CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Browns hired Todd Monken as their new head coach on Wednesday.

Monken has only been a head coach in the college ranks, for three years at Southern Mississippi. While he went 13-25, he was able to turn the program around from being winless the year before his arrival to winning nine games in his third season.

He has also been an NFL offensive coordinator for seven seasons across three organizations in the Buccaneers, Browns and, most recently, the Ravens.

We know Monken is a great offensive mind with the success he had not just with the Ravens, but also helping Georgia win back-to-back national championships in 2021 and 2022 as the offensive coordinator under Kirby Smart.

But what else can we learn about Monken?

Here’s a look back at some of the notable things he has said over the years and what they can each tell us about him.

1. Monken knows the importance of winning

Pro sports, and football in particular, are about wins above all else. Even during his time at Georgia, Monken understood the stakes.

As Monken said prior to the 2022 College Football Playoff semifinal vs. Ohio State, winning is what keeps you in the job.

“Let’s not kid ourselves about what we do,” Monken said. “I’m paid to score points and run the offense. And that relationship only goes so far, and I don’t want it any different. (Smart’s) my boss. My job is to work my (rear end) off for us to be as good as we can on offense. The moment I don’t see it that way is the moment I’m wrong. This is a business.

“I’ve gone to organizations that say, ‘This is a family.’ This isn’t a family. You’re going to fire me if we suck. So don’t say it’s a family, OK? This is the way it is. It’s what we choose to do. This is a business, and I get it that way. And my job is to do the best job I can for Kirby Smart and our players.”

It’s an approach that is clearly no-nonsense, and he brings it to a Browns team that has gone 8-24 in its last two seasons and in need of a massive overhaul on offense.

2. He has a flexible mindset

One thing that has been clear with Monken’s philosophy is that he doesn’t care how an offense has success, but that it succeeds within certain parameters.

As he discussed in his introductory press conference with the Ravens in 2023, all offenses have the same goals but can go about them in different ways.

“You take that and what you realize is that good football is surrounded by don’t turn it over, be explosive, score touchdowns in the red zone, be good on third downs, don’t have loss yardage plays and athletic quarterbacks that make off-schedule plays. The rest of it just falls into that. That’s the analytical part. How do we get to that model?” Monken said.

“I don’t care if it’s with a fullback, without a fullback, four wide, three wide. My cousin (Army head coach Jeff Monken) at Army runs a triple-option; that works. Now, you can only run what you know. You can’t just make stuff up. It’s fun to do that, but usually it doesn’t work. The reality is that there are a lot of ways to skin a cat, but still the principles of how you win are the same.”

The Browns struggled to find an identity on offense the last two seasons. While they need help with personnel, Monken’s words suggest his philosophy on offense will be fluid.

3. Monken values a mobile quarterback

One common denominator in Monken’s last two stops was how effective his offenses were with mobile quarterbacks. His offense won two national titles led by a mobile quarterback in Stetson Bennett, and then in Baltimore he helped Lamar Jackson win his second MVP in 2023.

When he was hired by the Ravens prior to the 2023 season, he was asked about the college philosophy he hoped to bring to the NFL. Monken’s answer involved the value of having a mobile quarterback in your offense.

“But the point is what you’re having to look at, there are more and more athletic quarterbacks; there’s more spread. And the more spread you are and the more empty you are, it’s more fun if your guy is athletic. He can get you out of trouble,” Monken said. “Like, he can buy yards. In the Super Bowl, I think [Patrick] Mahomes had 40 [rushing] yards with a bad ankle, and [Jalen Hurts] had 70. Well, that’s hidden yardage; that’s auxiliary yards. It gets you out of trouble, because you’re rarely going to be perfect in protections.”

So what does that mean for the Browns?

Shedeur Sanders is not known as a runner, but he has some mobility and can run if needed. He gained 20 yards rushing in each of his last five starts. If they want to go outside the organization for another veteran quarterback, maybe that makes Malik Willis an interesting player.

In his draft year, Willis had some similarities as a player to Jackso,n although far more raw as a prospect. Could that be a direction the Browns go in now under Monken?

Either way, Monken has seen the value of mobile quarterbacks from his last two stops, so it’s reasonable to think he tries to find that for the Browns.

4. Monken is willing to take blame if things go wrong

Despite his great success in Baltimore, the Ravens struggled in 2025 and missed the playoffs, leading to the firing of John Harbaugh.

When asked on the Ryan Ripken Show earlier in January about why things went wrong, he was more than willing to put blame on himself.

“I didn’t coach Lamar well enough. I didn’t have as good of a relationship as I could’ve,” Monken said. “I didn’t do the things that we needed this year to win enough games to give ourselves a chance. And I believe that.

“I’m not just saying that just because I’m on your show. And I’m gonna fight like hell to fix it. I’m gonna fight like hell for the next job I get and I’m gonna root like hell for the Ravens.”

It should be noted of course that the interview was done nearly three weeks before the Browns hired Monken, which could change the last part of what he said.

But going along with the first point, that quote shows that he is willing to be accountable for not winning and that’s a philosophy that he should be able to instill in his players.

5. “Stats are, really, for losers”

Four games into Oklahoma State’s 2012 season, Monken’s second as the Cowboys’ offensive coordinator, the team had the nation’s best offense in terms of scoring and yards.

However, they were 2-2 despite those stats.

The record was a big reason why Monken didn’t care much for those great offensive numbers.

“You can’t carry over points, you can’t carry over yards,” Monken said via The Oklahoman in October 2012. “Stats are, really, for losers. You don’t want to be 600 (yards) one week and 200 the next, because you’re going to lose that game…

“Most of the time, statistics and numbers are all there just to make yourself feel better. We’re a 2-2 team, unfortunately. I think we’re a really good football team, and unfortunately we’re 2-2. But sometimes all those stats just allow you to say, ‘Hey, it’s not me. I’m not the reason. We’re not the reason. If everything was as good as we are…’ That’s a bunch of crap. That’s (a) loser’s mentality of looking at things.”

That quote shows that he believes just because a team has a good offense, it doesn’t guarantee anything when it comes to winning games. Oklahoma State went just 8-5 that season despite having the nation’s No. 3 scoring offense (45.7 ppg).

“The bottom line is how we played last game, and what could we have done better? What calls could I have made better? Third-down calls? There’s probably 10 calls in there I wish I had back, so that’s what I have to look at,” Monken said in that same interview. “And our players need to look at it the same way. I said, ‘The moment you look at it a different way, it’ll bite you in the (butt).’”