The Opening Drive 1/24: Things I Think I Know About The Browns Head Coach Hiring Process
Friday saw several stories come to light that have increased ridicule of the Browns' process; is it deserved?
Grant Udinski has now completed his second interview with the Browns on Friday night, the Browns announced this just after 7:00 PM Eastern time. As for the noise surrounding the Browns’ search, it got louder on Friday with a report from Jordan Schultz that Tom Telesco is one of the people involved and has been sitting in on in-person interviews. Browns fans and national voices were already critical of the Browns’ process, pointing out that they couldn’t hire a coach right now if they wanted to because they have yet to satisfy the Rooney Rule, and with Mike McDaniels electing not to take his second (in-person) interview, they will now need to interview another minority candidate to satisfy the rule.
Tom Pelissero went on the Rich Eisen Show and discussed in detail how the Browns’ process is “unlike any other in the NFL,” with a structure that goes beyond standard conversations and formalities. Pelissero emphasized that the Browns put candidates through essays, personality profiles, tests, and more to gather as much data as possible. The Browns have become the punchline of many jokes because of this, with people pointing out the Browns’ past failures and their persistence in doing things their way.
Pelissaro’s Report - Essays and Tests
People are overreacting to the Browns using essays, personality tests, and other structured evaluations in this coaching search because it sounds strange — and anything that sounds unusual instantly gets framed as either “too analytic” or “too arrogant.” But the truth is, none of us has enough context to declare it smart or stupid. We don’t know what the Browns are actually asking candidates to do, how heavily essays and test results are weighted, how much of it is simply a tool for organization, or whether it’s being used as a primary decision-maker rather than a supporting layer. From the outside, it’s easy to mock the word “test” and assume the Browns are conducting a head coach search like a corporate HR department. In reality, it could just be a way to create structure in a process that usually gets hijacked by charisma, networking, and recency bias.
And honestly, if those tools are weighted appropriately, they can be useful — not as a replacement for football judgment, but as a way to sharpen it. A written assignment can reveal whether a candidate actually has a plan, not just buzzwords. A personality profile can help identify leadership blind spots before you hand someone an entire locker room. This is a million-dollar position in a billion-dollar industry. None of this guarantees a great hire, and none of it should be treated like a magic formula. But acting like the Browns are automatically dysfunctional because they’re gathering more information is backwards. The real danger isn’t that Cleveland is collecting too much data — it’s that fans are judging the entire process without knowing how the information is being applied, and confusing “different” with “wrong.” They may be putting too much weight into this data, but the truth is, we are not privy to enough context to know one way or the other.
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Schultz Report: Tom Telesco is Part of the Browns’ Search
According to Jordan Schultz, the Browns have brought in former Chargers and Raiders GM Tom Telesco for the head coaching search, serving as a consultant and even participating in in-person meetings with candidates.
Once again, we don’t know enough about the role he is playing. He is a highly experienced general manager who has been involved in multiple head coaching searches. His presence is viewed by many as a negative because his results were not glowing. However, adding a former longtime general manager who has been through the process and can serve as someone to bounce ideas off isn’t a bad thing. It all depends on the role he is playing. I doubt he is driving much of this decision-making.
The Timeline Panic: Relax
It is true that both Mike McDaniels and Jessie Minter withdrew from their second interview with the Browns. While the optics aren’t great here, they have no real bearing on their search or the timeline. The Rooney Rule overreaction has become ridiculous, as there is a reason the Browns are not in a rush; they don’t need to be.
McDaniel and Minter chose the option that best fits them. McDaniels’ decision to take the offensive coordinator job with the Chargers is the smart move, rather than putting his second chance as a head coach into a Browns offense that can only really be sold as a vision at this point. Minter has a history with the Ravens and was always going to want that job if it was offered to him.
The Browns consider Nate Scheelhaase a real candidate they want to interview for a second time, and he also meets one of the required two in-person minority interviews mandated by the Rooney Rule. They will likely meet with him again at the earliest on Tuesday, since the Rams play this weekend. That means the search was always going to last that long, so for all the people stating that they couldn’t hire a coach right now if they wanted to, this is true, but what are they afraid is going to happen with their leading candidates?
Udinski is interviewing with the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, and he was always going to take that interview, even if the Browns had offered him the job on Friday. I would be shocked if the Bills hire him in the middle of their Super Bowl window and give him the reins in the critical prime years of Josh Allen, but if they do, then the Browns were never going to get Udinski. It is a better job. Pretending that an offer before that interview would have prevented it from taking place is just not realistic.
This leaves the Browns with two young, exciting candidates that can change the way they operate on offense in a real way, and Jim Schwartz as a safer fallback option. I personally am excited about the idea of the Browns hiring Udinski and have no complaints about this search. They are uniquely positioned to swing for the fences here, and they have identified two young rising stars in the coaching world.
The timeline was always going to last until at least Tuesday, and I don’t see any reason that they need to be further along. Berry is unlikely to hastily interview a minority to meet the Rooney Rule, so look for him to call on someone he has a real interest in, and avoid making a mockery of the rule.
As long as they arrive at their hiring by the end of next week, heading into Super Bowl week, they will be right on par with the rest of the teams in filling out their staff. It also seems very possible that the defensive side of the ball’s staff is already mostly intact; if not, there will be plenty of strong defensive coordinator candidates willing to take over the Browns’ hyper-talented defense. There is no reason to panic about the timeline at all, and to make it seem like where they are in the process is some sign of incompetence is a reach.
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You hit on a ton of things that I agree with here. The way that the Browns are doing these coaching interviews is literally how every fortune 500 company on the planet does it. I don't understand all the ridicule. Also hiring a young up and comer makes way more sense for the Browns centering around their young core vs someone like the Bills who have been super bowl or bust for the past 3yrs. To be honest I think the Bills are in a tougher spot because whoever they hire, the expectation right away is going to be championship round or better in year 1. I'm not so sure that guy is out there for the Bills. I expect things to get worse in Buffalo before they get better. As for the Browns, it's going to take a few years to get back to relevance so a young coach makes sense so they can have more patience while they work through all the on the job learning that would happen the first few years.
the Pelissero report is being handled with zero intellectual honestly. Pelissero said that the Browns have used this "process" several times in the past. Meaning it was used to hire Kevin Stefanski—the same guy that all of the same people would say was a great hire. So the process leads to results you like but it's also stupid. Okay. Whatever.