The Cleveland Browns are hiring Todd Monken as their next head coach, according to multiple reports on Wednesday. He is set to return to the organization after coordinating the club's offense for the 2019 season.
It wasn't the memory of that season that got Monken the head job -- the Browns went 6-10 that year, and Freddie Kitchens was one-and-done as head coach.
It was Monken's work elsewhere that landed him his first head coaching job.
Monken spent the past three seasons as the Baltimore Ravens' offensive coordinator, and also coordinated the Tampa Bay Bucs' offense from 2016-18. The 59-year-old was also the Jacksonville Jaguars' wide receivers coach from 2007-10, but spent the majority of his career at the college level -- including three seasons as the head coach at Southern Miss, and two national championships as the OC at Georgia.
Monken will be the club's 11th head coach since it was re-birthed in 1999. Kevin Stefanski is the most successful of the previous 10, both in terms of longevity (six seasons) and winning percentage (.446). Stefanski took Cleveland to the playoffs twice, won the team's only playoff game since its reincarnation, and was named the AP Coach of the Year in 2020 and 2023. He was fired after going a combined 8-26 over 2024-25.
Only the Las Vegas Raiders have employed more head coaches since 1999 than the Browns.
Cleveland is the fifth of 10 NFL teams to fill its vacancy, and the third to choose a first-time NFL head coach. Monken is the first of those three with an offensive background. Like Monken, new Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley was also previously a head coach at the college level.
Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz also interviewed for the job Monken ultimately landed, and it's a possibility he will remain on in that role.
Stay tuned.