Mike Pettine takes over as new Browns head coach

Quinn will return as the Seahawks defensive coordinator next season and likely be fielding more head coaching offers this time next year.

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After firing Rob Chudzinski at the end of the season, it took the Browns over a month, but they finally have their new coaching staff together. Mike Petting is the new head coach and Jim O’Neil was brought on board to replace Ray Horton as defensive coordinator.

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O’Neil has spent 2013 coaching the Bills’ linebackers under Mike Pettine, who was Buffalo’s defensive coordinator before being announced as the new head coach of the Browns last week. It was widely speculated after Pettine’s hiring that O’Neil could follow him over to Cleveland to serve as his defensive coordinator. Since O’Neil is still under contract with the Bills, the Browns had to wait for them to approve an interview.

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Early on in the search, McDaniels was reported to be highly coveted by owner Jimmy Haslam, but withdrew his name shortly after a 7½-hour interview with the team in early January. Apparently Cleveland executives weren’t satisfied with his initial refusal and rekindled their pursuit late in the process.

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Hoyer didn’t last long against the Bills, throwing four passes before suffering a torn ACL and going on injured reserve. The Browns beat the Bills to improve to 3-2 on the season, all three wins coming on Hoyer’s starts, and briefly look like a postseason contender before going on to win just one more game over the rest of the season.

Of course, the Browns may still be considering a quarterback with their first pick. Johnny Manziel, in particular, has been a popular name for Cleveland among draft prognosticators. Pettine was asked about Manziel directly, but balked at revealing his specific thoughts on the former Texas A&M star. Again, via Cleveland.com:

Browns owner Jimmy Haslam characterized his new head coach as having “a blue-collar work ethic,” adding that he believes Pettine “will be a perfect fit for out team and its fans.”

A quietly confident Pettine explained that he isn’t comfortable with the media, despite being in the spotlight with his father as a former coach and experiencing Hard Knocks while in Baltimore. “The sooner I can get off this stage and out of this suit, working on improving this team, the better,” Pettine said. He was quick to avoid comparison to Rex Ryan, ensuring the Cleveland media knew he wouldn’t be one for incendiary sound bytes, “Any of you expecting me to be like Rex Ryan will be mistaken. We were the opposite, personality wise. For many ways we were the perfect complement.”

New York finished first in scoring and total defense during Pettine’s first season. The Jets ranked in the top 10 in total defense every season during his four years there, but dropped off in scoring defense. He left New York following the 2012 season, reportedly to get out from under Ryan’s shadow. Ryan is known as one of the better defensive coaches in the NFL, and going to Buffalo allowed Pettine to prove he could run a top defense on his own.

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Ian Rapoport of NFL Media is reporting that the two sides are currently trying to decide on the coordinators that Pettine will bring on.

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But wait! There’s more!

Ian Rapoport reported that Browns officials were in Florida on Wednesday morning interviewing a third candidate, reportedly former Rutgers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Greg Schiano, per Scott Roussel of Football Scoop and Alex Marvez of Fox Sports.

Outside of McDaniels, Koetter would be the only current NFL coordinator to be interviewed by the Browns with previous head coaching experience. Koetter served as the head coach at Boise State from 1998-2000 and Arizona State from 2001-06. He won two Big West Conference titles with Boise State and had a 66-44 record as a head coach at the college level. He was also 4-2 in bowl games.

Under Koetter’s play-calling, the Falcons ranked eighth and 14th in 2012 and 2013, respectively. This season, the Falcons encountered an endless list of injuries on offense and defense, which makes Koetter’s unit’s ranking all that more impressive.

The Browns are the only team without a head coach at this point. They’ve already interviewed multiple people for the job, including Ken Whisenhunt, Josh McDaniels, Mike Munchak and others. Many believe Chudzinski got a raw deal in Cleveland due to his ousting after just one season in charge.

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It seems unlikely that Gase would be willing to leave Denver regardless, and asking him to interview while prepping for the Super Bowl seemed crazy to begin with. Gase is just 35 years old and his name has only recently come up in the coaching search.

