And that is what helped him land his first ever head coaching job – of the Cleveland Browns.
Kitchens, who was dressed in a brown suit with orange tie and a Browns ballcap too for his introduction, knew he didn’t enter the team’s search as the favorite to get the gig, and his hire may be a surprise to many, which is just fine with him.
“It takes some guts to do what they did,” Kitchens said. “And I appreciate that. I won't let them down. And all you have to do is sit back and watch. I understand I'm not a popular choice. And I don't care. You've got to block out the noise in this business.”
Kitchens has 20 years of coaching experience, but the 8 weeks he served as the Browns’ offensive coordinator last season was as high up the ladder as he had climbed prior to general manager John Dorsey, owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam and executive vice president JW Johnson, in conjunction with the rest of the search committee, deciding he was their man.
“I think we were able to identify some high-quality candidates,” Dorsey said, “but at the end of the process, unanimously, we thought Freddie was the right fit.”
But is Kitchens ready to lead his own team? Does he have enough experience?
“I've been running fast my whole life and I think that's going to carry into this program,” Kitchens said. “Am I ready or not? I don't know. Were you ready to be a parent? They had confidence in me that I'll figure it out and I'll promise you this, I won't let them down.”
The Browns interviewed 6 other candidates for the job, including interim head coach Gregg Williams before talking to Kitchens last. Kevin Stefanski, the Vikings offensive coordinator, interviewed twice but when it was all said and done, they went with Kitchens.
“I really stress to John and everybody involved in this search, I wanted a thorough search,” Kitchens said. “I wanted to compete against everybody for this job. I wanted it. I wanted to go in and state my case. I was very proud that everything I put in my book was my words.”
Dorsey admitted Kitchens wasn’t eve on his radar when he joined the Browns in Dec. 2017 as a potential head coaching candidate.
“No, he wasn't, but that doesn't mean he's not a qualified coach,” Dorsey said.
Kitchens is the fourth head coach hired since January 2013 by the Haslams, ninth in the 1999-present expansion era and 17th in franchise history.
Since returning to the NFL, the Browns have been the laughing stock of the league. A bye week. A punchline amassing the worst record in the league – 88-216 – from 1999-2017. The lowest of lows came in 2017 when the franchise failed to win a single game becoming just the second team ever to accomplish the infamy of 0-16.
Kitchens pledged to change it.
“Since 1999, there's been ups and downs with this organization. I understand and relish the fact that there's been more downs than ups,” Kitchens said. “But that ends today. I promise you that.”
It started last October 29 when Hue Jackson was fired along with Todd Haley. The team won 5 of its 8 remaining games breeding a new level of optimism that the worst is in the past and brighter days lie ahead.
Despite winning more games in the second half of the season than the team did the previous 3 seasons combined, Kitchens is not satisfied.
“It drives me crazy that people are happy with 7-8-1,” Kitchens said. “That's not acceptable. Nobody here wants that. We understand that's improvement, but that's not acceptable.”
Kitchens isn’t putting the bar at a winning season or playoff berth, which in Cleveland would be cause for celebration.
He wants it all.
“We have only 1 goal, and that's to raise the Lombardi trophy,” Kitchens said.