Berea — As he makes plans for his second season, Pat Shurmur’s next decision might shape his future as Browns coach.

Shurmur said he will launch a search for an offensive coordinator, a position he chose not to fill in his first season.

Doubling as his own coordinator in his rookie season as a head coach, Shurmur’s offense finished 29th in yards and 30th in scoring, and suffered some in-game brownouts that were explained as “communication” problems.

These included a fumbled handoff to tight end Alex Smith, who was rushed into the huddle as a replacement for fullback Owen Marecic at a critical point in a 6-3 loss to St. Louis, and botched clock management that cost the Browns at least a short field goal try at the end of the first half in a 20-14 loss in Baltimore.

Shurmur said he intended all along to hire a coordinator in his second season when he failed to find “the right guy” a year ago.

“We’re going to work quickly, but I’m not going to be hasty,” he said of the search. “I want to get the right guy. That’s a relationship that’s very, very important.”

Shurmur seems more inclined to give the right candidate play-calling responsibilities — something he would not do last year. He said, “That’s one of the details we’ll get worked out as we go through the process.”

A year ago, Shurmur interviewed at least three candidates for coordinator. Two took jobs elsewhere — Bill Musgrave with the Vikings and Mike McCoy re-signed with Denver under new coach John Fox. The third reported interviewee was Mark Whipple, who joined Shurmur’s staff as quarterbacks coach.

Shurmur said Tuesday the new coordinator “may come from the staff,” which points to Whipple as a contender.

Whipple was offensive coordinator at the University of Miami in 2009 and ’10. He previously worked one season in Philadelphia with Shurmur on Andy Reid’s staff and was quarterbacks coach for the Steelers from 2004 to ’06.

Other potential candidates could include Brad Childress, who worked with Shurmur in Philadelphia for six years, the last four as Reid’s offensive coordinator; and Mike Sherman, who was a Mike Holmgren assistant coach in Green Bay and his offensive coordinator one year in Seattle before returning to Green Bay as head coach. Sherman was fired as Texas A&M head coach last month and reportedly will receive NFL head coach interviews.

Shurmur said he would not identify candidates for the job. He said of Childress: “I know Brad very well. He and I worked together for a long time. I think he’s a terrific coach.”

Asked if the candidate has to have experience in the West Coast offense, Shurmur said: “I’m trying to find the best guy, so a guy who speaks our language . . . I think might have a little bit of a leg up.

“The coordinator role is like having another decision-maker amongst your staff that has the title of being able to say we’re going to do this or do that. I think it’s important that I get the right guy. His final role . . . there’s a lot of different models. There’s eight or nine teams where the head coach calls the plays, and they have a coordinator. And then there’s other teams that have a different [setup].

“The offensive coordinator is responsible for the offensive coaches. He’s mainly responsible for putting the plan together, directing the offense and doing a lot of things that I did as a head coach.

“The game-day thing, calling plays, that’s a fun thing for all of us to do. I want the best guy I can get. If he’s outstanding at calling plays . . . listen, I want to win games, so I’m going to get the guy that helps us win.”

The hire comes at a critical time in the franchise’s endless search for respectability. In their expansion era, the Browns have ranked 23rd or worst in offense in 12 of 13 seasons. They were eighth in 2007 under coordinator Rob Chudzinski, who is being mentioned as a head coach candidate in Jacksonville.

The Browns are contemplating a thorough upgrade on offense, which could include a new quarterback, new receivers and possibly a new running back.

Shurmur declined Tuesday to speculate on the future of quarterback Colt McCoy and again refused to say he wanted potential free agent Peyton Hillis to return as the feature running back.

As for any other changes to his coaching staff, Shurmur said he didn’t plan any “at this point.” He left open the door, pending coaches being made available by other teams.

The Browns had several breakdowns on special teams — yielding two kick returns for touchdowns and a touchdown on a fake punt, having two field goals blocked and having two critical long snaps go awry. But Shurmur defended special teams coordinator Chris Tabor.

“I think as players and coaches, we all need to improve. And I did see some improvement in areas that make me think we’re going to get better,” Shurmur said of the special teams.

Photo By Gene J. Puskar, File/APCleveland Browns quarterback Colt McCoy missed the final three games of the regular season with a concussion after a hit by Pittsburgh’s James Harrison on Dec. 8. The Browns finished 4-12 in 2011.

