The Cleveland Comeback

Inspired by his Penn football mentors and his father— a former Quakers’ basketball player— rocketed through the NFL to become one of the league’s youngest head coaches. Now, aft er leading the to their fi rst playoff win in 26 years, the reigning NFL Coach of the Year hopes to turn the long-tortured franchise into a perennial contender. By Dave Zeitlin

ack and forth across the basement It was the biggest moment of his life longtime Penn football “spirit coach” and he paced, never once plopping in sports, and Kevin Stefanski C’04 was gameday coordinator who died in 2010— down on the couch, his eyes plant- all alone, quarantined from the world smiled and nodded along, helping the ed on a 60-inch high-def television because of a positive COVID-19 test that fi rst-year Browns through for three hours and 23 minutes. His came earlier that week, forbidden by the what he’d later call an “extremely surreal, Bphone was shut off . He didn’t yell at the league from contacting anyone on the out-of-body” experience. TV but he did talk to himself. His players team—his team—during the game. “The Coach Lake bobblehead was with were more than 100 miles away. So were Well, he was almost all alone. You could me, and I know Coach Lake was with me,” his fellow coaches. Even his wife and say there was another coach down there Stefanski says. “He’s really, truly, someone three kids couldn’t be on the same level in the basement with him—six inches of I think about all of the time. He’s such a of their house as him, as the Cleveland red plaid and tiny championship rings, big part, I hope, of who I am. He’s always Browns—the tortured franchise whose the word “WIN” pasted onto a ceramic with me—bobblehead or otherwise.” fortunes he had been tasked with chang- forehead. And as the Browns stunned the As Stefanski, the reigning NFL Coach ing—took on their nemesis, the Pitts- Steelers, 48–37, for their fi rst playoff win of the Year, gains acclaim from football burgh Steelers, in a marquee NFL playoff in 26 years, the Coach Lake bobblehead— pundits and full-blown adoration from game this past January. created by Penn Athletics to honor the fans in Cleveland who celebrated the

44 THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE Sep | Oct 2021 Photo courtesy Cleveland Browns Sep | Oct 2021 THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE 45 Stefanski, second from right, learned a lot about positivity and morale boosting from Coach Lake (seen here showing off his Ivy League championship rings). playoff triumph over Pittsburgh like it was the Super Bowl, his ties to Penn re- main strong. He texts often with Penn football head coach Ray Priore, his posi- tion coach when Stefanski patrolled the defensive backfi eld for the Quakers in the early 2000s. He remains good friends with many of his ex-teammates. Among his most prized keepsakes are a Penn football helmet and his fi rst business card as Penn’s “assistant director of football operations”—a job created for him after he graduated by former head coach Al Bagnoli, another one of his mentors. But nothing has helped him as much as the lessons imparted by Dan “Lake” Staf- fi eri, best known for his bright clothing, quirky catch phrases, and endless positiv- ity [“The Mascot in an Old Man’s Suit,” Jul|Aug 2010]. Once a regular assistant coach, Lake had morphed into more of a cheerleader by the time Stefanski arrived on campus in 2000: an almost 80-year- old former Marine hollering his esprit de corps chants in the middle of team hud- dles after practice. “DO BETTER THAN YOUR,” he’d yell three times, and the Penn players would respond “BEST” each time without missing a beat. “As I look back, I can refl ect how important he is to the morale of a football team,” Stefanski says. “I think for a lot of us as young kids, it was hard because he was just an old guy in plaid pants and bowties saying these crazy things and you kind of got lost in the fun of it. But then you realize later how impactful it was in the moment— and then how impactful it’s been over the course of your lifetime.” Known around the league as a humble, rale boosting that Lake brought to Frank- So Priore wasn’t too surprised when, after even-tempered coach with a high football lin Field until his battered body could no the Browns were demolished by the Balti- IQ, Stefanski hasn’t brought Lake’s longer handle it—well, that stayed with more Ravens in Stefanski’s fi rst game in unique fl air (or plaid clothes and bowtie) Stefanski as he shot up through the NFL charge last September, the Cleveland coach to Cleveland’s FirstEnergy Stadium. And ranks and especially now as he com- texted him the motto of resilience that Lake Lake’s catchphrases likely wouldn’t work mands a locker room every day. “One of made popular at Penn. That same motto is as well on millionaire professional ath- my main jobs is messaging,” the Browns scrawled on a piece of paper behind Stefan- letes (though Stefanski’s own kids know head coach says. “What you say, your ski’s desk in Cleveland—a handwritten note to respond “Oh, very well” when their dad words, matter. While I may not use those that Lake left in Stefanski’s locker almost asks “How youuu doin’?”—another one of slogans, I do think oftentimes about our 20 years ago when a crushing injury could Lake’s trademark back-and-forths). But team and our mindset and what we want have derailed his football journey: the spirit, the zeal, the resilience, the mo- to be thinking going into every week.” Setbacks pave the way for comebacks.

