Delco native Stefanski to coach Browns

CLEVELAND >> The Browns didn’t pass on Delaware County native Kevin Stefanski a second time.

Cleveland is hiring the Vikings’ offensive coordinator to be its new coach, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press on Sunday.

Stefanski agreed to accept the position only one day after Minnesota was beaten 2710 by the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC playoffs, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the sides have yet to finalize a contract. An official announcement is expected Monday.

The 37-year-old Stefanski, who grew up in Springfield and Wayne and went to St. Joseph’s Prep and Penn, becomes the second person from Delaware County to be a head coach in the NFL. Yeadon native John Rauch was the head coach of the Buffalo Bills for two seasons, including 1970, the first year of the merger of the NFL and AFL.

Rauch, a three-sport star at Yeadon High in the 1940s, was coach of the AFL’s Oakland Raiders from 1966-68, losing to the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl II. He led the Bills in 1969 and 1970 and also coached the Toronto Argonauts for two seasons in the CFL (1973-74).

Stefanski earned first-team All-Catholic Red Division honors as a senior at the Prep at quarterback and defensive back in 1999. He was a second-team All-Catholic Southern Division selection at defensive back in 1998.

Stefanski went to Penn where he played defensive back and was part of three Ivy League championship teams in 2000, 2002 and 2003. The 2002 team went 10-0, the last Penn team to go undefeated. He earned honorable mention All-Ivy League honors that season. Stefanski served as a team captain for the Quakers as a senior in 2004.

Stefanski is the son of former Monsignor Bonner basketball great and coach Ed Stefanski, now a senior advisor for the Detroit Pistons. The elder Stefanski also served as general manager of the 76ers and Brooklyn Nets, among his stops in a long NBA career.

Kevin Stefanski nearly became Cleveland’s coach a year ago but finished as a runnerup when the Browns selected Freddie Kitchens, a surprise hire who was fired after a disappointing, drama-filled 6-10 season. Stefanski spent this past season bolstering his varied resume running Minnesota’s offense, and the Browns made sure they didn’t let him get away again.

Stefanski, who had been with the Vikings since 2006, is Cleveland’s 10th full-time coach since the franchise’s expansion rebirth in 1999. He is the sixth coach hired by Browns owner Jimmy Haslam since he bought the team in 2012.

Stefanski’s selection means that no new minority candidates were hired by NFL teams this offseason. Dallas, Carolina, Washington and the New York Giants also filled vacancies. Of the four hires, only Washington’s Ron Rivera, who previously coached Carolina, is a minority.

Stefanski will inherit a roster that includes plenty of offensive talent with quarterback Baker Mayfield, wide receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry, and running back Nick Chubb. But the Browns didn’t live up to overblown preseason expectations under Kitchens, who was unable to instill discipline and couldn’t damper nearly endless distractions around the club.

The Browns chose Stefanski after a detailed two-week search during which they interviewed eight known candidates. Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh were believed to be the other finalists.

Stefanski went head to head with Saleh in Saturday’s game, but the 49ers’ defensive dominance didn’t seem to sway Haslam and his search committee, which was led by chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta.

A year ago, DePodesta recommended Stefanski for the Browns’ opening but was overruled by Haslam and thengeneral manager John Dorsey, who was recently fired. Stefanski was the only candidate to be interviewed by the Browns for the second straight year. He will become the 18th fulltime coach in franchise history.

Stefanski worked with Minnesota’s running backs, tight ends and quarterbacks under three head coaches. This will be his first time as a head coach at any level. Quarterback Kirk Cousins developed with Stefanski and that was appealing to the Browns; Mayfield struggled in his second season after breaking the league’s rookie record for touchdown passes in 2018.