EDITOR’S NOTE: Our Year of the Coach series, touching many bases at the high school, college and NFL levels, began last summer and winds through the NFL playoffs and ends with Super Bowl 60.
What might one call the scope of Ohio coaching connections in the 2026 NFL playoffs?
Mind-boggling?
Normal?
It depends on how you look at it.
All six opening-round games include Ohio coaching stories, in some cases big stories. That’s crazy.
It’s also routine. The struggles of the Browns and Bengals notwithstanding, Ohio always has been one of the best football states in the USA, a reason the Pro Football Hall of Fame is in Canton.
Here, we touch on interesting Ohio connections, several involving Stark County, in all six of the games, and with the two bye-week teams. In some cases, a player or an executive is thrown in.
Los Angeles Rams at Carolina Panthers, 4:30 p.m. Saturday
The roots of Rams head coach Sean McVay grow from Massillon, where his grandfather, John McVay, was a senior captain who played center for the 1948 state poll champions.
Sean’s dad, Tim, lived in Stark County in his early years while papa John was head coach at Canton Central Catholic from 1957-61.
Though only 39, Sean McVay has been with his current team as long as any active NFL head coach other than Mike Tomlin. Tomlin began with the Steelers in 2007. McVay, Buffalo’s Sean McDermott and San Francisco’s Kyle Shanahan all were hired in 2017.
McVay’s record is 100-62, including 8-5 in the postseason. McDermott, 51, is 105-57 (7-7 playoffs). Shanahan, 46, is 90-71 (8-4). Expect one or more of them at a future enshrinement in Canton.
McVay’s defensive coordinator, Chris Shula, is the grandson of Don Shula, who played for John Carroll and the Cleveland Browns en route to becoming the winningest NFL head coach of all time. Sean McVay and Chris Shula were Miami (Ohio) teammates shortly after Ben Roethlisberger was Miami’s quarterback.
Carolina employs 75-year-old Dom Capers as a senior defensive assistant. Capers, who was the founding head coach of the Panthers in 1995, played college football at Mount Union, where, as a freshman, he roomed with Larry Kehres.
Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears, 8 p.m. Saturday
At precisely 5 o’clock on Oct. 31, 2015, 6-foot-5 McKinley quarterback Dominique Robinson helicoptered into the end zone from a yard out with 0:20 showing on the clock at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.
Robinson passed for 272 yards on the day, but he threw a pick-six to Dakota Dunwiddie that gave Massillon a late lead. He had just enough time to drive the Bulldogs to a 30-28 win, which stands as McKinley’s last victory over the arch-rival.
Robinson converted to defensive end at Miami (Ohio) and now is in his fourth year with the Bears. He is a backup in the D-line rotation, having played 215 snaps in 12 games, which doesn’t count his 161 special teams plays.
Robinson suffered a concussion during a 31-28 win over Pittsburgh on Nov. 23 and didn’t play again until Dec. 20 against Green Bay, when he logged a season-high 36 defensive snaps in a 22-16 overtime win.
If you’re looking for Robinson on TV, he’ll be wearing No. 90.
Jim Dray coaches Chicago’s tight ends. He was part of an exciting Browns run in 2014. His touchdown catch from Brian Hoyer triggered a rally from a 28-3 deficit at Tennessee to a 29-28 win. That propelled the Browns to a 6-3 start.
Bears special teams coordinator Richard Hightower was on the Browns’ 2014 coaching staff.
Green Bay head coach Matt LeFleur was offensive coordinator at Ashland in 2007 under head coach Lee Owens. LaFleur broke into the NFL as a Houston Texans assistant in 2008.
Ed Policy is the Packers’ chairman of the board, president and CEO. His father, Youngstown native Carmen Policy, was more or less the face of the Browns when they returned as an expansion team in 1999. Policy worked for the 49ers during their run to five Super Bowls and was owner Al Lerner’s right-hand man when he came to Cleveland.
