For all the complaints that tend to come in about the Browns coaching staff and how they’ve handled this miserable 3-11 season, with three games to play, there’s little doubt that should Cleveland move on from the bunch and bring in a new coaching staff, all the main actors on the current staff would likely land on their feet.
ESPN reported this month that Kevin Stefanski, the beleaguered head coach, would be a hot candidate on the market if he were to be fired. Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz has led one of the league’s top defenses all season, even with an offense that has been ugly enough to make most defensive players around the NFL give up on the year.
And there’s Tommy Rees, the 33-year-old offensive coordinator who has been in Cleveland for two seasons. He was promoted to the OC role this year, but Stefanski was the play-caller. That changed at the beginning of November. Rees had been the offensive coordinator at Alabama and Notre Dame, and should the staff be replaced, he could easily land back in the collegiate ranks.
In fact, Cleveland.com reported last week that Rees is a candidate for the newly opened Michigan job.
Tommy Rees in 2nd Season With Browns
Rees, who was the Browns’ tight ends and passing-game specialist last season before being promoted this year, was asked about rumors connecting him to Michigan on Thursday, for the second straight week. As he did last week, Rees gave tight-lipped answers on his future.
He was asked where things stand with Michigan. “Similar to what I said last week, I’m here and I’m focused on this job and focused on the improvement of our players and the improvement of our offense, and that’s really all there is with that,” Rees said. “I’m excited to be here and working to improve our guys.”
Rees was asked whether he could at least acknowledge that he’d been contacted by Michigan, and again dodged the question: “Again, I don’t want to get into a lot of that conversation. It’s really just about, my focus is solely on, being the best I can for our players, for our staff, for our organization right now.”
GettyCleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski.
Michigan Will Have a Flood of Coaching Candidates
If, indeed, Rees is a candidate at Michigan, he is expected to have ample competition. Three hot-name head coaches linked to the job have been Clark Lea of Vanderbilt, Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer and Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham. They’re big names in the collegiate game, and Rees–who has never been a head coach before–would be a far riskier proposition as a hire for the Wolverines.
In the meantime, Rees will continue handling one of the most high-profile situations any team with a 3-11 record has had in recent memory–the development of quarterback Shedeur Sanders, especially coming off a three-interception disaster in Chicago.
“It’s important to find those both positive reinforcement things that you’re doing well and then find the areas that we need to continue to improve on,” Rees said. “But he’s been really good this week in terms of taking all that in and being excited to go out and continue to improve and continue to build upon the things that he’s doing well for us right now.”
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