46 THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE Sep | Oct 2021 Photo courtesy Kevin Stefanski When he wasn’t dealing with injuries, Stefanski was one of the anchors of Penn’s defense in the early 2000s.

Stefanski W’76 remembers the “Any time he NBA All-Star point guard, he hung up his play when his son tore his an- basketball sneakers to focus on football. terior cruciate ligament in his played a sport, The Stefanskis spent a lot of time at right knee. It was in Penn’s sea- both the Palestra, where Ed played under son opener against Lafayette every coach was from 1973–76 and was later Edin 2001, and “Kevin just ran out of a color commentator for Big 5 games, bounds” before pulling up lame, recalls very complimentary, and Franklin Field. They’d climb to the Ed, a former Penn men’s basketball upper deck of the football stadium and player and longtime NBA executive. “No- basically saying that sit on the opposing team’s side (“because body touched him.” the sun was on that side,” Ed says) and On the face of it, the timing couldn’t Kevin was like a the boys would play with toys on the have been worse for Stefanski, who was concrete between the aisles. hoping to build off a strong freshman coach on the field.” The allure of Franklin Field certainly campaign in 2000 in which he was played a role in Kevin’s decision to come named the Quakers’ Defensive Rookie of to Penn. It also helped keep him there. the Year. But in another way, it turned out After a strong junior campaign in 2002 to be almost fortuitous, as the safety used in which he was named All-Ivy honor- that lost season to develop a lasting bond able mention as the Quakers swept with Coach Lake, driving him around through the league, Stefanski hurt his Locust Walk in a golf cart on Fridays so same knee in 2003, tearing his meniscus Lake could yell through a bullhorn and and missing most of the season. But he encourage students to come to games the returned to play a fi fth year in 2004 next day. (Stefanski continued to be while plotting out his plans to remain in Lake’s driver even when he was healthy football after graduating. “I wanted him and suiting up, and his brother David to get out of Penn because he was costing Stefanski C’10 would later assume the me a fortune,” quips Ed. “But listen, he role too.) And since he wasn’t able to followed his dreams.” practice, he began to more closely exam- Ed should know. He spent more than ine how the rest of the team’s coaches 20 years in the mortgage banking busi- operated throughout the week, learning ness after graduating from Wharton, a diff erent side of the game. “That prob- before switching gears to work in the ably was my fi rst experience of what front offi ce of various NBA teams, begin- coaching felt like,” Stefanski says. ning in 1999 with the New Jersey Nets Even before that, Priore had noticed 3 and Cover 4,” Stefanski says. “It was [“Alumni Profi les,” Jan|Feb 2008]. He’s how adept Stefanski, a high school quar- eye-opening for me. And I ate it up. I currently a senior executive with the terback at St. Joe’s Prep, seemed to be at loved it—absolutely loved it. … And it following stints with the understanding complex schemes. “There certainly started me on a path of loving , , and are a lot of gifted, talented players out the Xs and Os side of the game.” his hometown . there,” Priore says. “But they play the In truth, the path had been laid before Kevin’s path through professional sports game slow because they can’t process it. he got to Penn. Growing up with three has been diff erent. Unlike his dad, a job He played it fast.” As a freshman, Stefan- brothers, it was “all sports, all the time in in the business world didn’t stick; he ski would sometimes wave off a play from our house,” Ed says. “And you could tell worked in commercial real estate “for a Priore, then the defensive coordinator he was sharp from the very beginning. hot minute” before realizing that wasn’t and defensive backs coach, as if to say, Any time he played a sport, every coach for him. Through a connection with James “yeah, I got it,” because he “already knew was very complimentary, basically saying Urban, a longtime NFL assistant coach what the call was,” the Penn head coach that Kevin was like a coach on the fi eld.” who used to serve as Penn’s director of recalls. “He just had that football mind.” Initially, it seemed like he might follow football operations, he landed an intern- “I think about the 18-year-old version in his father’s footsteps and play basket- ship with the Philadelphia Eagles during of me sitting in a position meeting for the ball. “He thought he was Jason Kidd the team’s training camp in 2005. That’s fi rst time in August, and Ray up on the growing up,” Ed says. But when he fi g- when he caught the bug. “It was crystal chalkboard describing Cover 2 and Cover ured out he wasn’t as good as the former clear to me that I wasn’t going back to

