The Browns held a press conference to introduce Todd Monken as their new head coach on Tuesday and team owner Jimmy Haslam spent some time discussing the process that led to Monken landing the job.
Several candidates reportedly pulled their name out of consideration for the post prior to Monken landing the job last month, but Haslam said that those decisions didn’t change the way that the franchise viewed Monken.
“You go through a search process — I think we started out with 20, 25 candidates,” Haslam said. “I think we interviewed nine, I might be off by one there. A search is a little bit of a roller coaster. Somebody drops out, somebody comes in. You get better references or better test results on someone. Or worse. I would say Todd was on the top of the list the entire time. I think our search lasted 20 days and I’d say he was leading the pack or in the front pack the entire time.”
It would be a surprise to hear any team owner say that their first choice for a head coach was anyone other than the person who wound up being hired, so we’re unlikely to know if the Browns had initially honed in on someone who ultimately chose a different path. It also won’t be something mentioned much if Monken can move the Browns in the right direction in 2026 and beyond, but more of the same in Cleveland won’t do much to make the job a more attractive one the next time the Browns need to make a change.
