CLEVELAND – Quotes from owner Jimmy Haslam and Rob Chudzinski at a news conference Friday morning introducing Chudzinski as the Browns’ new head coach.
Haslam on interview process:
“It took 11 days. We talked to 9 or 10 of I believe the best coaches in the country, current pro coaches, former pro head coaches, current college coaches, several coordinators. I believe we came back with the best person to lead the Cleveland Browns to the kind of winning format we want to have in Cleveland.”
“Joe [Banner] and I have both come from organizations where there has been little change in terms of leadership. This organization has had a lot of change in terms of leadership. We wanted to spend a little bit more time.”
“We did not have a clear-cut choice. We did not have a clear-cut favorite. We knew in our minds these are the characteristics that we wanted. I feel very confident we got the right guy.”
Haslam on Chudzinski’s reputation:
“If you talk to people in the business, he is regarded as one of the brightest, if not the brightest, young minds in the business. He is tremendously innovative. Over the last two years, Rob was the offensive coordinator at Carolina. They scored 88 touchdowns. We scored 48.”
Haslam on selecting the coach:
“We migrated back to, the pro game is becoming more and more offensive. We think we have great young talent on offense and we thought it was exceptionally important to bring in an individual who could take advantage of, develop – everywhere Rob has been, the quarterback has gotten dramatically better – develop that young talent so that we can put the kind of points on the board that one, will win games and candidly two, will be fun to watch.”
Chudzinski on his defensive philosophy:
“We’re going to be an attacking-style defense. We’re going to create turnovers. That’s what we want to do. We want to get after the quarterback and affect the quarterback’s play. That’s the number one thing you want to do as a defense. Whether that’s a 4-3 or a 3-4 and nowadays there’s a lot of hybrid systems out there. It will tie in more with the coordinator that I hire. I think we have the versatility of going either way.”
Chudzinski on his process of interviewing with the Browns:
“I was initially contacted on Tuesday. Interviewed on Wednesday here in Cleveland at Jimmy’s house. Yesterday afternoon about 3, 4 o’clock I got a call that Jimmy and Joe wanted to come down to Charlotte and meet for dinner. They came down about 7 or 8 o’clock. We spent a few hours at dinner and Jimmy was sitting right across from me and offered me the job.”
Chudzinski on being the head coach of the Browns:
“I was excited. It is a dream come true, almost unbelievable in a lot of ways that this kid from Toledo, Ohio, growing up as a Browns fan and loving the Browns and understanding how important this team is to this region and this area and this city – it’s a dream come true. I’ve been on cloud nine. I think I slept about an hour last night.”
“I will work tirelessly as the head coach of this franchise. I promise you that we’re going to put a product on the field that will win.”
Haslam on Chudzinski’s strengths:
“When you meet Rob, it comes across that he is a very decisive person. He has a very clear offensive philosophy. He has a very clear philosophy of what his role would be in defense and special teams. It was very well thought out, very well defined. He understands very decisively about how important it is to have a strong support team around him.”
Chudzinski on calling offensive plays:
“That’ll be determined by the staff that we put together. If I’m comfortable with the offensive coordinator doing that, he’ll do it. If I’m not sure about that or uncomfortable with that, I’ll call the plays until I become comfortable with that.
Chudzinski on what the Browns job means:
“For me, personally, it’s the best job. There have been other head coaching jobs that I’ve seen or potentially had opportunities for but this is the one that is special to me. I can’t say enough how excited I am to be here. The emotions are running wild and I can’t wait to get started.”
Chudzinski on his style:
“This team, we’re going to be an attacking offense and attacking defense with physical play, great effort and great finish. We’re going to be built on a foundation of fundamentals and technique. We’re going to give these guys great coaches. We’re going to focus on innovation. We’re going to focus on giving them the best possible schemes and pushing the envelope on those things to put them in the best possible position to win.”
“Attacking style again. I’d like to be balanced. Balanced to me does not mean you’re going run the ball and throw the ball the same amount of times. You can run it when you need to run it to win, you can throw it when you need to throw it to win. In this league, you have to be able to win games in different ways.”
“I have a plan in place. A lot of people focus on the end result. The focus is on the process.”
Chudzinski on
“The memories growing up and going out and throwing the football around, pretending, believing that I was scoring that touchdown. We wanted to be in that stadium, in the Dawg Pound so bad that we would watch games in December out in the snow and we’d flip the TV around in the window so we could be there. That was us being there. I have to admit I’ve eaten a dog biscuit or two in my day.”
Article Courtesy of WEWS NewsChannel 5
