He entered to a highlight film recounting the Browns’ memorable 2007 season. He exited to the customary “Woof! Woof! Woof!” from the peanut gallery.
In between, Browns General Manager Phil Savage — along with Columbian graduate Donovan Beidelschies — regaled a crowd at Camden Falls with tales about his rise to NFL hierarchy.
Beidelschies is getting his feet wet in the NFL, working for Savage as a scout, and the connection between the two brought the Browns GM to town for the Don Hall Memorial Foundation benefitting Tiffin Little League Football.
Here are some excerpts from their question-and-answer session with attendees.
Savage on the hiring of Beidelschies and two other new scouts:
“The great thing about that is we bring these guys in, [and] they seem to have a passion on scouting, and we’re basically able to train them for two years before we ever really put them out on the road. ... I’m proud to say that of the 12 guys we’ve hired over the years, every single one of them has progressed up through the ranks. Some of them are directors. T.J. McCray, our personnel director, in 1997 was sitting right where Donovan is, and 11 years later he’s the personnel director for the Cleveland Browns. Even though Donovan was [scouting] in Fargo this past fall, in a couple years he’ll be in Ann Arbor or Columbus. ... I’m certain about that because he enjoys what he does.”
Savage on switching from coaching under Nick Saban at Alabama to scouting:
“Probably the main reason I did it was because I didn’t like having a hole in the back of my pants where Nick Saban chewed it,” he joked, bringing on a roomful of laughter. “On a serious note, I had gone to a small college myself. I’m 43-years-old, and next season will be my 36th football season, so I’ve just grown up with it. I decided to try my hand at coaching, and I hooked on at the University of Alabama — I’m from Alabama — and I spent three years at Alabama, and I went to UCLA, then found myself with the Browns under [Bill] Belichick and Nick. One thing Bill does with the Patriots ... is he lets his young guys cross over from coaching into scouting. I spent those three years with Nick on the defensive side of the ball, and I was a quarterback and offensive coach, so it was a whole different learning experience for me. Ultimately, Bill said to us, ‘We’re looking at drafting defensive backs, so I want you guys to go with us to a college on a Friday, watch the kid play Saturday and be back up with the team for Sunday.’ I did that in the Fall of ‘92, and in ‘93 I did the same thing.’ In ‘94, I think Bill felt some pressure to bring in an experienced coach. [Former Alabama Head Coach] Bill Curry was quoted in the paper the other day, saying ‘I remember when Phil was with us, he looked like he was 10-years-old.’ Sometimes, that hurt me in my coaching career, really.”
Beidelschies on scouting:
“You try to identify players when they’re a junior [in college]. By the time the draft rolls around, and we’re in our draft meetings, some of the players are gonna have 10 or 12 or 15 reports on them. They go through every detail that you can dig up on a player.
“The most detailed report is from the area scout who’s near the school. It’s the scout’s job to go to one or two games a year and make sure you get all the background and make sure you cover all your bases like talking to an academic liason and the athletic trainer and all the coaches. My experience I’ve built on going to different schools is that the more information you can get, the better. All that information gets piled together, and it all gets back to fill, and then the decisions get made.”
Savage on the rumblings of a holdout from tight end Kellen Winslow:
“This is a unique situation with us. Obviously, he was drafted by the previous regime. He was right at the top of the board with the Ravens; he’s a tremendous talent. From our side of things is this is someone who was payed $11.6 million for two seasons, and he played two games. We could have just dropped the anvil on the contract and just moved on and been done with the situation. But we felt like he was a talented player who was worthy of giving another opportunity, another chance if you will.
“He came back, and I don’t think there’s any question that he’s a big-time threat, and he’s advantageous to the offense. We restructured his contract and put an extra year on it. He’s got three seasons left as a Cleveland Brown. On one hand, we feel like we were very forgiving with Kellen. ... And (with his severe injuries), there is some concern long-term for Kellen. We’d love for Kellen to come back and have a great year this year, and [then] let’s talk about it. There’s been some noise out there, if you will, about this situation, but it’s only May 15. ... I think only time will tell how this plays itself out.”
Savage on getting his NFL start with the Browns, moving to Baltimore when Art Modell moved the team, then returning to Cleveland and leading a resurgence in the Browns franchise:
“It is confusing to try to tell somebody that I was at Alabama, then I went to UCLA, and I came to the Browns, then we became the Ravens, and now I’m back with the ‘new’ Browns. People have a tough time figuring that out if they’re not a Browns or a Ravens fan. Cleveland was my first exposure to the NFL, and you get a chance to see the fans and how much they truly love the Browns. The Cavs are doing well, and the Indians are doing well, but the fans love the Browns. ... It’s great.
“I’ve interviewed for GM positions five different times, and as exciting as all those were, the Browns have such a great tradition. You’re talking about Paul Brown, Jim Brown, Otto Graham, [Bill] Willis, Paul Warfield, Ozzie Newsome, Clay Matthews. There’s just a long line of history there, and it means something to a lot of people. ... When you’re scouting for the Browns, you feel like you’re scouting for the entire city and other cities in Ohio. I think there were 13 of us who went to Baltimore, and of that group I’m the only who’s come back. It’s kind of interesting how all that happened.”
