We Speak Coaches

Falcons Turn to a Two-Time Coach of the Year: Kevin Stefanski Named Atlanta’s 20th Head Coach

Published

9 months ago

January 17, 2026

The Atlanta Falcons have handed their future to a coach who has already won the league’s top coaching honor twice. Atlanta named Kevin Stefanski its head coach on January 17, 2026, making the 43-year-old the 20th head coach in franchise history after he met with team leadership, including owner and chairman Arthur M. Blank, in Atlanta that night.

Stefanski succeeds Raheem Morris, who was not retained following the 2025 season, and he will report to Matt Ryan, the team’s president of football. In the announcement, Ryan described Stefanski as a lead-by-example leader with a clear vision built on fundamentals, toughness, accountability and a player-driven culture, while Blank praised his vision, focus, demeanor and plan for building a staff. Stefanski said he was “beyond thrilled” to take the job and that work would begin immediately on assembling his coaching staff.

He arrives from Cleveland, where he coached the Browns from 2020 through the end of the 2025 season and compiled a 45-56 record. Stefanski was named the Associated Press NFL Coach of the Year in 2020, when he led Cleveland to an 11-5 record, the franchise’s first playoff appearance since 2002 and its first playoff win since 1994. He won the award again in 2023, when the Browns finished 11-6 and returned to the playoffs. The Browns have reached the postseason three times since the franchise returned to Cleveland — two of them under Stefanski — and his Cleveland teams posted three top-six finishes in rushing yards per game.

Before Cleveland, Stefanski spent 14 years on the Minnesota Vikings’ staff, rising from assistant to the head coach to offensive coordinator while working under Brad Childress, Leslie Frazier and Mike Zimmer. As a player, he was a defensive back at the University of Pennsylvania from 2000 to 2004, a two-time All-Ivy League pick and the Quakers’ Freshman of the Year. He and his wife, Michelle, are Philadelphia natives with three children.

The staff build Stefanski promised on day one was completed in March, when the Falcons finalized a 23-coach staff that retained defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich and running backs coach Michael Pitre and added offensive coordinator Tommy Rees and offensive line coach Bill Callahan.

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Kevin Cash Steers the Low-Payroll Rays Back to the World Series

Published

4 days ago

October 21, 2026

We Speak Media

The Tampa Bay Rays are going back to the World Series, and they got there the way Kevin Cash teams always seem to get there: underpaid, underrated and better coached than the payroll says they should be. Cash and the Rays clinched the franchise’s third American League pennant on October 19, 2026, beating the Cleveland Guardians 7-3 in Game 6 of the ALCS at Tropicana Field, with two-run homers by trade acquisitions Junior Caminero and Yandy Díaz sealing the win.

Tampa Bay finished the regular season 98-64 with the American League’s best record, and now faces the Milwaukee Brewers for the franchise’s first World Series title. The Associated Press describes the club Cash steered there as a roster built the Rays’ way: Tampa Bay opened the season with a $90.5 million payroll that ranked 26th in the majors, only three players on its 26-man ALCS roster were drafted by the team, 16 arrived in trades and four were free-agent signings.

Cash has managed the Rays since 2015 and is a two-time AL Manager of the Year over the course of his career. The AP describes the former backup catcher — a.183 career hitter over nearly a decade — as a steady presence who blends analytics with gut instinct and leans heavily on his coaching staff’s input before and during games.

That staff’s touch showed most clearly on the mound. ALCS MVP Freddy Peralta, acquired from the Mets on August 2 after going 5-9 with a 4.99 ERA in New York, went 5-2 with a 3.25 ERA for Tampa Bay, was named AL Pitcher of the Month for September and went 2-0 with a 0.75 ERA in the ALCS; Peralta publicly credited pitching coach Kyle Snyder, bullpen coach Jorge Moncada and bullpen catcher Charlie Valerio for his turnaround. Closer Bryan Baker, who had three career saves in four seasons when the Rays traded for him in July 2025, was developed by Snyder’s staff into a 41-save closer who added five more saves in seven scoreless postseason appearances.