From the moment Todd Monken opened his mouth at his introductory press conference as the next head coach of the Cleveland Browns, fans saw the unmistakable difference between Monken and his predecessor, Kevin Stefanski.
Stefanski, often described as overtly unemotional and stoic, provided fans with answers to questions that lasted 30 seconds but offered zero substance — the kind of replies that could answer just about any question because of how meaningless they were. They also tended to make him sound like a broken record because the same non-answers were repeated time and again.
In a 25-minute introductory press conference, Monken cursed, he cried, and he said some things that some might view as callous toward an assistant coach he supposedly would like to retain in Jim Schwartz. For many fans of the Cleveland Browns, the entire ordeal was a breath of fresh air. While emotions don't win football games, there is a certain validation that comes from seeing the coach of your favorite team angry about things going wrong on the field.
You can see that they care. It's not part of everyone's makeup, however, and there's no better example of that than Stefanski. For all their differences, Stefanski and Monken have a pre-existing relationship, one, in fact, that has played out in the most ironic of ways.
Todd Monken's career has taken quite a few turns, none more successful than his time at the University of Georgia. Monken took over offensive coordinator duties in 2020, and by 2021, the Bulldogs were National Champions.
Not to be outdone, they reached the top of the mountain again in 2022. This led an introspective Monken to seek answers. Was this his destiny or was he foregoing his true dreams of leading a team at the NFL level?
He reached out to some NFL contacts to get an idea if he should take another swing at the pros. One of those contacts is very, very familiar to the Browns' faithful.
"I called around to coaches in the NFL. I wanted to hear what it was like to be a head coach in the NFL ... I got ahold of three or four other coaches, Kevin being one of them, and I asked them, ‘Do you enjoy being a head coach in the NFL? Do you enjoy everything that comes with it?’ It’s not easy. It isn’t. And to a man, all of them said they loved it. Be it Matt LaFleur, be it Kevin Stefanski and others that I reached out to, because it was the only reason for me to leave Georgia. Why else would I leave Georgia? We were winning, gonna have good players, the culture’s already set. ... But ultimately that was my goal, was to come back, to put yourself in a position to one day sit in this chair, be one of the 32 (NFL head coaches)."
Kevin Stefanski actually encouraged Todd Monken to return to the NFL
One could imagine that Stefanski would never have dreamed that a few years ago, when an old buddy of his was calling about returning to the league, it would wind up being his replacement. But such is the league. One coachspeak platitude that always rings true is that the NFL is a business. It's not about friends or how likable someone is. It's about winning football games.
Ultimately, the Haslams determined that Stefanski didn't win enough of them. Browns fans can have one major takeaway from all of this: Todd Monken isn't scared to fail. He had the cushy job. He had the accolades, but he still yearned for more. That's a dangerous mix — the type of stuff that greats are made of.
The Dawg Pound can only hope his belief in himself is proven right — with wins on the field.