By TOM WITHERS

Associated Press

BEREA — The growing pains were agonizing, the mistakes numerous, the progress difficult to spot.

The Cleveland Browns had another one of those seasons.

Losing, though, has its rewards in the NFL, which compensates its worst teams with high draft picks to help them get better. After going 4-12, the Browns, with one of the league’s youngest rosters, will have the No. 4 overall selection in April and Cleveland fans are already frothing at the chance to bring in a college star like Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III to be their savior.

As he packed his bags for the offseason Monday, Browns cornerback Sheldon Brown issued a warning to that line of thinking.

“My thing is, if you’re dependent on a draft pick to come in here and change your life, then you’re kidding yourself,” he said. “This game is too hard.”

It certainly has been for the Browns, who haven’t made the playoff since 2002. They’ve lost at least 11 games in each of the past four seasons and a minimum of 10 in eight of the past nine. Green Bay (15) won more games this season than the Browns (14) have won in the past three seasons — combined.

And consider this stat: The defending Super Bowl champion Packers outscored the Browns 560-218.

So while some think Griffin, the Heisman Trophy winner, is the answer to all of Cleveland’s prayers, Brown believes the Browns already have the players they need to win consistently.

“The guys here have to step their game up to another level because they’re experienced,” he said. “Most rookies get hurt because they get tired and they don’t understand the speed and the strength of this game at the professional level. So I’m never sold on high draft picks.”

It was a turbulent first season in Cleveland for coach Pat Shurmur, who because of the NFL lockout didn’t have an offseason to install his new West Coast offense or get to know his team on the field. He made his share of mistakes, but Brown, who was previously with Shurmur in Philadelphia, is confident Browns president Mike Holmgren hired the right coach.

Shurmur has his detractors, but there’s no denying that the Browns, who went 0-6 in the rugged AFC North, played hard for him.

“He did a tremendous job,” Brown said. “Everybody thinks it’s an easy job, everybody wants to sit in a room and say, ‘I can do this better, I can do that better.’ He dealt with the situations to the best of my knowledge, the best he could, and he kept this football team fighting. And for me, that’s how I judge a head coach.

“If a football team goes out there and competes week in and week out, through thick and through thin — and it was very thick this year — but we didn’t quit. So that tells me that the leader is in place.”

Shurmur will discuss his rollercoaster rookie year Tuesday, and Holmgren and general manager Tom Heckert are scheduled to meet the media Thursday, when they’re sure to be grilled about the team’s tricky quarterback situation.

Colt McCoy made 13 starts this season, but missed his final three games with a concussion. The Browns have a better sense of what McCoy is, and there’s a strong argument to be made for sticking with him in 2012 after investing so much time into his development.

But if the Browns — particularly Holmgren — don’t think McCoy can take them to a Super Bowl, they may look for a starting QB in free agency, a trade or the draft. With Stanford’s Andrew Luck expected to go No. 1 overall to Indianapolis, the next best choice could be Griffin, who resurrected Baylor and would be counted on to do the same with the Browns.

Brown, for one, isn’t counting on Griffin to ride in to the rescue.

“I’m definitely not, and if you are, you’re crazy,” he said.

Crazy would describe Cleveland’s wild season, which included costly injuries, endless drama around running back Peyton Hillis, dropped passes, and tough losses. The Browns lost six games by seven points or less, dropping their final three by a total of 13 points.

But close doesn’t put anything in the win column, and kicker Phil Dawson, whose 13th season with the Browns may have been his best, said the near misses can only help if players learned something from them.

“We were in a lot of games. It’s death by inches, though,” said Dawson. “Are we that close, or is that just the nature of the league? It depends on your personality, how you’re going to view that. In my little world, if my plant foot misses the spot by a quarter-inch, I miss the kick.

“That will probably tell you how I look at it. Everybody looks at themselves critically and figure out how they can improve. If we do that, now these close games are coming out in our favor. Hopefully that’s the way guys respond to it.”

Brown, too, thinks the Browns are nearing legitimacy.

“We’re very close,” said the 10-year veteran. “It’s one or two plays each game. You just have to find the playmakers and they just have to understand the sense of urgency and make the play.”