Photo courtesy Penn Athletics Sep | Oct 2021 THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE 47 commercial real estate—or the real world A fan base scarred by (He showed his own personality with for that matter,” he says. Later that year playful jabs at tight end Stephen Carlson, he accepted a freshly created position to Modell’s betrayal and a Princeton alum. “I think sometimes he work on the Quakers’ staff , sitting side by must think I’m crazy because I’m taking side with his former coaches and “loving decades of losing just shots at him at every turn.”) The result every minute of it.” The following year he was an 11–5 regular-season record as Ste- was off to the , where might have found an fanski accomplished what the team’s he remained for 14 seasons before moving previous nine head coaches could not in to Cleveland. unlikely savior in a not- leading the Browns to the playoff s. Cleve- “At no point in my life prior to getting land’s subsequent postseason win over into the NFL was I thinking I was going yet-40-year-old former the Steelers was its fi rst since the fran- to be an NFL coach, let alone a head chise’s rebirth in 1999 (former owner Art coach,” Stefanski says. “I was playing, Ivy League safety. Modell had controversially relocated the and then all of a sudden, I couldn’t play team, founded in 1945, to Baltimore in anymore, so now what? I do think long 1995), making Stefanski a runaway choice and hard about those times at Penn and search, and was hired as Cleveland’s as the NFL AP Coach of the Year. how they shaped me.” head coach on January 12, 2020, at the Now, with a young and exciting nucle- age of 37—which made him one of the us led by Mayfi eld, the Browns seem to lthough Kevin has looked to his fa- youngest head coaches in the NFL. be a legitimate Super Bowl contender ther’s career as inspiration, Ed has Stefanski’s introductory press confer- for the 2021 season. And a fan base been equally inspired by how his ence in Cleveland was “a very proud day scarred by Modell’s betrayal and decades son has navigated the professional for the entire family,” says Ed, who at- of losing just might have found an un- sports world with such a level tended it along with Kevin’s mother, his likely savior in a not-yet-40-year-old head—theA same trait he fi rst noticed three brothers, and his wife and their former Ivy League safety. “We’re focused some 30 years ago. “He doesn’t get too three children. The room laughed when on trying to do something special for high and he doesn’t get too low,” Ed says. Stefanski promised his kids a dog and a these fans,” Stefanski says. “And I tell you “And that’s a good trait when you have to trip to Disney World because of the dif- what, it’s a unique fan base.” manage a lot of personnel.” It’s also what fi cult move from Minnesota, and also Stefanski got a small taste of Cleve- helped Kevin remain on the Minnesota when he had each media member tell land’s passion for the Browns—which Vikings staff under three diff erent head him if they preferred the East Side or his father, a lifelong Eagles fan, insists coaches, which Ed notes from fi rsthand West Side of Cleveland before asking a is unmatched even by Philadelphians— experience is “very diffi cult in our busi- question. But there was also an air of but with COVID-19 limiting attendance ness” since incoming coaches or general cynicism about whether Stefanski could in 2020 (among other pandemic mea- managers typically “want their own peo- actually be the one to change the for- sures that made his fi rst season as head ple.” Not only that, but he also took les- tunes of a franchise that had cycled coach extra challenging, his own diag- sons from all of the coaches he served through seven head coaches in the last nosis included) he’s eager to see a full under while moving up the ladder: from decade and hadn’t made the playoff s stadium this fall and winter. That in- assistant to the head coach, to assistant since 2002. “With all due respect,” one cludes the section in the bleachers coach, to tight ends coach, reporter said, “we’ve heard many other known as the “,” where fans to running backs coach, to quarterbacks coaches say the same thing, undeterred, wear outlandish costumes and yell for coach, to off ensive coordinator. coming in here very, very confi dent. hours straight, embodying the city’s re- Despite having been a college defen- What makes you diff erent?” silience and blue-collar identity—some- sive back, Stefanski proved to be a gifted All Stefanski could do was respond with thing Stefanski’s idol, Coach Lake, once off ensive play-caller, and as the Vikings typical coachspeak. “We’re not looking knew something about. had some success he became a hot com- backward,” he said at the time. “We’re “That Dawg Pound mentality has been modity around the NFL. In 2019 he was moving forward.” But he delivered on his passed down by many generations,” Ste- a fi nalist for the Browns head coaching promise by unlocking star young quar- fanski says. “For me, I see it around position but lost out to . terback Baker Mayfi eld’s potential and town, I hear it around town. And now When Kitchens was fi red after just one making it clear to the team’s dynamic I’m looking forward to having a full ex- season, Stefanski had a leg up at the be- supporting cast that “personality is wel- perience and seeing what that feels like ginning of another Browns coaching come [but] your production is required.” … what that sounds like.”

