TUSCALOOSA, AL - SEPTEMBER 13: Head coach Todd Monken of the Southern Miss Golden Eagles looks on during the game against the Alabama Crimson Tide at Bryant-Denny Stadium on September 13, 2014 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) For the past 20 years, the Cleveland Browns have lacked talent at two big positions: quarterback, and coaching. With the quarterback and a new staff now in place, Freddie Kitchens and Co. look to have hit an absolute home run. The world of football is, by and large, an art rather than a science. Sure, recent years have brought a hefty amount of analytics into the sport, but more often than not, they are not the centerpiece of a football operation. The NFL Draft, free agency, and coaching hires can often be a roll of the dice. Even if a coach might seem like an awful hire at the time, he might pan out. The opposite is true, and you can look up “Hue Jackson Cleveland Browns” if you want an example. The point is, coaching hires can be pretty risky business. Too often, a team doesn’t really know what they’re getting when they hire the men who will lead their players (hopefully) to a Super Bowl championship. But luckily for the Cleveland Browns and new head coach Freddie Kitchens, it looks like they’ve absolutely nailed it. Let’s take a look first at new special teams coordinator, Mike Priefer. Priefer’s time in Minnesota from 2011 to 2018 was met with mixed reviews, but he’s been largely seen as a good coach for about the past half decade. According to Pro Football Focus, Minnesota’s special teams unit has been third-best in the league over Priefer’s time with the Vikings. This is a vast improvement over the Browns who, throughout the season, looked totally inept on special teams. Pair Priefer up with one of the league’s best punters in Britton Colquitt, a promising young kicker in Greg Joseph,and a special teams unit that on the whole could use some help, and you’ve got a recipe for a good hire. Of course, anything would be better than former Browns special teams coach Amos Jones. Moving on, we’ll look at new offensive line coach and associate head coach James Campen. Honestly, it’s a wonder how the Browns even stole Campen away from the Green Bay Packers in the first place. As Green Bay’s offensive line coach, he has been their longest-tenured assistant, and would likely be a great deal of help to rookie head coach Matt LaFleur. It’s often been said that a new head coach’s most important hire is the offensive line coach, and the Browns really got a good one here. Campen gets to work with two of the best guards in the league in Joel Bitonio and Kevin Zeitler, a young inside lineman in Austin Corbett, and a left guard in Greg Robinson who looks to be in the midst of turning his career around. Bob Wylie was a fan favorite, but it was time to bring in a fresh face to coach the bulldozers up front. Flipping over to the defensive side of the ball, the Browns went with Steve Wilks as their new defensive coordinator. Don’t let the year-long disaster with the Arizona Cardinals define Wilks in your mind. Despite being a bit in over his head, and a bit underwhelmed due to the roster, Wilks is a great defensive-minded coach. During his time with the Carolina Panthers, Wilks coached up one of the most dynamic front sevens in the league. With a top-15 run defense and total defense by yards in 2017, Wilks was able to stuff his opponents’ run games as defensive coordinator. Now, he’ll get to go coach Myles Garrett, Emmanuel Ogbah, Larry Ogunjobi, and Joe Schobert in his front seven. This could very well be the first step for Steve Wilks to get another head coaching job. Finally, let’s examine what will likely be the crown jewel of this group of hires. Late Sunday evening, the Browns hired former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Todd Monken as their OC. While he may not call plays in Cleveland, he’ll have the chance to coach one of the league’s most talented young offensive groups, and develop Baker Mayfield even further. Monken loves explosive plays, and is a bit of a savant in the passing game. He turned Jameis Winston and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers into the league’s premier offensive unit last season. Imagine what he could do with an accurate arm like Baker Mayfield’s. Sure, coaching hires might be a gamble, but it looks like the Browns hit the jackpot with their four coaching picks.<doc-sep>Cleveland Browns coach Freddie Kitchens added Saskatchewan Roughriders coach Chris Jones to his staff on Tuesday. Jones will work as a senior defensive specialist with the Browns. When Kitchens played his senior season as Alabama’s quarterback in 1997, Jones was a graduate assistant on the staff of Crimson Tide coach Mike DuBose. Jones had been an assistant coach for the North Jackson High School team that won the AHSAA Class 4A championship in the 1993 season. Jones began his career in the Canadian Football League five years after his season at Alabama as the defensive-line coach of the Montreal Alouettes. After serving as the defensive coordinator for two Grey Cup-winning teams, Jones coached the Edmonton Eskimos to the CFL championship as they won the 103rd Grey Cup. Jones left the Eskimos to become the coach and general manager of the Roughriders, positions he resigned after three seasons to join the Browns. Jones was responsible for bringing former U.S. collegiate standouts such as Alabama running back Trent Richardson and Auburn quarterback Nick Marshall and running back Tre Mason to Saskatchewan. Kitchens became Cleveland's coach on Monday after serving as the Browns' offensive coordinator for the second half of the 2018 season. FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COMPREHENSIVE COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.