The Policys, the McVays and the DeBartolos were Ohio families intertwined at the top of the San Francisco dynasty that produced Super Bowls capping the 1981, 1984, 1988, 1989 and 1994 seasons.
Ed Policy was David Baker’s right-hand man in the Arena Football League from 2001-08. Baker became president of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in January of 2014 and held that job until 2021.
Buffalo Bills at Jacksonville Jaguars, 1 p.m. Sunday
Bobby Babich came to Cleveland as assistant secondary coach in 2013 under defensive coordinator Ray Horton. Head coach Rob Chudzinski was fired after just one season, but Babich stayed on for the two years Mike Pettine was head coach.
Babich didn’t survive Pettine’s firing and worked a year at Florida International before Buffalo’s new head coach, Sean McDermott, hired him in 2017. In 2024, McDermott promoted Babich to defensive coordinator.
In Cleveland, Babich helped develop undrafted safety Jordan Poyer. He was behind bringing Poyer to Buffalo in 2017. Still with the Bills at age 34, Poyer hopes to return from a hamstring injury and play against Jacksonville.
Al Holcomb coaches Buffalo’s linebackers. He spent the 2019 season in Cleveland under head coach Freddie Kitchens.
Defensive end Joey Bosa, a No. 3 overall pick out of Ohio State in 2016, led the league in forced fumbles in his first season with Buffalo.
Trip MacCracken, who managed the Browns’ salary cap from 1999-2009, has been with the Jaguars since 2021.
The Jaguars acquired cornerback Greg Newsome on Oct. 9 in exchange for Tyson Campbell and a 2026 seventh-round pick. Newsome, a first-round pick by Cleveland in 2021, has started throughout the Jaguars’ eight-game winning streak.
San Francisco 49ers at Philadelphia Eagles, 4:30 p.m. Sunday
Nick Sirianni aims to reach the Super Bowl for the third time in his five seasons as head coach of the Eagles.
Sirianni delights in wearing Mount Union gear, in honor of the team he helped win two national championships as a wide receiver.
Sirianni made a few dollars playing for the indoor Canton Legends, based in Memorial Civic Center, in 2005. He was moonlighting while holding down a job as a Mount Union assistant. The life story of Sirianni’s head coach, Larry Kehres, was told last week in “Year of the Coach.”
Kyle Shanahan is in his ninth season as head coach of the 49ers.
When Shanahan arrived as offensive coordinator of the Browns in 2014, he exuded confidence and seemed to have taken the best traits from his famous dad, Mike.
Though only 34, Kyle sounded more like a head coach than the actual new head coach, Mike Pettine. The ’14 Browns got to 7-4 behind quarterback Brian Hoyer before the Johnny Manziel saga began. Shanahan asked to be let out of his contract, and he was.
Mick Lombardi is Shanahan’s quarterbacks coach. For the first eight years of his life, his dad, Michael Lombardi, had a personnel job with the Browns, eventually becoming a right-hand man to Cleveland’s head coach, Bill Belichick.
Los Angeles Chargers at New England Patriots, 8 p.m. Sunday
Lots of people wondered, as Mike Vrabel came through Cleveland in a mysterious role with the 2024 Browns, whether he might become the team’s head coach.
That idea was snuffed after a 3-14 year when the Browns retained Kevin Stefanski. The Patriots snapped up Vrabel.
The Titans fired Vrabel after a six-year run as head coach. He led them to the playoffs in 2019, 2020 and 2021 but was dismissed after going 13-21 in 2022 and ’23. The team is 6-28 since then and is looking for its next head coach.
A Walsh Jesuit and Ohio State tough guy, Vrabel has the Patriots at 14-3 after they went 4-13 in the previous two seasons under Bill Belichick and Jerod Mayo.
Vrabel brought in former Canton McKinley quarterback Josh McDaniels to coordinate New England’s offense. They were together for eight years on Belichick’s Patriots, Vrabel as a player, McDaniels as a coach.