48 THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE Sep | Oct 2021 Brandon Copeland, left, and Greg Van Roten have both been playing professional football for the last decade, often bouncing from team to team.

The Glory ‘I feel like I’m just as big as (especially when he worked these guys and just as talent- out for the Vikings, who ed,’” he recalls. But it’s rare “went with a younger guy, and the Grind to make the jump from the even though I was 23.”) Ivy League to the NFL, and The next year, he decided to The former Penn football stars playing Van Roten wasn’t selected in play in the Canadian Football in the NFL have “have fed off each other.” the 2012 NFL Draft. A home- League (CFL), signing with made website and highlight the Toronto Argonauts. It tape caught the attention of was a culture shock. The pay reg Van Roten W’12 and ton graduates and former the Jets and San Diego Char- wasn’t great, and neither Brandon Copeland W’13 Penn football teammates, but gers, who invited him to were the facilities. And he have circled the date. they’ve also charted similar their rookie minicamps. He had to quickly learn the dif- October 10. The New paths in the NFL, going from had to miss an accounting fi - ferent rules and nuances of York Jets versus the undrafted free agents to reli- nal and his Wharton gradua- the CFL game. “When I fi rst GAtlanta Falcons. London, able veterans. And London, tion to attend both, but he got up there,” he says, “I was England. where games are occasional- didn’t make either team. His like, ‘Man, what am I doing? If all goes to plan, it will ly held as part of the NFL In- persistence paid off , howev- I’m in Canada. I don’t know mark the fi rst time in their ternational Series, would be er, when the Green Bay anybody. It’s a diff erent NFL careers that Van Roten, a fi tting place for them to Packers signed him ahead of game.’ I was very homesick.” an off ensive lineman for the meet, since their football the 2012 season. “Being un- But he stuck it out for two Jets, will face off against Co- journeys have taken them all drafted is diffi cult,” he says. years and played well enough peland, a Falcons linebacker. over the map. “I think Cope “We’re not an afterthought that he received good off ers to “Every time I’m about to and I have fed off each other,” but it feels pretty close to remain in the CFL in 2017. play Greg, I end up having an Van Roten says. “And we’re that sometimes.” While pondering what to do injury,” says Copeland, who lucky we have each other.” Van Roten played in 10 next, he got a valuable piece of signed with Atlanta in Van Roten began to think games for the Packers be- advice from a coach, who March. “God willing, this the NFL was a possibility a tween 2012 and 2013 but was asked him, “Was your dream year is the year. I’ll make decade ago after winning released in February of 2014. to play in the CFL your entire sure I tread lightly before back-to-back Ivy League He was signed by the Seahawks life?” Van Roten also followed that game in London.” championships in 2009 and but cut before the 2014 sea- closely as Copeland was mak- If the two line up opposite 2010 and earning fi rst-team son, leaving him without a ing a living in the NFL, moving each other, it might feel like All-Ivy honors in 2010 and team and the realization that from the to they’re looking into a mirror. 2011. Looking through the his pro football career could the Detroit Lions [“The Opti- Not only are they both Whar- 2012 draft class, “I was like, be over after just two years mistic Realist,” Nov|Dec 2016].

