Todd Monken is loud, emotional and hoarse — and Browns fans are here for it

BrownsThe fiery new Browns coach who is making Cleveland fans feel something againBy Orange and Brown Talk Podcast, cleveland.comCLEVELAND, Ohio — Todd Monken is loud. He is intense. He has a hoarse voice from constant screaming. He yells at players, hugs them, tears them down and builds them back up — sometimes all in the same practice session. And after years of relatively measured coaching on the Browns’ sideline, some fans are finding the whole thing refreshing.The question is whether the fire means anything beyond entertainment value.Browns beat reporter Mary Kay Cabot thinks it does. On the Orange and Brown Talk podcast, she painted a vivid picture of what Monken’s day-to-day leadership looks like up close.Can the Browns continue their momentum + breaking down the Buccaneers film: Orange and Brown Talk (Podcast)Todd Monken says Deshaun Watson is ‘still very young’ with ‘a lot of football left’ — what does it mean for the Browns?Deshaun Watson was one loss away from losing his starting job to Shedeur Sanders“He’s a very emotional coach,” Cabot said. “He wears his emotions on his sleeve. He coaches hard. He loves hard. He yells hard. He’s got a hoarse voice because he’s screaming so much all of the time.”The intensity showed up in an almost comic moment this week, when Deshaun Watson casually mentioned that he and Monken had “gone head-to-head” during a heated Wednesday practice. To Watson, apparently, that felt like a significant confrontation. To Monken, it was a Tuesday. Or a Wednesday. The point is, he barely registered it.“That was just a day in the life of Todd Monken to be yelling at whoever’s in front of him,” Cabot noted. Monken’s response, essentially: You ain’t seen nothing yet.But the Monken effect goes deeper than sideline theater. He came to Cleveland fresh off three seasons with Lamar Jackson in Baltimore and he arrived with a specific vision for how to use a mobile quarterback who has been reinventing himself at 31. The results in Tampa showed the early outlines of that plan.Watson scrambled twice for third-down conversions. He ran RPOs and bootlegs. He changed Denzel Boston’s route at the line of scrimmage — an alert that turned into a 55-yard touchdown — because he and Boston had essentially drawn it up on the fly based on what they were seeing from the defense. Watson even finished as the Browns’ leading rusher.“He converted a couple of third downs, one on an 8-yard scramble, one on a 6-yard scramble,” Cabot said. “He ran RPOs, he ran bootlegs, he ran design runs. He actually was the Browns leading rusher with 22 yards. Now that’s not saying very much and that needs to change. But that’s one key aspect of Deshaun Watson and one of the reasons Todd Monken was excited to work with him.”Monken also showed a sharp instinct for the psychological side of coaching. When former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin offered what amounted to a dismissive assessment of Cleveland, Monken grabbed it and weaponized it. Bulletin board material. Us against the world. It’s an old trick, but it worked.“Todd Monken used the gift that fell to him and got the disrespect angle going and the us against the world thing revved up and they used it and it worked and it carried them through that football game,” Cabot said.Host Dan Labbe offered a fair counterpoint — Kevin Stefanski also knew how to use that kind of motivation and it doesn’t always translate to sustained success. But at minimum, Monken is giving the Browns something they’ve been missing: a coach who makes the room feel something.This article was produced with assistance from AI tools and reviewed by Cleveland.com staff.