First let me get this out of the way, Sean McDermit is not going to be the next head coach of the Cleveland Browns. Yes, when Shasi Brown was in charge he and Paul DePodesta recommended he be the next head coach, but Jimmy Haslam wanted a well-respected veteran head coach and went with Hue Jackson. At the Time Jackson was highly sot after. My have times changed. My point in bring this past Browns history up is, sometimes the veteran coach isn’t the way to go in the new NFL. Right now, Haslam would love to repeat the mistake of the past, but Browns GM Andrew Berry wants to go young and innovative. Haslam will trust Berry to make the right discission and not meddle. See, miracles do happen.
But what if they hire Jim Schwartz? Haslam loves Schwartz and he has the respect of the players in the locker room. If this is the Browns hire, then the team has already discussed his potential hires to fix the offense. This is the key to hiring Schwartz, young and innovative offensive minded coaches who will get the responsibility of calling plays guaranteed. If the Browns go away from Schwartz, I really can’t see him staying, but stranger things have happened in this franchise.
My preference would be to hire one of the young guns, Udinski or Scheelhaase. Udinski has learned under two very talented head coaches and been in the NFL longer, starting as a scout and working his way up the ladder. Scheelhaase has been a position coach, (running backs, wide receivers, quarterbacks) so he knows what it takes to run an offense. The question is, will a young coach be able to hire a talented staff? While veteran coaches have been in the league longer, they tend to associate with a smaller close nit group. Younger coaches are around fellow ambitious hungry coaches looking to make a name for themselves in the league.
As for the search itself, four coaches have been hired as of this writing, Giants, Falcons, Dolphins and Titans. The Giants hired a guy that was a pipedream for Browns fans, the Falcons hired the guy the Browns fired, the Dolphins hired a gut who wasn’t in the conversation at all, and the Titans hired a guy who the Browns interviewed six years ago. I can’t help but shake my head at the Dolphins and the Titans, they both made the classic NFL mistake. Fire an offensive coach and then hire a defensive coach. I’ve seen this too many times in Browns history, the wheels of the bus go round & round.
Finally, too many Browns fans are clutching their pearls over the length of time this search is taking. The Browns are currently going through second in person interviews to go in-depth with the candidates and to satisfy the Rooney Rule. They have to interview two minority candidates in person and Mike McDaniel counts as a minority because one of his parents is black. I would rather they get this right then win a race. Stay safe and GO Browns.