CLEVELAND - The Browns have always been a part of Rob Chudzinski's life. Now, he's the man in charge.
Chudzinski, who spent the past two seasons as Carolina's offensive co-ordinator, was introduced as the club's sixth fulltime coach on Friday, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the 44-year-old who as a kid pretended he played tight end for the Browns during games in his backyard in Toledo, Ohio.
"It is a dream come true," Chudzinski said. "I can't wait to get started."
Chudzinski will inherit a young roster he'll try to develop into a contender with the Browns, who have lost at least 11 games in each of the past five seasons and made the playoffs only once since 1999.
Chudzinski previously worked as an assistant with the Browns, most recently as their offensive co-ordinator in 2008. Although he has no previous head coaching experience, owner Jimmy Haslam and CEO Joe Banner are confident they hired the best possible candidate available to turn their club into a consistent winner.
"I would not miss the chance for the world." Chudzinski said. "We're going to win here."
The Browns hauled their search to find the 14th coach in franchise history to Arizona and back. They talked to high-profile college coaches, NFL assistants and a fired pro coach who took a team to a Super Bowl.
None of them was hired.
Instead, Chudzinski became their pick.
"I believe we came back with the best coach for the Cleveland Browns," said Haslam, who flew to Charlotte, N.C. on Thursday night with Banner to offer Chudzinski the job. "He is one of the brightest young coaches in the business."
Chudzinski's first move will be to hire his staff. He will immediately meet with the assistants currently working for the Browns. Chudzinski would not comment on any possible candidates to become his co-ordinators. There are reports he is considering former San Diego coach Norv Turner to run his offence. Chudzinski worked for Turner with the Chargers.
"I have a plan in place," he said. "We're going to get a great staff. We have a young group of players. This is going to be about the process. Lots of people are worried about the end result, but this is going to be the right process to get us where we want to be."
Now that they've hired their coach, Haslam and Banner will focus on finding a new general manager to help pick players for Chudzinski, who will be involved in finding the GM.
The new coach "Chud," as he's known to players and friends worked with the Browns' tight ends in 2004 and was their offensive co-ordinator in 2007, when the team won 10 games their most since an expansion rebirth in 1999. He was released when Romeo Crennel was fired in 2008.
Chudzinski said when he walked off the field after the final game that season he knew he would be coming back to Cleveland "someday, somehow."
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