Holmgren Talks About the Browns' New Assistants

Cleveland Browns team president Mike Holmgren joined Vic Carucci on Cleveland Browns Daily Wednesday night for about 15 minutes to talk about some of the recent staff changes for the team. Here is my recap on the topics he touched upon:

On Brad Childress - When it came to offensive coordinator Brad Childress, he said what you would pretty much expect. Childress had strong ties to the current regime, and Holmgren felt that he had to deal with an unusual set of circumstances toward the end of his reign as the Vikings' head coach.

On Calling Plays - Holmgren did not elaborate on whether Pat Shurmur would continue to call plays this season, but the way he was speaking seemed to lean that way. Holmgren commented on how it is important to have several assistants (on offense) to act as a sounding board throughout the week, collaborating on ideas or particular plays for a certain week. Holmgren said he always made sure he had the final say on what would go into the gameplan, but that he later learned that his assistants secretly bragged whenever one of their plays got accepted over the rest of the assistants.

On the Secondary Coach - Holmgren then moved on to talk about new defensive backs coach Tim Hauck, who was a former player for Holmgren (and was also coached by Dick Jauron). Holmgren noted that he had never seen a player get more out of his ability than Hauck; he made the football team because he was a hard worker, smart, and an overachiever. That's the element that he hopes he is able to pass down to his players as a coach.

Regarding the Offseason - It's great to go into a regular offseason as opposed to the lockout. Having a calendar set and being able to plan everything out is what coaches are meant to do. The team needs to take another step forward in the rebuilding effort this offseason, particularly with the draft. If they continue to draft the way they have the past two years, they hope to take that leap toward winning some of those close-type-of-games that they lost last year.

On Colt McCoy - He has no residual effects from the concussion play; he appears to be fine at this point. He knows that McCoy will be the hardest worker this offseason to get ready for next year.