Most NFL coaching candidates would not be happy to be passed over for head coaching positions. Kevin Stefanski was in that camp in 2019, but looking back on it, he thinks it ended up being great for him.
Stefanski was a finalist for the Browns job in 2019, but the team ultimately hired Freddie Kitchens instead. That meant Stefanski remained the offensive coordinator in Minnesota, but also meant he got to work with offensive guru Gary Kubiak in 2020, which was huge for him. It also taught Stefanski more about the modified West Coast system run by Kubiak and some of his proteges.
“For years, that scheme has been very hard on defenses, when you talk about defending the run game and the play-action game,” Stefanski told Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com. “And I had never been in that scheme specifically. I’ve been in other ones, and I had my own thoughts about the run game and play-action game, but to be able to be exposed to coach Kub and the different nuance that he had into those plays was incredible for me.”
Stefanski spent only one year working with Kubiak, but clearly picked up an enormous amount during it.
“You can measure experiences in time, or you can measure them in impact,” Stefanski said. “And that was an extremely impactful period of time.”
It worked out fine for Stefanski, who landed the Browns job a year later and led them all the way to the AFC Divisional round. Kubiak, on the other hand, took over Stefanski’s old job and struggled to get the best out of the Minnesota offense before retiring after the season. It seems things turned out perfectly for Stefanski in the end.
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