{"id":414269,"date":"2026-01-18T04:41:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T04:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/414269\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T04:41:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T04:41:11","slug":"atlanta-falcons-hire-kevin-stefanski-as-new-head-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/414269\/","title":{"rendered":"Atlanta Falcons hire Kevin Stefanski as new head coach"},"content":{"rendered":"

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) \u2014 The Atlanta Falcons have hired Kevin Stefanski as the franchise\u2019s 20th head coach in its 60-year history, the team announced<\/a> on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re thrilled to land a lead-by-example leader in Kevin Stefanski who brings a clear vision for his staff, our team and a closely aligned focus on building this team on fundamentals, toughness and active collaboration with every area of the football operation,\u201d said Matt Ryan, the Falcons\u2019 president of football. \u201cCoach Stefanski is a team-first leader who puts a premium on accountability for everyone and a player-driven culture. <\/p>\n

\u201cHis experience in Cleveland and Minnesota has given him a great understanding of the importance of working in sync with scouting, personnel and the rest of the football staff to maximize talent across the roster and in doing everything possible to put our players in the best position to succeed. Kevin\u2019s style of leadership, combined with the staff and infrastructure in place here in Atlanta, gives us confidence in our shared vision for the team and we are excited to have him as the leader of our football team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stefanski\u2019s hiring is the latest in team owner Arthur Blank\u2019s efforts to reset his team\u2019s on- and off-the-field culture after eight straight losing seasons. He previously served as head coach of the Cleveland Browns, earning AP Coach of the Year honors in 2020 after guiding the franchise to its first playoff appearance since 2002 and its first postseason victory since 1994, finishing 11\u20135 for its best record since that year. He won the award again in 2023, when the Browns returned to the playoffs and posted an 11\u20136 record.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m beyond thrilled to be charged with leading this iconic franchise,\u201d Stefanski said. \u201cI am grateful to Mr. Blank and Matt Ryan for trusting me to coach this football team and there are many talented players on our roster that I cannot wait to coach. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe share a vision for this football team that I believe will make Falcons fans everywhere proud. We will get to work immediately putting together a first-class coaching staff and working hard to get to know all the great people that are so important to getting us all where we want to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stefanski takes over a team with bonafide NFL stars in running back Bijan Robinson, wide receiver Drake London and defensive pillars such as Jalon Walker, James Pearce, Jr. and Xaiver Watts, but is also facing questions at arguably the game\u2019s most important position: quarterback.<\/p>\n

Michael Penix Jr., is coming off another torn-ACL surgery, and the team must figure out what to do with quarterback Kirk Cousins\u2019 contract in the offseason.<\/p>\n

MORE FALCONS COVERAGE<\/p>\n

General manager Terry Fontenot and head coach Raheem Morris were fired hours after the Falcons defeated the New Orleans Saints in the final game of the season, and securing the team\u2019s eighth straight losing season.<\/p>\n

This story is developing.<\/p>\n

Download our Atlanta News First app<\/a> for your latest news and information.<\/p>\n

Atlanta News First podcasts are available now on: Spotify<\/a> | Apple Podcasts <\/a>| Amazon Music<\/a> | YouTube<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 WANF. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) \u2014 The Atlanta Falcons have hired Kevin Stefanski as the franchise\u2019s 20th head…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414270,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[188752,5786,1327,198590,198602,198598,77041,49858,4,450,11986,198591,96111,198596,198600,198597,198601,681,117454,16898,451,28649,198595,198594,43001,198587,9643,198586,198593,198584,198583,198592,3,349,198588,191709,99,51018,452,453,49852,198599,198585,198589],"class_list":["post-414269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-arthur-blank","tag-atlanta","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-atlanta-falcons-coach","tag-atlanta-falcons-gm","tag-atlanta-falcons-head-coach","tag-atlanta-news","tag-atlanta-news-first","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-coach","tag-coach-atlanta-falcons","tag-falcons","tag-falcons-hc","tag-falcons-hc-hire","tag-falcons-head-coach","tag-falcons-new-coach","tag-georgia","tag-georgia-news","tag-head-coach","tag-headlines","tag-kevin-stefanski","tag-kevin-stefanski-browns","tag-kevin-stefanski-falcons","tag-matt-ryan","tag-matt-ryan-atlanta-falcons","tag-national-football-league","tag-new-atlanta-falcons-head-coach","tag-new-coach-atlanta-falcons","tag-new-falcons-head-coach","tag-new-head-coach","tag-new-head-coach-atlanta-falcons","tag-news","tag-nfl","tag-owner-atlanta-falcons","tag-president-of-football","tag-sports","tag-stefanski","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-wanf","tag-who-did-the-falcons-hire","tag-who-is-the-new-head-coach-of-the-atlanta-falcons","tag-who-is-the-owner-of-the-atlanta-falcons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}