Cleveland Browns head coach Todd Monken obviously did not get the memo when he was hired that analytics is considered a four-letter word in certain corners of Browns Town.
That became clear shortly after
Monken was hired when the news came out that he was interviewing Daniel Stern for the role of associate head coach.
Monken and Stern worked together in Baltimore, where Monken was offensive coordinator the past three seasons and Stern served as assistant quarterbacks coach/director of football strategy.
Stern is a big proponent of using analytics as part of his work, which is clear from this passage on the Ravens website about this work:
Daniel Stern is in his 10th season with the Ravens and second as director of football strategy/assistant quarterbacks coach. He also is responsible for scripting situational periods of practice and advising head coach John Harbaugh on in-game clock/game management and coaches’ challenges. Since 2019, Stern has been charged with studying game management, situational football and the NFL playing rules/officiating, advising Harbaugh and the team in these areas. He graduated magna cum laude with a degree in cognitive science from Yale University (2016), where he spent three seasons as an undergraduate assistant to the football team — assisting with coaches’ video, opponent game breakdowns and football operations — as well as doing independent coursework in football strategy research.
Monken will have to look elsewhere, however, after the news came out Friday afternoon that Stern is accepting a job with the Seattle Seahawks, possibly as the team’s pass-game strategist, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
While it is good that the Ravens are losing a valuable member of the organization, it is a bummer that Stern chose the Seahawks over continuing to work with Monken.
But fear not, Browns fans, Monken has fully embraced the analytical side of the game, which will help keep the Browns in step with the rest of the NFL, as opposed to reverting to whatever it is that the anti-analytics crowd wants the Brown to be.
