Mudd on your line - Browns Daily Dose

MUDD ON YOUR LINE

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

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By STEVE KING

We started with special teams assistant coaches.

Then we went to defensive assistant coaches.

And finally, it was offensive assistant coaches.

That covers both sides of the ball – and then some.

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Using the Mount Rushmore formula of four coaches per side of the ball, that’s 12 assistant coaches. But that’s not nearly enough to do justice to all of the great assistant coaches the Browns have had through the years. It just isn’t.

So, we have to add one more Mount Rushmore. We should add more than that, actually, but one will have to do. We’ll call it the Mount Rushmore for other Browns assistant coaches – offensive, defensive and special teams. These men, three of whom coached offense while the other one handled special teams, are just too good to leave out.

But first things first.

Just like I almost added Paul Brown – yes, THAT Paul Brown – to the Mount Rushmore of Browns special teams assistant coaches, I almost added Gary Danielson – yes, THAT Gary Danielson – to this Mount Rushmore of other Browns assistant coaches. Because just like Brown, the iconic head coach, was also the team’s special teams coordinator, Danielson, who was the backup quarterback to Bernie Kosar, was also the unofficial quasi-offensive coordinator under Lindy Infante and Kosar’s unofficial quarterbacks coach and professional confidante. Every time Kosar came to the sideline, the guy he immediately sought out – if that guy wasn’t already immediately seeking him out – was Danielson. He had a lot – a whole lot – to do – with Kosar becoming one of the best quarterbacks of his era.

But I didn’t add Brown because it would have pushed a very worthy candidate off Mount Rushmore, and I didn’t add Danielson for the same reason.

The four men who did make the Mount Rushmore of other Browns assistant coaches are Howard Mudd, who was with the Browns from 1983-88, Rod Hummenuik (1975-82), Scott O’Brien (1991-95) and Dub Jones (1963-67).

Here’s a little about them:

HOWARD MUDD

If Fritz Heisler was the best offensive line coach in Browns history – and he was – then Mudd is a solid No. 2. Working as the franchise transitioned from the Kardiac Kids era to the Kosar era, he did an outstanding job. He was one of the best in the game during his time in Cleveland.

ROD HUMMENUIK

Just like Mudd, Hummenuik, also an offensive line coach, transitioned two eras in Browns history, first working under head coach Forrest Gregg and then remaining for most of the Kardiac Kids era. He, too, was well-respected in the NFL as the line was almost completely rebuilt. The line gave quarterback Brian Sipe plenty of time to throw in that magical 1980 season, while at the same time opening holes for running backs Mike Pruitt, Greg Pruitt and Cleo Miller.

SCOTT O’BRIEN

All those great assistant coaches on head coach Bill Belichick’s staff in the first half of the 1990s, and now we find yet another one in O’Brien. The Browns had great special teams during that time – who can forget Eric Metcalf’s two punt returns for touchdowns of 75 and 91 yards to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1993? – and O’Brien orchestrated all that, and them. He was named the NFL Special Teams Coach of the Year in 1994.

DUB JONES

Having already made one Mount Rushmore for Browns utility running backs during a career that went from 1948-55, he makes another one after having been the offensive coordinator – or offensive coach, as the job was called back then – for those great Cleveland teams in the mid-1960s, including in that NFL championship season of 1964. The Browns had a lot of offensive weapons then, and Jones found a way to blend all their talents together in just the right way.

NEXT: Head coaches.

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