{"id":3641,"date":"2026-01-19T03:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T19:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/19\/matt-ryan-atlanta-falcons-hire-kevin-stefanski-as-new-coach\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T05:42:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T21:42:12","slug":"matt-ryan-atlanta-falcons-hire-kevin-stefanski-as-new-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/19\/matt-ryan-atlanta-falcons-hire-kevin-stefanski-as-new-coach\/","title":{"rendered":"Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons hire Kevin Stefanski as new coach"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-meta\">\n<ul class=\"authors\">\n<li class=\"mugshot-shown\">\n<div class=\"author-img\"><\/div>\n<p>Marc Raimondi<span class=\"timestamp \">Jan 17, 2026, 10:09 PM ET<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"author-overlay\">Shut up<\/p>\n<ul>Marc Raimondi&#8217;s first year covering the Falcons was 2024, but it wasn&#8217;t his first year at ESPN. He joined the company in 2019 and was a professional sports reporter. He also covered professional wrestling and wrote the book &#8220;Say Hello to the Bad Guys: How Pro Wrestling&#8217;s New World Order Changed America,&#8221; published by Simon &#038; Schuster in 2025. Raimondi has also worked for the New York Post and Newsday, since 2009, covering high school and college sports, as well as the NFL, NFL, MLB and NHL.<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Atlanta Falcons have hired Kevin Stefanski as their new head coach, the team announced Saturday night.<\/p>\n<p>Stefanski, 43, went 45-56 in six seasons with the Cleveland Browns before being fired less than two weeks ago after going 8-26 over the past two seasons. He took Cleveland to the playoffs twice, in 2020 and 2023, and was named NFL Coach of the Year both seasons.<\/p>\n<p>He will replace Raheem Morris, who was fired by the Falcons on January 4 following consecutive 8-9 seasons. Atlanta has not made the playoffs in eight seasons, the second-longest drought in the NFL. The Falcons haven&#8217;t had a winning record since 2017.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to Morris&#8217; firing, the Falcons fired general manager Terry Fontenot, a position that is still open.<\/p>\n<p>Before the search for a coach and general manager began, Atlanta added a new position: president of football, filled by Matt Ryan, the team&#8217;s quarterback for 14 seasons and the best player in franchise history. Ryan led the interview for the trainees.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"inline editorial float-r\" data-behavior=\"article_related\">\n<h2 class=\"editorial-title\">Editor&#8217;s Choice<\/h2>\n<p>2 Related<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>&#8220;We are excited to find an exemplary leader in Kevin Stefanski who brings a clear vision for his staff, our team and a consistent focus on building this team around fundamentals, resilience and effective teamwork in all areas of football,&#8221; Ryan said in a statement. &#8220;Coach Stefanski is a team-first leader who prioritizes everyone&#8217;s accountability and a player-driven culture.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Stefanski will report to Ryan, as will the new general manager.<\/p>\n<p>The Falcons also interviewed John Harbaugh, Klint Kubiak, Mike McDaniel, Anthony Weaver, Aden Durde, Jeff Hafley and Jesse Minter. When Harbaugh finalized a deal this week with the New York Giants, announced Saturday, Atlanta quickly shifted gears. Stefanski was the first to be brought back for the second interview, which was held Saturday at the home of team owner Arthur Blank.<\/p>\n<p>He is the first Falcons coach hired by a coach with previous NFL head coaching experience since Dan Reeves in 1997.<\/p>\n<p>Stefanski rose through the ranks in Minnesota for 14 years with the Vikings before being hired by Cleveland in 2020. He passed Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins \u200b\u200bin 2018 and 2019.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I was delighted to be charged with leading this title,&#8221; said Stefanski in a statement. &#8220;Thank you to Mr. Blank and Matt Ryan for trusting me to coach this football team and there are many talented players on our roster that I cannot wait to coach. We have a vision for this football team that I believe will make Falcons fans everywhere proud.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Stefanski inherits a roster that includes four players named All-Pros in 2025. Bijan Robinson was named first-team running back and second-team all-purpose player. Tight end Kyle Pitts Sr., right guard Chris Lindstrom and safety Jessie Bates III each earned second-team honors.<\/p>\n<p>But Stefanski also has to deal with some uncertainty at quarterback. Shortly after signing Cousins \u200b\u200bto a four-year, $180 million contract through 2024, the Falcons drafted Michael Penix Jr. in the first round of the NFL draft. Cousins \u200b\u200blost the starting job after underperforming midway through the 2024 season. Penix finished his rookie season and opened the 2025 campaign as a starter before going down with a season-ending knee injury.<\/p>\n<p>Cousins \u200b\u200bpitched the final nine games, leading the Falcons to a 5-4 record and four straight wins to end the season. Penix&#8217;s recovery is expected to take a long time in training camp.<\/p>\n<p>Stefanski has experience with quarterback uncertainty. The Browns had rotating quarterbacks for most of his tenure after trading former first-round pick Baker Mayfield for Deshaun Watson. Joe Flacco, Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders each draft in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We will work quickly to put together a first-rate coaching staff and work hard to get to know all the key people who are most important to getting us where we want to go,&#8221; Stefanski said.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Marc RaimondiJan 17, 2026, 10:09 PM ET Shut up Marc Raimondi&#8217;s first year covering the Falcons was 2024, but it wasn&#8217;t his first year at ESPN. He joined the company in 2019 and was a professional sports reporter. He also covered professional wrestling and wrote the book &#8220;Say Hello to the Bad Guys: How Pro &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3642,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3641","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=3641"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3641\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3643,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3641\/revisions\/3643"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}