Chiefs turn to Crennel’s experience
Coaching veteran says time in Cleveland, though unsuccessful, taught him valuable lessons.
By KENT BABB
The Kansas City Star
“I accept the challenge,” Crennel said at the team facility.
But it’s Crennel’s only experience as a head coach that the Chiefs hope he learned most from. During a four-year stint with the Cleveland Browns, Crennel was
24-40. He was seen as a fair and measured but ultimately unsuccessful head coach. The Browns fired him in 2008, a year before he joined the Chiefs as defensive coordinator.
It was a mostly forgettable time, but Crennel said Monday that it was valuable.
Smith, who referred to Crennel as a “father figure,” respected his former coach enough that he rejoined Crennel last year with the Chiefs. Smith occasionally asked Crennel if he’d like to be a head coach again, and he said he would. Crennel will be one of the NFL’s oldest head coaches — only New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin, 65, is older than the
64-year-old Crennel — but Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt said Monday that age didn’t matter.
“ ‘Romeo, why do you want to be head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs?’ ” Hunt recalled asking Crennel during his job interview, followed by his response: “ ‘Because I want to win a Super Bowl as a head coach.’ That spoke volumes to me, and that’s the kind of person that I want leading the franchise.”
On Monday, Crennel didn’t make many promises. He sidestepped questions about the Chiefs’ timetable to compete for a Super Bowl, who might play quarterback next season, and how his coaching staff might be constructed. He did promise one thing:
fairness.
.”