<doc-sep>CLEVELAND, Ohio — Freddie Kitchens dipped back into his past to find one of his defensive assistants. He hired Chris Jones, former coach of the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League, as a Senior Defensive Specialist. Jones, 51, was a graduate assistant at Alabama in 1997 when Kitchens was a quarterback there under Gene Stallings. Jones has won Grey Cups with four different teams, including with Edmonton in 2015 when he was head coach. Jones took over as head coach of the Roughriders in 2016, and guided the team to a 5-13 mark in a rebuilding season. They improved to 10-8 in 2017 and made the playoffs for the first time since 2014. Kitchens is also interviewing former Cardinals defensive coordinator Al Holcomb on Wednesday, according to Joe Person of The Athletic. Holcomb spent a year as coordinator there under head coach Steve Wilks, now Browns' defensive coordinator. Kitchens has hired most of the key members of his staff, including offensive coordinator Todd Monken, defensive coordinator Steve Wilks and special teams coordinator Mike Priefer. He’s also hired associate head coach/offensive line coach James Campen, a former NFL center who played with Browns GM John Dorsey in Green Bay.<doc-sep>CLEVELAND, Ohio — Freddie Kitchens found his defensive line coach at his alma mater, Alabama. He hired former Alabama defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi, a source confirmed for cleveland.com. Al.com reported that Lupoi interviewed for the job and that sources in the coaching community believed he’d land with the Browns. He replaces defensive line coach Clyde Simmons. Lupoi is the Browns’ second hire from Alabama, where Kitchens played quarterback in the 1990s. Kitchens previously hired former Alabama offensive line coach Jody Wright as a special assistant to the head coach. Lupoi’s departure is part of a mass exodus from Nick Saban’s staff since the Tide lost the national championship game to Clemson on Jan. 7. After three seasons as Alabama’s linebackers coach and analyst, Lupoi was promoted to defensive coordinator in 2018. His defense allowed 18.1 points per game, which was third in the SEC and 12th in the nation. But it also marked the first time Alabama had allowed more than 18 points a game since 2014, and the first time it finished lower than top 10 in the country since 2007, when it finished 32nd with 23.3 per game, according to cbssports.com. Lupoi was the third Browns assistant hired in the past two days after they added nine on Monday. They also hired former CFL Roughriders head coach Chris Jones as senior defensive specialist and Al Holcomb as linebackers coach/run game coordinator.<doc-sep>
Butch Dill/Associated Press The Cleveland Browns are reportedly hiring Alabama defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi as their defensive line coach, according to Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports. As Feldman noted, Lupoi was "a huge recruiting force" for Alabama "as primary recruiter for Tua [Tagovailoa], Jonah Williams, Raekwon Davis, Najee Harris, Alex Leatherwood, Trevon Diggs and Dylan Moses." Lupoi has been with Alabama since 2014, replacing Jeremy Pruitt at defensive coordinator for the 2018 season and serving as the outside linebackers coach from 2015-17. As Matt Zenitz of AL.com noted, Nick Saban's Alabama staff has been picked clean this offseason: "Since the loss [to Clemson in the national championship game], offensive coordinator Mike Locksley (Maryland), co-offensive coordinator Josh Gattis (Michigan), quarterbacks coach Dan Enos (Miami) and offensive line coach Brent Key (Georgia Tech) have all left for different jobs." New Cleveland Browns head coach Freddie Kitchens, meanwhile, is putting together a solid coaching staff, adding Todd Monken as his offensive coordinator, Steve Wilks as his defensive coordinator, Al Holcomb as linebackers coach, Ryan Lindley as quarterbacks coach and James Campen as offensive line coach, among other hires. For the 7-8-1 Browns, the task now will be to take the next step in the rebuild and become a contender and playoff mainstay. And Lupoi will have the opportunity to work with one of the most talented young players in the NFL, defensive end Myles Garrett, who registered 44 tackles (16 for loss), 13.5 sacks and three forced fumbles in his second year in the NFL. Garrett earned a grade of 87.0 from Pro Football Focus, 13th amongst edge-rushers. Lupoi will be tasked with further developing Garrett and helping him become the superstar he appears poised to become.