski’s best coaching jobs of the season was the one he couldn’t attend — the wild card victory over Pittsburgh.
“His leadership was on display that day,’’ Kubiak said. “To go play a playoff game without your head coach, I think we can all honestly say that, that may never happen again.
“But the way they went in there and played was just a tremendous reflection on Kevin and the job he did.’’
One of the first things Stefanski did was fly to Austin, Texas to establish a relationship with Mayfield, one that grew deeper throughout the season.
“I think that goes back to what he talks about having an open line of communication so there are no questions and there are no uncertainties about what we are going to be about and the foundation that he laid,’’ said Mayfield. “People don’t follow fake leaders. You can tell when you have a group of men who are doing this and everybody is counting on you, you can sniff somebody who is fake out extremely quickly. That’s not the case here.”
Stefanski set a strong example right up until getaway day after the Chiefs game when he urged his players and coaches to feel the pain of that loss for a while so they could use it as motivation. They took it to heart, to a man.
“He’s the perfect guy for the job,’’ said Keenum. “He hasn’t missed a beat. He’s looking forward at all times and thinking of what’s best for this team at all times. He’s the most prepared the most well-thought out, the most ready to adjust at any point as well. It’s been interesting to say the least with what’s gone on, but to have a front row seat and see how he’s handled it, he’s the perfect man for the job.’’
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