McDaniels and Tom Brady grew up together, and now, as an NFL long-timer, McDaniels is developing 2024 No. 3 overall pick Drake Maye. The Patriots led the AFC with 490 points during the regular season. Only Sean McVay’s Rams (518) scored more in the NFC.
McDaniels is said to be “as happy as he’s ever been.”
One of his running backs, TreVeyon Henderson, is a rookie No. 38 overall pick out of Ohio State. Henderson ran 14 times for 148 yards against Buffalo on Dec. 21.
Alonzo Highsmith, one of John Dorsey’s top men in Dorsey’s two years as Browns general manager, is a “senior personnel executive” with the Patriots.
Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh was born a few years after his dad, Jack, was an entry-level coach in the Canton McKinley system. Jim’s mother, Jackie, began her school career teaching in the Tuslaw district. Jack and Jackie married when they lived in Stark County, honeymooning at a Browns game.
Marc Trestman, whose 70th birthday was Thursday, is a senior offensive assistant with the Chargers. He was quarterback Bernie Kosar’s position coach in Cleveland in 1989 and ’89.
Houston Texans at Pittsburgh Steelers, 8:15 p.m. Monday
Houston’s status as “Ohio’s team” is detailed in another Year of the Coach article.
The Texans offense features former Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud operating under two Cantonians, offensive coordinator Nick Caley and passing-game coordinator Ben McDaniels. The roster was assembled by a Clevelander, general manager Nick Caserio, who played quarterback at John Carroll.
Youngstown native Billy Davis coaches Houston’s linebackers. He coached two different stints with the Browns (1999; 2011-12) and was on coordinator Greg Schiano’s Ohio State staff when the Buckeyes went 25-3 across the 2017 and ’18 seasons.
Bill Davis, Billy’s dad, was one of the personnel architects who built the 1980 Browns roster that went to the playoffs five years in a row.
Senior offensive assistant Jerry Schulpinski is a Clevelander who played alongside Caserio at John Carroll.
Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin broke into the NFL in 2000 as a Browns intern under the wing of defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel.
Tom Arth, position coach to Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, was the Cleveland St. Ignatius QB in a 1998 state semifinal thriller against McKinley, whose quarterback was Ben McDaniels. Arth was head coach of the Akron Zips from 2019-21.
Alfredo Roberts coaches Pittsburgh’s tight ends. He worked in Cleveland in 2007 and 2008, when Crennel was head coach. The 2007 Browns lost twice to Pittsburgh but otherwise went 10-4.
First-round bye: Denver Broncos (AFC); Seattle Seahawks (NFC)
George Paton may have came close to replacing John Dorsey as Cleveland’s general manager.
Paton and Kevin Stefanski could have been a package deal in 2020, coming from the Vikings. Stefanski made the jump from Vikings offensive coordinator to Browns head coach on Jan. 13, 2020. Paton pulled out of consideration for the GM job, perhaps because it was apparent Jimmy Haslam preferred Andrew Berry, on Jan. 20.
Paton stayed on as a right-hand man to Vikings general manager Rick Spielman in 2020, but he jumped to the Broncos as GM 2021.
Former United State Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, a famous Browns fan, is part of the Broncos ownership group.
Ray Jackson, was with the Browns from 1999-2004, first as a player, later in player development, has been with the Broncos since 2015.
Pete Carmichael Jr., whose first NFL job was with the Browns in 2000, when his dad was offensive coordinator, is a senior offensive assistant for Denver.
Seahawks wide receivers coach Frisman Jackson was on the Browns’ player roster from 2002-06. He was known for throwing footballs 70-plus yards while messing around in practice. Jackson coached receivers for the Akron Zips in 2010 and 2011.
Reach Steve at steve.doerschuk@cantonrep.com
The Canton Repository sports department can be contacted via email at sports@cantonrep.com.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Ohio is all over the 2026 NFL playoffs, even if Browns, Bengals aren’t
Reporting by Steve Doerschuk, Canton Repository / The Repository
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
