{"id":2685,"date":"2026-01-17T04:31:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T20:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/17\/brown-fires-kevin-stefanski-here-are-five-coaches-who-could-replace-him\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T12:19:58","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T04:19:58","slug":"brown-fires-kevin-stefanski-here-are-five-coaches-who-could-replace-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/17\/brown-fires-kevin-stefanski-here-are-five-coaches-who-could-replace-him\/","title":{"rendered":"Brown fires Kevin Stefanski: Here are five coaches who could replace him"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

After a six-season run in which he amassed a 44-56 record, Kevin Stefanski was fired<\/span> on Monday by the Cleveland Browns. <\/p>\n

“We are very grateful [Stefanski’s] hard work and dedication to our organization but our results over the past two seasons have not been satisfactory, and we believe a change in the coaching position is necessary,” wrote Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam in a statement.<\/p>\n

Stefanski was a two-time coach of the year with the Browns, winning 11 games in both 2020 and 2023. In 2020 he led the team to its first playoff appearance in 18 years and its first win in 23 years. In 2023, the Browns made the playoffs again but lost in the first round. But the team went 3-14 and 5-12 the past two seasons, prompting Haslam and general manager Andrew Berry to make a change.<\/p>\n

Berry will remain in his role as general manager and lead the search for Stefanski’s replacement. Here are some of the Browns’ candidates to look at, many of whom are first-time coaches, according to CBS Sports’ NFL insider Jonathan Jones. reports<\/span> that the search will produce another first coach.<\/p>\n

Follow live updates on NFL coaching and GM changes, firings and rumors.<\/p>\n

Jesse Minter (DC Chargers)<\/h2>\n

Minter is arguably the top candidate on the market this offseason so it may be difficult for Cleveland to acquire him given his generally unstable ownership situation (procedurally) and management, but that doesn’t mean the Browns shouldn’t try. Minter is one of the best scheme defenders in the league and could find a better way to use Myles Garrett, who is coming off a Defensive Player of the Year season. Like the other defensive-minded coaches on this list, Minter will have to have a good plan for what he will do at offensive coordinator, although it remains to be seen what kind of talent he will be working with on that side of the ball, and whether the Browns will be pursuing an upgrade at quarterback. <\/p>\n

Matt Burke (Texans DC)<\/h2>\n

Burke spent the first five years of his NFL career working under current Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, then worked with him again for a few years in Philadelphia. Schwartz has turned his unit into one of the best in football over the past few years, so the Browns could be tempted to keep the good times rolling on that side of the ball by going with a younger version of the coach who has been coordinating the top unit. He might even want to keep Schwartz as DC if he comes in. Burke calls these plays with the Texans’ defense despite the presence of DeMeco Ryans as head coach, and we’ve seen that he can call a top defense himself. <\/p>\n

Jeff Hafley (Packers DC)<\/h2>\n

Hafley, like Minter and Burke, is considered one of the top defensive minds in the sport. His defense for Green Bay has been excellent when healthy and he is considered a rising star in the league. He will be a multi-tasker in this cycle and may not consider the Cleveland job very desirable due to the issues mentioned above, but if the Browns can land him, they could preserve their excellent defense. He’s going to have to have a strong program at offensive coordinator, as mentioned in Minter, and that’s not just an afterthought when it comes to hiring defensive-minded head coaches \u2014 it’s very important. Hafley will be a recruit for the Seahawks’ Mike Macdonald, and we’ve seen that Seattle needs a new OC to really get going this season. I’m talking about that new OC…<\/p>\n

Klint Kubiak (Seahawks OC)<\/h2>\n

The Browns have hired an offensive-minded coach the last three times they were able to hire a new one, and Kubiak is considered one of the best offensive players this cycle. His offense puts quarterbacks in a position to succeed, as we’ve seen this year with Sam Darnold, and any connection to a Kyle Shanahan\/Sean McVay style offense is always desirable in head coaching searches, as we’ve seen over the past decade or so. Kubiak will be hiring in a similar fashion to Stefanski (who was the Vikings’ quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator before heading to Cleveland), but the Browns have shown consistency by bringing offensive coordinators into top offenses before.<\/p>\n

Mike McCarthy (Former Cowboys and Packers HC)<\/h2>\n

The only returnee on the list, McCarthy negotiated the Browns job in 2020 before arriving in Dallas. He had a lot of regular season success and often gets the best out of his quarterbacks, although he was fortunate enough to coach Aaron Rodgers and Dak Prescott during his time in Green Bay and Dallas, and he wouldn’t be in the same situation in Cleveland. McCarthy has his flaws but is respected around the league and could give the Browns an air of professionalism, although he may give them a clear frame given his limitations.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After a six-season run in which he amassed a 44-56 record, Kevin Stefanski was fired on Monday by the Cleveland Browns. “We are very grateful [Stefanski’s] hard work and dedication to our organization but our results over the past two seasons have not been satisfactory, and we believe a change in the coaching position is …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2686,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2685"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2687,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2685\/revisions\/2687"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}