That sounds like a broken record, but Brown said he hasn’t felt this way before — not with the Browns.

“I didn’t tell you this last year,” he said. “I thought we were way off last year.”

The Browns put their franchise tag on Dawson this season and may do so again. The 36-year-old said he had a positive exit interview with team management and was encouraged by Heckert’s recent comments that the team would like to have him back. It would be hard to imagine the Browns not re-signing him.

Dawson has served his time — hard time — in Cleveland. The Browns have gone 68-141 during his tenure, and Dawson would hate not to be here when things finally get turned around. After waiting so long, he would hate to miss out on the good times.

“I don’t want to be Moses,” he said. “I don’t want to lead the people right to the edge and not get to go in. There’s going to be so many things, I can’t prioritize them at this point. We just lost to the Steelers 20 hours ago and that still hurts. I need to get home and eat a burrito.”

Hopefully, it will go down easier than this season.

By Tom Withers,

Associated Press

9:18 PM Monday, January 2, 2012

BEREA — The growing pains were agonizing, the mistakes numerous, the progress difficult to spot.

The Cleveland Browns had another one of those seasons.

Losing, though, has its rewards in the NFL, which compensates its worst teams with high draft picks to help them get better. After going 4-12, the Browns, with one of the league’s youngest rosters, will have the No. 4 overall selection in April and Cleveland fans are already frothing at the chance to bring in a college star like Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III to be their savior.

As he packed his bags for the offseason Monday, Browns cornerback Sheldon Brown issued a warning to that line of thinking.

“My thing is, if you’re dependent on a draft pick to come in here and change your life, then you’re kidding yourself,” he said. “This game is too hard.”

It certainly has been for the Browns, who haven’t made the playoff since 2002. They’ve lost at least 11 games in each of the past four seasons and a minimum of 10 in eight of the past nine. Green Bay (15) won more games this season than the Browns (14) have won in the past three seasons — combined.

And consider this stat: The defending Super Bowl champion Packers outscored the Browns 560-218.

It was a turbulent first season in Cleveland for coach Pat Shurmur, who because of the NFL lockout didn’t have an offseason to install his new West Coast offense or get to know his team on the field. He made his share of mistakes, but Brown, who was previously with Shurmur in Philadelphia, is confident Browns president Mike Holmgren hired the right coach.

Shurmur has his detractors, but there’s no denying the Browns, who went 0-6 in the rugged AFC North, played hard for him.

Shurmur will discuss his rollercoaster rookie year today, and Holmgren and general manager Tom Heckert are scheduled to meet the media Thursday, when they’re sure to be grilled about the team’s quarterback situation.

Colt McCoy made 13 starts this season, but missed his final three games with a concussion. The Browns have a better sense of what McCoy is, and there’s a strong argument to be made for sticking with him in 2012 after investing so much time into his development. But if the Browns — particularly Holmgren — don’t think McCoy can take them to a Super Bowl, they may look for a starting QB in free agency, a trade or the draft.

Cleveland’s wild season included costly injuries, endless drama around running back Peyton Hillis, dropped passes, and tough losses. The Browns lost six games by seven points or less, dropping their final three by a total of 13 points.

Cold. Windy. Miserable. That about sums up my experience at the Cleveland Browns game on Sunday, January 1. In addition to a good dose of Cleveland winter, the Browns unfortunately fell to the Pittsburgh Steelers by the score of 13-9.

Coming into the game I honesty was not expecting much. A win against the Steelers would be a fantastic way to end a mildly disappointing season while a loss would guarantee a better draft pick. (Am I really justifying a loss here?)

I was looking for a competitive football game, and based upon the final score it would appear the win could have gone either way. When taking a look at the final stats, the Steelers played poorly but the Browns were simply awful.

Quarterback Seneca Wallace completed just 16 of 41 attempts for a total of 177 yards on the day. He threw no touchdowns and was picked off once.

On the other hand, Joshua Cribbs had a career game netting seven receptions for 91 yards. Unfortunately, that was the lone bright spot for the Browns. For one of the only players that is passionate and wants to be on the field as much as possible, embraces and interacts with the fans, and genuinely loves Cleveland, he deserved all of his success in the game. I just wish it were enough to contribute to a win. One guy cannot do it all.