Photos courtesy Atlanta Falcons and New York Jets Sep | Oct 2021 THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE 49 Justin Watson shows off the Lombardi Trophy with his parents Terri and Doug after winning the Super Bowl with Tampa Bay in February.

“I was like, ‘I can get back be- ber, causing him to miss the cause he’s still doing it,’” Van second half of the 2020 sea- Roten says. son. (Between stints with the So at 27, he returned to the Lions and Patriots, he played US and got a workout with for the New York Jets for two the Buff alo Bills (who signed years, just missing out on be- someone else at his position ing teammates with Van Ro- instead) and then the Caroli- ten, who signed with the Jets na Panthers. Recognizing the season after Copeland that if the Panthers didn’t left.) Copeland called it an sign him “it probably wasn’t “honor” to play for a recent going to happen” at all, the dynasty like the Patriots but former Ivy League and CFL had to move on this past off - lineman surprised a lot of season, inking a one-year people by making Carolina’s contract with the Falcons— opening day roster. “Who is his sixth professional team, Greg Van Roten and how in just like Van Roten. the heck did he make the “Greg set the blueprint for Panthers?” blared a headline me,” says Copeland, who in in the September 4, 2017, edi- Atlanta will be reunited tion of the Charlotte Observ- with another former Penn er. “My mom says I’m tena- football captain, Brian Grif- met on their fi rst day at Bay Buccaneers. “J-Wat, cious—a dog that latches on fi n W’91, the Falcons’ direc- Penn) and their two-year-old hoisting a trophy, that’s and doesn’t let go,” Van Ro- tor of coaching operations. son Bryson nicely once he re- what we’re all doing it for,” ten explained in that same “I’m a veteran now so I feel a tires from football. But the Copeland says. One of the Observer article. “I like to little bit more comfortable 30-year-old linebacker is not most accomplished wide re- prove people wrong, and with my place on the roster. yet ready for that day to ceivers in Ivy League histo- that’s pretty much been my But I’m still the guy that was come. “Ultimately we under- ry, Watson was the second M.O. my entire football ca- cut and told he wasn’t good stand this is a moment and former Penn football player reer.” He continued to sur- enough and who’s been hurt an NFL career doesn’t last to win the title, after Jim prise people by ascending to multiple times. So I under- forever,” he says. “So we’ve Finn W’99 did it with the the starting left guard posi- stand how none of this stuff got to make moves and move in 2008. tion, starting every game in is promised.” The idea that around and do what we need Though Watson didn’t make 2018 and the fi rst 11 of 2019 an NFL team can cut you at to do.” Van Roten, who at 31 Tampa Bay’s gameday roster before a turf toe injury side- any time was the foundation now fi nds himself as one of for the Super Bowl (and, lined him. of the money-management the oldest and most experi- more recently, had knee sur- After a strange free agency advice he gives to team- enced players on the Jets, gery in July, putting his period at the beginning of mates—which he developed agrees. “I love the game,” he 2021 season prospects in the pandemic, Van Roten into a fi nancial literacy says. “And I think that’s why doubt), he “did help his signed a three-year contract course he taught at Penn you put up with how physi- team get to that point,” says with the Jets—the Long Is- [“Professor Cope,” Jul|Aug cally and mentally demand- Penn football coach Ray land native’s favorite team 2019] and an online “Life ing it is as you get older and Priore. “And to be on that growing up—but again spent 101” course open to anybody start a family and have kids.” stage three years out of col- some time on the injured re- (life101.io). The ultimate goal, of lege is pretty awesome.” serve list last season. Transforming into “Profes- course, is winning a Super “It’s pretty wild,” adds Van Injuries have also made Co- sor Cope” has been one of Bowl—something Justin Roten. “It’s cool for a Penn guy peland’s NFL journey more several off -the-fi eld entrepre- Watson W’18, the third to get drafted and win the Su- challenging. He tore his pec- neurial endeavors for Cope- Wharton alum playing in per Bowl and play with some- toral muscle with the Lions land, which he hopes will set the NFL last season, accom- one like Tom Brady. If one of in 2017 and with the New up him and his wife Taylor plished in February with us makes it, we all make it. England Patriots last Octo- Copeland W’13 (whom he Tom Brady and the Tampa That’s what it feels like.” —DZ

50 THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE Sep | Oct 2021 Photo courtesy Justin Watson’s Instagram