Born on May 8, 1982, Kevin Lawrence Stefanski is an American football coach who currently serves as head coach of the National Football League (NFL) Cleveland Browns.[1] From 2006 to 2019, he worked as an assistant coach for the Minnesota Vikings, where he ended his NFL career as the offensive coordinator in his last two seasons.[2] In 2020, Stefanski departed from Minnesota to take a head coaching position with the Browns, where he guided the franchise to its first postseason berth since 2002. After the season, he was voted NFL Coach of the Year, making history as the first Browns coach to win the trophy since 1976 and the first since the team’s 1999 resurgence as an expansion team. In 2023, he guided the Browns to their second postseason trip and victory.
Stefanski earned his diplomas from the University of Pennsylvania in 2004 as well as St. Joseph’s Preparatory School in 2000. Stefanski was the Quakers Freshman of the Year in 2000 while he was a defensive back at Penn. He was selected twice for the All-Ivy League and played for the only Penn team to go unbeaten in the decade.
In 2006, Stefanski joined the Minnesota Vikings to serve as head coach Brad Childress’s assistant.[3] He was elevated to assistant quarterbacks coach in 2009 and remained in that role until the 2013 season. He had experience coaching quarterbacks like Christian Ponder and Brett Favre. Stefanski survived three coaching changes with the Vikings, including Leslie Frazier, Mike Zimmer, and Chich Dress.
Stefanski was elevated to head coach of the Vikings quarterbacks in 2017 following Scott Turner’s firing, and he helped turn the team into the NFL’s 10th-highest scoring offense. Under Stefanski, quarterback Case Keenum enjoyed his greatest season with just seven interceptions and 22 touchdown passes.[4] He had previously worked with the tight ends in 2014 and 2015, as well as the running backs in 2016.
The Vikings turned down a request from the New York Giants to interview and hire Stefanski as their new offensive coordinator following the 2017 campaign.[5]
Stefanski was named the temporary offensive coordinator after offensive coordinator John DeFilippo was sacked after the Seattle Seahawks defeated the team 21–7.[6] Stefanski was elevated to the position of offensive coordinator full-time on January 9, 2019.