Peyton Hillis, who may have played his last game in Cleveland, carried the ball 10 times for 30 yards.

For the Steelers, Ben Roethlisberger was only marginally better than Wallace going 23 for 40 for 221 yards. His decision to play with a lingering sprained ankle did not make much sense, especially with the playoffs right around the corner.

Isaac Redman racked up 92 yards on 19 carries and a touchdown. As the only touchdown of the game, it broke up the field goal battle between Phil Dawson and Shaun Suisham.

Dawson was 3-3 on the day hitting from 26 yards, 45 yards, and 49 yards on the day. Suisham was 1-1 in extra points and 3-2 in field goals hitting from 19 yards and 29 yards.

When all was said and done, the Browns fell yet again and finished the season with a 4-12 record. But in true Cleveland style—Just wait until next year!

More Cleveland Browns Commentary from this Contributor:

The Cleveland Browns’ experience: A fan’s take

Cleveland Browns lose to Cardinals in OT, QB debate begins: A fan’s reaction

The benefits of being a die-hard Cleveland Browns fan this season: A fan’s perspective

Cleveland Browns prepare for tough game against Baltimore Ravens: A fan’s view

Cleveland Browns release Pro Bowl veteran Pontbriand in favor of rookie Yount: A fan’s reaction

Sources:

All data provided by NFL.com

Paul Rados is an avid Cleveland Browns fan and a Featured Contributor for the Yahoo! Contributor Network. Follow him on Twitter @PSRados or leave him a message on Facebook. For a complete look at his freelance work please visit his Blog.

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CLEVELAND, Ohio — Notes, observations and some facts on the fourth quarter …

• On super-important first possession, Browns complete 3-and-out with a third-down swing pass to Peyton Hillis. Groans. Minus-3 yards. Punt.

• Ben Roethlisberger’s shovel pass to Hines Ward results in 3-yard loss on alert hit by D’Qwell Jackson. Nonetheless, Steelers celebrate Ward’s 1,000th career catch.

• Isaac Redman loses the ball on a hit by Chris Gocong. Eric Hagg recovers and refs tack on 15 yards on a facemask penalty. Browns have it at Steelers’ 43.

• Mohamed Massaquoi gets a first down with a catch at the 32. Peyton Hillis out with a knee injury.

• Wallace’s pass over middle a little behind Massaquoi, but catchable. Dropped at the Steelers’ 19.

• After a Wallace throw two yards out of bounds, Browns punt from the Steelers’ 34 with 10:11 to go.

• Buster Skrine’s pass interference against Jerricho Cotchery bails out Steelers. First down at 26.

• Redman coughs up another after a 22-yard gain, and it’s recovered by the Browns at their 39.

• After one first down, Wallace’s passes on second and third down are off mark and almost intercepted. One fourth-and-10 with 4:59 to go, Browns elect to punt.

• Ben Roethlisberger makes a big throw to Heath Miller for 11 yards and a first down at the Steelers’ 29. Browns use their last timeout with 2:44 to go.

• Steelers can’t close the game out on offense, as Roethlisberger’s third-down pass is knocked away by Joe Haden. Browns, with no timeouts, get one last chance after Cribbs fumbles the punt out of bounds at their 24.

• Evan Moore catches one for eight yards at the 32, clock runs. Cribbs drops a short dump pass, but that at least stops the clock. Is there any play that’s more than 15 yards downfield?

• On third down, Cribbs catches another dumpoff for a first down. But can’t succeed doing this.

• Sideline pass to Massaquoi … just four yards downfield … is dropped.

• Snow coming down heavily on second down. Moore catches it over the middle and runs out of bounds to the Browns 45.

• Just 41 seconds left … have to go downfield. Carlton Mitchell grabs his first reception for 18 yards, and Wallace spikes the ball with 22 seconds left at the Steelers 37. Pittsburgh calls their second timeout.

• Snowglobe conditions. Moore catches a pattern near the sidelines, but can’t get out of bounds. Ball is clocked with five seconds remaining at the Steelers 25.

• Last play is … delayed by the Steelers’ last timeout. Will Browns have some final trick play to end the season?

• Hail Mary sees Greg Little get his hands on the ball in the end zone, but the ball is knocked harmlessly to the ground. End of game. End of season.