Four great assistant coaches - Browns Daily Dose

FOUR GREAT ASSISTANT COACHES

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the third in a series of stories about the Mount Rushmore-worthy people, places and things in Browns history. Today we look at defensive assistant coaches.

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By STEVE KING

Offense.

It’s the side of the ball where all but two of the current 15 Browns players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, were stationed.

And when wide receiver Mac Speedie goes in as part of the Hall’s Class of 2020, it will be 14 of the 16 players having played offense. When left tackle Joe Thomas is enshrined sometime later this decade, it will be 15 of 17.

Yes, other than middle guard Bill Willis and defensive end Len Ford, the HOF does not include any Browns defensive players.

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But that is not to say the Browns are without any additional strong, viable, worthy candidates for the HOF, for indeed they do have some. Why those candidates haven’t turned into enshrinees is anyone’s guess. I have always surmised that the plethora of Browns offensive players in the Hall has been so great that it has overshadowed the candidacies of the defensive guys in the eyes of the voters. In addition, there might well be a reluctance by those voters to put “too many” Browns into the HOF.

Whatever the case, having had good defensive players – and good defenses — for many seasons means there have also been good defensive assistant coaches. And they are the purpose of this piece, and this question: Who makes up the Mount Rushmore of Browns defensive assistant coaches?

The quartet includes Nick Saban, who was with the Browns from 1991 to ’94, Dave Adolph (1979-84, 1986-88), Howard Brinker (1952-73) and Ed Ulinski (1954-70).

Here’s some more about them:

NICK SABAN

He came to the Browns – and new head coach Bill Belichick – known mostly as having been the head coach at Toledo the previous season, in 1990, and, 18 years before that, having been a defensive back on a Kent State team that made one of the school’s rare bowl trips under head coach Don James, the brother of Cleveland Browns Legend defensive back Tommy James. Other than, his career moves – other than having been an assistant at Ohio State – weren’t causing much of a buzz in Northeast Ohio. But right from the start, he was an outstanding defensive coordinator, the best in the modern history of the Browns. His first signature moment came halfway through the 1992 when his defense, beset with injuries in the secondary and having to sign players off the street to fill starting spots, stymied one of the best passing offenses in the NFL en route to a 24-14 road victory over the Houston Patriots. Two seasons later, again in Texas, this time at Dallas, his defense held in check the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Cowboys, including stopping them inches short of the goal line and the winning touchdown on the game’s final play in a 19-14 victory that did much to catapult the Browns into a wild-card playoff spot. The 204 points allowed that year is still a Browns record for a 16-game season.

DAVE ADOLPH

A product of Mogadore High School and the University of Akron, he was the defensive coordinator of the Browns in nine seasons over two stints separated by a year. The Browns did well throughout, making it to the playoffs five times, and to the AFC Championship Game twice.

HOWARD BRINKER

You may have never heard of him, but he was to the Cleveland defenses way back when, what Saban was to them in the early 1990s. Only Brinker did it for much, much, much longer – 22 seasons, to be exactly. Those great, but unheralded and under-appreciated defenses through the 1950s? Brinker coached them. The 1964 defense that overwhelmed the heavy favorite Baltimore Colts 27-0 in the NFL Championship Game? Brinker coached it. The defenses that helped the Browns get to three more NFL titles in the next five years? Brinker coached them? He was a native of Canal Fulton, Ohio and played at Massillon High School for Paul Brown, for whom he worked for the first decade of his time with the Browns. An Ohio guy through and through, just like Brown, he also played at Miami (Ohio) and was head coach at Steubenville High School.

ED ULINSKI

He served a variety of roles with the Browns over a 35-year period. He was the starting left guard for all four of their All-America Football Conference championship teams from 1946-49 and then returned in 1954 to begin serving as an assistant coach, working with the linebackers under Brinker through 1970 for most of that time. The following year, he finished his career by spending 14 seasons as the Browns’ first film coordinator.

NEXT: Offensive assistant coaches.

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