Todd Monken came to Cleveland with plenty to prove. Four games into the season, the first-year head coach has the Browns 3-1 and rallying around him. The team is tied for first place in the AFC North with the Baltimore Ravens.
Ideastream Public Media commentator Terry Pluto said Monken has an extensive coaching résumé, even though this is his first NFL head coaching job.
“Todd had been coaching at eight different colleges and four different NFL teams before he got this job this year at the age of 60,” Pluto said.
The hire was met with skepticism among some fans and members of the media. But Pluto said Monken’s background made him an interesting choice.
“I kind of followed Monken's career a little bit," Pluto said. "He was here in 2019 as an offensive coordinator. The head coach was Freddie Kitchens, but Freddie Kitchens basically wouldn't let Monken do anything. And I thought he handled that situation, Monken, very well."
After his stint in Cleveland, Monken became the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of Georgia under coach Kirby Smart.
“In the three years … they won two national titles and averaged almost 40 points a game,” Pluto said.
Monken then joined the Baltimore Ravens as offensive coordinator in 2023. He helped lead the team to a 13-4 record and the AFC’s top playoff seed before the Ravens lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game.
“Lamar Jackson, their star quarterback, had his best years with Todd Monken,” Pluto said.
Pluto said the Browns also saw qualities beyond Monken’s coaching record that made him appealing as a head coach.
“I figured at the very least if they hire Monken, you should get a guy that's pretty good with quarterbacks," Pluto said. "He's got a lot of reclamation projects on his resume … and is starting to get some of the best quarterback performances they've seen out of that beleaguered and often injured Deshaun Watson. He's helped pull him together."
The Browns were also looking for a different personality than former coach Kevin Stefanski when they hired Monken.
“Stefanski was here for six years, you know, they went to the playoffs twice (and) twice he was coach of the year," Pluto said. "His last two years though, they won eight games (total). He was very guarded, you know, cautious in the way he talked, where Monken is more emotional."
That personality is now being tested with a young Browns team that includes a large group of rookies. Pluto said General Manager Andrew Berry believed Monken could connect with all the players.
“I had a long interview with (Berry) before the season," Pluto said. "I said, ‘Why did you hire this 60-year-old guy when you're going to have one of the youngest teams in the NFL?’ He said he has a way about him where he could relate to an 18-year-old, or he could relate to a guy at the end of his career."
Pluto said Monken’s leadership was especially important after the Browns opened the season with a loss to Jacksonville.
“He was somehow able to pull this team out of the abyss of that first 34-10 loss with lots of penalties and everything else, but then to win three games in a row ... the short term, what Todd Monken has brought here is exactly what they wanted, for the most part,” Pluto said.
Pluto said Monken has been preparing for this opportunity throughout his career.
“This guy's really driven and I knew that he's waited his whole life to be a coach in the NFL," Pluto said. "I think another thing has been sort of endearing about Monken is like, when he won his first game in Tampa Bay, he saw there were these Browns fans as he's walking off the field, kind of in the stands over by the end zone. He ran over there and like high-fived a bunch of them. And I saw him also do that when they won the home game against Carolina. It's little stuff like that.”
Pluto said Monken’s first stint with the Browns gave him an early look at the expectations that come with the job.
“He knows something special is happening in his life and he knows that this really matters in Cleveland," Pluto said. "And I think it helped that he was here in 2019 when things were terrible with Freddie Kitchens. And so, he had a taste of the football culture here of both how the Browns are so beloved and secondly, how the fan base is so frustrated.”
