BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – This Sunday, Kevin Stefanski will return to where his NFL coaching career began – Minnesota.
And to no one’s surprise, when asked about taking time to reunite with friends or family Stefanski offered three words.
“No, business trip,” Stefanski said.
While the NFL world will be focused on Tom Brady’s return to New England this weekend, the Browns are focused on Stefanski’s to Minneapolis where he spent 14 years as a Vikings assistant.
“14 years is a long time,” quarterback Baker Mayfield said. “I think it would mean a lot to him. He is not going to tell anybody here that, but we have a lot of people that have familiarity within the Minnesota Vikings franchise. Like I said, anytime you play people you know, it makes it more fun – just a little bit more friendly competition.”
Despite being peppered with questions Wednesday, Stefanski did his best to remain true to who is and avoid too much nostalgia.
“I would tell you it is obviously a special place,” Stefanski said. “I had a great time there and was treated great by the organization from the ownership to the coaches and staff. Really have good friends there. With that being said, it is a really big game, and they are a good team so that has our full attention.”
Stefanski has every reason to feel nostalgic about his former home. It’s where his three children were born but there’s no mistaking where their allegiance falls this weekend.
“The Brownies,” Stefanski said with a smile.
After being hired as head coach in January 2020, Stefanski immediately turned the Browns into a winner and pulled off the most successful season in a generation amid a global pandemic.
He was named the 2020 NFL Coach of the Year by the Associated Press, Pro Football Writers of America and the Sporting News and has gone 14-7, including the playoffs, patrolling the sidelines for Cleveland.
While Stefanski’s impact on the Browns was immediate, his impact in Minnesota resonates to this day.
“I was happy for him to win Coach of the Year,” Vikings running back Dalvin Cook told reporters Wednesday. “Everything that came his way was well deserved. He waited his time, finally he got the job and he took over and did what he needed to do. I was happy for him.
“Once my coach, always my coach. My coach for life. Just the way he embraced me as a player and as a kid.”
The Browns should’ve hired Stefanski in 2019. Instead, they opted for Freddie Kitchens, who was fired in less than one year following a disastrous 6-10 season.
“I firmly believe that things work out the way they should,” Stefanski said. “I would speak to my whole time there was very impactful. It is a really well-run organization from top to bottom.”
Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins remembered meeting Stefanski, who was the Vikings assistant quarterbacks coach at the time, at the Senior Bowl in 2012.
“You could see that he was going places, he knew football, he was a good communicator and so I was really excited when I signed in free agency that he was going to be my quarterback coach,” Cousins told reporters Wednesday. “That was a huge plus of coming to Minnesota, and then it was just natural fit to have him as the OC and the playcaller in '19, and then he earned the right to be a head coach and has proven that as well.
“One of the many people I could point to in my football career that I've been very fortunate to get to work alongside, and grateful that our paths crossed.”
Two of Stefanski’s coordinators – special teams coordinator Mike Priefer and defensive coordinator Joe Woods – also have Vikings roots.
Vikings offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, son of Gary Kubiak, who retired earlier this year, and Stefanski also bonded in their time together.
This week, their friendships are on hold.
“Klint is a very, very close friend of mine,” Stefanski said, smiling. “Obviously, this week nobody is talking to anybody. I think he is doing a really nice job.”
Stefanski joined the Vikings in 2006 where he started off as an administrative assistant. He did “anything and everything” his first few years with the organization.
In 2009 he was promoted to assistant quarterbacks coach until 2014 when took over as tight ends coach for two years. In 2016 he coached the running backs before returning to quarterbacks coach the next year. After being elevated to interim offensive coordinator in 2018, which helped him land his first interview with the Browns, he kept the job in 2019.
“He did really good,” Stefanski’s former boss and Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer said of Stefanski’s first season in Cleveland. “I think Kevin’s got a great rapport with the players. He’s very analytical, knows what he wants to get accomplished, very detailed in what he wants to do.”
Stefanski learned a lot in the five years he worked under Zimmer.
“The way he runs his operation is very similar to the way we do things here,” Stefanski said. “Coach Zim is very, very transparent and very blunt with the players and coaches, you know where you stand.
“I owe him a great debt of gratitude for how he, No. 1, retained me on the staff when he came in, and then moved me through the offensive staff and made me a coordinator. He’s somebody who was very instrumental in my development.”
The familiarity between the coaches makes Sunday’s game all the more intriguing.
“I think they know our scheme,” Stefanski said. “I have been around obviously Coach Zim and his defensive scheme, but they are evolving. You could probably say the same of us.
“Coach Zim is as good as it gets so we have our work cut out for us.”