Mike Bloomgren last coached offensive line in 2017. He was fired in October as Rice head coach after a 24-52 record in 7 seasons.
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
Takeaways from Browns’ doings …
The Browns made an unconventional hire in naming Mike Bloomgren their new offensive line coach.
Bloomgren, 47, was the head coach at Rice University the last seven years. He was fired in October after a 2-6 record this year and 24-52 overall.
Before taking on the challenges at Rice, Bloomgren served seven years under coach David Shaw at Stanford University. Bloomgren was Shaw’s offensive line coach his first two seasons and then branched out to offensive coordinator.
Bloomgren’s only experience in the NFL came with the Jets from 2007 to 2010.
He started as a quality control assistant under coach Eric Mangini and finished as assistant offensive coordinator under Rex Ryan. In three of those seasons, Bill Callahan was the Jets offensive line coach, so there’s some exposure to the wide-zone scheme that the Browns are expected to reinstall after an ill-fated, one-year respite from it.
In their announcement of the hire, Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said, “Mike has a wealth of knowledge and is extremely bright. In addition to his NFL experience, he has worked in a number of pro-style offenses on the college level. He has proven to be successful as a teacher and motivator, which will be vital for our offensive line room. We are excited to add Mike to our coaching staff.”
Bloomgren said he was excited to join the Browns because their commitment “is everything I want to be a part of.”
He said in the announcement statement, “I think as a coach, we exist for the players and that’s always going to be the case. I also think it’s our job to give them clear direction of how to do things. I know there’s a Hall of Fame player here in Joel Bitonio. I think there are some really good pieces, and we have to see exactly how they can fit and see exactly how this offense gets formed, but I am excited about the potential with that group.”
Coordinator interviews to heat up
So far, the Browns have interviewed only an in-house candidate for their vacancy at offensive coordinator, Tommy Rees. Rees joined the Browns as tight ends coach in 2024 after serving as offensive coordinator under Brian Kelly at Notre Dame and Nick Saban at Alabama.
A team source said the Browns are lining up a couple other interviews this week. The club intends to confirm names of candidates after they are interviewed.
Her phone did ring
The Browns granted the Tennessee Titans permission to interview Catherine Hickman for their vacant general manager position. Hickman has been one of Andrew Berry’s two assistant general managers the past three years. It is believed to be Hickman's first interview for an NFL GM position.