Another solid year in Denver could position Gase to land another job elsewhere, and could potentially spark a bidding war. This offseason, only the Browns are without a head coach at this point, so his options are obviously limited. It certainly doesn’t seem to be the most desirable job out there.

The Browns have gone after multiple candidates who have unilaterally rebuked the team, seeing the job as undesirable due to an ownership group unwilling to spend and very willing to fire coaches. Cleveland has gone through three head coaches since 2009 (including Rob Chudzinski, who was fired after just one season in 2013).

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The Cleveland Browns might have hit another snag in their head coaching search. Sources tell the Cleveland Plain Dealer that Denver Broncos offensive coordinator Adam Gase is thinking about staying with his current team, rather than take the Browns job.

Gase has been the presumed front-runner for the Browns, who want to interview him once the Broncos are out of the playoffs. However, some in the league believe that Gase needs more coaching experience -- he’s only 35 years old and is in his first year as a coordinator. He would also be competing with other candidates for the job.

With Bisaccia as special teams coordinator, the Cowboys finished fourth in average kick return and fifth in punt return. Widely regarded as one of the top special teams coordinators in football, he could rapidly improve a Cleveland team that ranked 15th on special teams in 2013. However, it’s unconventional to see a head coach come from special teams coaching.

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There is only one head coaching position still up for grabs in the NFL, but still plenty of other coaching and front office jobs available. The news and rumor mill continued to churn on Wednesday, but is that last head coaching availability any closer to being resolved?

Buffalo improved from 22nd in total defense to 10th.

The Browns fired Chudzinski after a 4-12 season in 2013, his first as the team’s head coach.

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Munchak, who was fired shortly after Chudzinski, went 7-9 this season and missed the playoffs for a third consecutive year. He went 22-26 in his three seasons in Tennessee.

Among the candidates for Munchak’s replacement in Tennessee is Whisenhunt, whose season as the Chargers’ offensive coordinator ended on Sunday night with a loss to the Denver Broncos. Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean reported over the weekend that the Titans were “very interested” in Whisenhunt, who previously spent six years as the head coach in Arizona.

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McAdoo has never been a head coach before, but he has been an assistant at the NFL level since 2004. He spent this season as a quarterbacks coach in Green Bay after spending the previous six as a tight ends coach. McAdoo’s entire NFL career has been on the offensive side of the ball, just like previous head coach Rob Chudzinski.

The Browns fired Chudzinski after one season, going 4-12 including losing his final seven games of the year. There have been rumors that Cleveland would like to hit the college ranks, but none of that has been confirmed.

Vanderbilt head coach James Franklin, fresh off an 8-4 regular season and preparing his team for Saturday’s BBVA Compass Bowl against the Houston Cougars, may be ascending to the NFL shortly after his season ends today.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported just hours before the kickoff of the BBVA Compass Bowl that Franklin had received multiple requests for interviews with NFL franchises:

The Browns, though, say that the report is untrue, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Tressel, 61, hasn’t coached since 2010 when Ohio State finished 12-1. However, the season was vacated due to Tressel knowingly using ineligible players. He resigned from his position as head coach prior to the 2011 season and faces a five-game suspension if he returns to the collegiate coaching ranks any time before the 2017 season.

Whether or not the Browns qualify as special, that remains to be seen.

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Naturally, this makes him a fit with the Browns, who have hired the following coaches since coming back into the league in 1999: Chris Palmer, Butch Davis, Terry Robiskie (interim), Romeo Crennel, Eric Mangini, Pat Shurmur and Rob Chudzinski.

The man making the hire, general manager Mike Lombardi, will be under immense pressure to get it right after having Chudzinski -- his choice -- get fired after one year. Furthermore, Cleveland will likely be looking for a quarterback in the first round, making this maybe the most critical offseason the Browns have had in years.

Gus Malzahn and James Franklin are among the best coaches in college football, so it shouldn’t come as a tremendous surprise when their names come up in virtually every discussion about a vacant head coaching gig.

To this point, most of the discussion has been rumor and speculation that nobody really expected materialize, but CBS is now reporting that Malzahn, Franklin, and New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels are the three finalists in the Cleveland Browns’ search for a new head coach.