Browns Quickly Make Big Hire to Replace Fired Coach

The Cleveland Browns wasted no time changing their coaching staff after their Week 18 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. A day after their season ended, the Browns fired offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey and offensive line coach Andy Dickerson.

Both Dorsey and Dickerson were only with the team for one year as they were replacing Alex Van Pelt and Bill Callahan. With the coaching carousel already in full force, the Browns realize they must find their new OC and OL coach soon before the dominoes fall around the league.

On Wednesday, the Browns announced that they’ve hired former Rice University head coach Mike Bloomgren. Bloomgren spent seven seasons at Rice as their head coach (2018-2024), leading the Owls to back-to-back bowl game appearances in 2022 and 2023.

While most of his recent experience has been at the college level, Bloomgren does have NFL experience on his resume. 

The former Rice head coach joined the New York Jets coaching staff in 2007 as an offensive quality control coach under the direction of Brian Schottenheimer and Bill Callahan. Callahan served as the Browns OL coach for four seasons (2020-23) before taking the same role with the Tennessee Titans this season.

In 2009, Bloomgren received an offensive assistant role under then-head coach Rex Ryan, and then in 2010, he became an assistant offensive coordinator. 

After his NFL stint, Bloomgren worked at Stanford University in 2011. He was the running game coordinator and offensive line coach for two seasons. He was ultimately promoted to offensive coordinator in 2013. 

Bloomgren has a tough task ahead of him as the Browns’ offensive line was a massive failure in 2024. The Browns’ offensive line allowed the second-most sacks per game (3.9) and struggled to help the ground game. Cleveland’s rushing attack only averaged 94.6 yards per game (29th in the NFL).

The good news for the new position coach is that things can only go up for this unit. Cleveland has a talented offensive line, which features Joel Bitonio, Jack Conklin, Ethan Pocic, Wyatt Teller, and Dawand Jones.

More Browns news and analysis: