Kevin Stefanski and Browns Name Callie Brownson First Female Chief of Staff In NFL History
By Michael Luciano
The Cleveland Browns went outside of the traditional box when they hired 37-year-old Kevin Stefanski as their head coach, and Stefanski himself went even further out of the box when he hired his chief of staff.
Stefanski has named Callie Brownson as his chief of staff. She spent last season as an intern with the Buffalo Bills.
#Browns announce Callie Brownson is the new chief of staff for coach Kevin Stefanski. She will have role similar to the one Stefanski had in 2006 under then-Vikings coach Brad Childress.
— Nate Ulrich (@ByNateUlrich) January 31, 2020
The 31-year-old Brownson, who played for the Women's Football Alliance's DC Divas until 2017, became the first full-time female coach in Division 1 football when she served as a quality control coach for Dartmouth in 2018 and 2019. Following her successful stint with the Big Green, Sean McDermott hired her as a coaching intern with the Bills last year.
Brownson is now the first woman to earn a chief of staff role, which is a huge leap forward in the movement to pump more female coaches into the NFL ranks.
New Browns Kevin Stefanski has hired Callie Brownson as his Chief of Staff -- I believe this is the first time a woman has been hired for this NFL role. Brownson recently worked as intern in Buffalo, and was previously an asst coach at Dartmouth.
— Lindsay Jones (@bylindsayhjones) January 31, 2020
With the likes of Katie Sowers making it to the Super Bowl, as well as Bruce Arians' initiative to help shatter some glass ceilings in Tampa Bay, women coaching in the NFL is becoming completely commonplace, which is a major step in the right direction as compared to just a few years ago.