The NFL coaching carousel held some great coaches on it this year. Long time coaches Ron Rivera and Mike McCarthy, as well as former Baylor head coach Matt Rhule and others, got hired into the NFL in the past few months. The most recent hire was the Cleveland Browns hiring Kevin Stefanski.
After being fired from the Packers after almost 13 seasons, McCarthy took a year off from coaching but in 2020-21 he will replace Jason Garret in Dallas. He will coach relatively young stars like Dak Prescot and Ezekiel Elliot, as well as veterans like Sean Lee and Jason Witten. Jason Witten may retire before McCarthy has a chance to coach him. Mike McCarthy is an experienced coach and I expect that he can turn the Cowboys, a team with a lot of raw talent into a shoo-in for the playoffs.
The other extremely experienced coach who landed a spot with a different team this season is Ron Rivera. After coaching the Carolina Panthers for nine years, Ron Rivera is the Redskins’ new head coach. Rivera also got what he wanted with Jack Del Rio as his defensive coordinator. After going 3-13 a coaching change was expected for Washington. Rivera took the Panthers to the Super Bowl in 2015-16 after going 15-1. Overall he had a 76-63 record in the nine years that he coached the Panthers. Although it’s not likely, hopefully he can turn the Redskins around and make them a playoff contender.
Staying with the NFC East, the Giants fired Pat Shurmur after just two years of his five year contract. After going 5-11 then 4-12, the Giants realized Shurmur just wasn’t what they were looking for to replace Ben McAdoo. Hoping to improve, they hired former Patriots special teams coordinator and wide receiver coach Joe Judge to become their next head coach. Judge will have a 5 year contract with an annual salary exceeding 5 million dollars. The Giants recently hired Jason Garret, former Cowboys head coach, to be their offensive coordinator. I don’t think a bright future for the Giants is in store, but stranger things have happened.
Heading down south, the Carolina Panthers hired Matt Rhule to be their next head coach, succeeding Ron Rivera. The former Baylor head coach is a State High and Penn State graduate. He played linebacker for both schools got a bachelor’s degree in Arts in Political Science. Last season Rhule lead the Bears to a 11-2 season then lost in the Sugar Bowl to Georgia. They just missed the cut for the College Football Playoff, a win or two against Oklahoma would have put them in position for the fourth seed in the playoffs. The Panthers’ 2019-20 season was not as successful as the Baylor Bears’. They ended up last in the NFC South with a 5-11 record. They finished the season with eight straight losses! Hopefully Matt Rhule can stop that downward spiral and put them in a position for at least a Wild Card spot in the playoffs.
The Browns have finally ended their long search for a head coach and hired former Vikings offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski. They interviewed eight potential coaches, but Stefanski was the one that they were looking for. He will replace Freddie Kitchens who just didn’t have what it took to control an NFL team. Stefanski graduated from The University of Pennsylvania in 2004 after playing football for four years and getting his bachelor’s degree in communications. Unlike Freddie Kitchens, Stefanski has NFL experience, he coached in the Vikings’ organization for fourteen years in multiple offensive positions. He got promoted to offensive coordinator during the 2018-19 season and held that position through this past season which ended in the divisional round of the playoffs. The Browns have a lot of raw talent and hopefully Kevin Stefanski can end the era of mediocrity in Cleveland.
The offseason hasn’t even started and eras have ended and bounce back years are on the horizon. The Browns fell well short of everyone’s expectations and maybe Kevin Stefanski can fix that. The Cowboys had a disappointing few seasons and out goes Jason Garret. They went in the veteran direction with Mike McCarthy. There were many head coaching changes this season with many more assistant coach hires to come.
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