Browns best DC candidate comes from an internal promotion

abdulmanannet77@gmail.comFebruary 7, 2026

0 4 7 minutes read

Browns best DC candidate comes from an internal promotion

https://www.profitableratecpm.com/f4ffsdxe?key=39b1ebce72f3758345b2155c98e6709c

Many local restaurants remain busy for lunch and dinner. What makes them popular among customers is the quality of food and recipes. Everyone offers lasagna. Even Stouffer’s has a great version. But not everyone cooks it like here. And they miss the staple dish the few nights a week it’s offered on the menu.

It seems to be an old family recipe. And it’s a kept formula. But the reality is that it’s just a bunch of ingredients sitting on the shelves and in the cooler that don’t come together until a chef makes them. The recipe is the key, but the chef is the epitome of success.

RELATED: 10 TAKEAWAYS FROM MONKEN’S FIRST PRESS

This is similar to what the Cleveland Browns are currently facing. They have an elite defense, which is currently their identity.

The offense was bad for several years, but the defense worked hard in games and stayed on the field for more snaps than necessary. When head coach Kevin Stefanski received the pink pass after losing 26 games over the past two seasons, a very good offensive mind was in demand. And found.

Todd Monken has a history of turning offensive units into big offensive groups. He has done this time and time again with college programs and at the NFL level. Now he’s the leader of Cleveland and outfitted in a new set of surgical gloves.

The Browns front office interviewed numerous candidates before the decision was made to hire Monken. One of the main interviews was with their current DC, Jim Schwartz, who got a second interview.

Schwartz is the main reason Cleveland’s defense is so revered last season and over the past few years since his arrival in 2023. He took the abilities of Myles Garrett, and now the generational defensive end’s talents have won two NFL “Defensive Player of the Year” awards. Do you think it’s a coincidence?

In the first year of Schwartz’s arrival, the Browns were ranked No. 1 in overall defense with the No. 1 pass defense. Numerous injuries dropped them to 19th in 2024, but last season Cleveland ranked 4th with the third-best pass defense.

On Friday, Schwartz officially tendered his resignation as DC of the Browns. He still had one or two years left on his contract, according to the report.

Good pass defense doesn’t happen overnight. The same year Schwartz was hired, the Browns also hired Ephraim Banda as their new safeties coach. It is very rare for a team to have a coach specifically involved in coaching the safety group instead of having a DB coach who will cover both groups.

And now look at the success of Cleveland’s safety room.

Grant Delpit is one of the best tackles every year. Ronnie Hickman was an undrafted rookie who developed into a very capable midfielder and is the other starter. Another undrafted rookie free agent in this rising group is Pitt’s Donovan McMillan.

During Monken’s first press conference as the Browns’ new coach, he discussed this team’s defensive stance moving forward:

“First of all, my expectation is that we’re not going to change the system. It’s very difficult to oppose that – not have the intention of changing the system. We’re built for the system that they’re in now. And I’m not going to get into the personnel issue, because this is not the time to get into that. But they can rest assured that we’re going to keep the same system.”

How does this happen when the head chef has resigned and left the building? How will this defensive group maintain consistency and remain a league power on that side of the ball? The recipes remain intact, but the person who gathers and mixes all the main ingredients is now gone and no longer shows up for work.

How will it work?

The answer is continuity. The system needs a guy who already knows how the defense works. A guy who, every week, participates in meetings and game plans. A guy who’s already in-house and no stranger to how Schwartz works.

Schwartz’s replacement? Ephraim (pronounced Ef-rum) Banda, high safeties coach.

Could it be the answer? What are his qualifications?

The beginnings

Banda grew up in Taft, Texas, on the Gulf of Mexico. It is just over two hours south of San Antonio and three hours southwest of Houston.

His descendants came to the United States from Nuevo Leon, Mexico.

Banda attended Taft High School and played cornerback on the football team. During his senior season, Taft lost in the Class 5A Division I state quarterfinals. He received offers from several small colleges, but he never followed through and worked instead. Banda was a player/coach for a local semi-pro team called the San Antonio Rhinos.

Years later, he enrolled at a university that was just starting a football program.

Banda played his college football at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. The program was new when Banda joined and was originally a D-2 program. In 2013, the school moved to D-1 and played all of its games in a 6,000-seat stadium. It was a place where Banda had to share a locker with another player, and he bought his own cleats because start-up funds were minimal.

When Banda signed up for the Incarnate Word, he was already 25 years old. He was a backup safety even though he was only 5’9”, and two years later he was named captain of the special teams group.

A knee injury ended Banda’s hopes of becoming a career footballer. In a game against Texas A&M-Kingsville early in the 2011 season, Banda also faced special teams like most good tackles did. He was running down the field to block on a kickoff return and was involved in a collision. The result was a severely damaged left knee. He knew then that his playing career was over.

He was majoring in sports management and was only in his first year. He also worked as a bartender at the San Antonio River Walk when he wasn’t studying or working out. Banda discovered that he was really good as a bartender and could make enough money to cover the cost of his classes and any living expenses he incurred.

However, he always wanted to coach and knew that one day it would become his destiny.

Two weeks after his knee injury, he underwent surgery to repair a torn ACL, a torn MCL and a torn meniscus ligament. He was now “that old guy” on the team at 29, but he was seen as a natural leader, passionate about the game and good at communicating.

The next step for Banda was to be named a student assistant/coach at Incarnate Word, which was essentially his final season, but he was able to finish his studies.

College staff break

The following year, César Martinez, an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Incarnate Word, got a job at the University of Texas. Banda was intrigued and discovered that the NCAA had doubled the number of graduate assistant slots from two to four.

Martinez worked with Duane Akina, who coached the defensive backfield. With one graduate assistant spot remaining, Martinez asked Akina if his friend could get the job. Akina’s response? “Does he work as hard as you?”

Banda was hired at Texas in 2012. The head coach was Mack Brown.

Banda now found himself in a situation where he had to work long hours as a graduate assistant while pursuing his graduate studies. This meant he didn’t have time for an outside job, but at the same time he didn’t earn much.

Then, on December 14, 2013, Brown announced he was stepping down as head coach of Texas after their bowl game. Banda wondered what this meant for him as a staff member. The newcomer was Charlie Strong, who brought in some of his own coaches, one of whom was a defensive coordinator, which meant DC Manny Diaz was out. Banda remained at Texas as a graduate assistant and served in a variety of roles, from scripting practices to organizing scouting reports to assisting the defensive backs.

During his tenure at Texas, Banda coached three players who would play in the NFL and he also earned a second degree in communications.

In 2015, Diaz was hired as DC and LB coach at Mississippi State under head coach Dan Mullen. Diaz then hired Banda as defensive quality control coach. Then a season later, Diaz again moved to the University of Miami as a DC under head coach Mark Richt. Later that year, Diaz was nominated for the Broyles Award, given to the best assistant coach in college football.

After Diaz was hired at Miami, he convinced Richt to hire Banda as the Hurricanes’ safeties coach, his first full-time assistant coaching position.

Even though Banda was a relatively young man, Diaz had every confidence in him. A defensive backs coach is a very critical coaching hire because the group itself cannot make mistakes for the defense. Banda was known for being loyal, honest, hardworking and making good decisions. As always behind the wheel of the car he owned at university, a Toyota Corolla.

Let’s move on to the role of DC

Banda became co-defensive coordinator with Blake Baker in 2019 when Diaz left to become head coach at Temple. Baker was almost the opposite of Banda and was considered “polarizing”. Miami’s defense was ranked fourth in the nation in tackles for loss and 18th in the nation in pass defense, and led the ACC in yards per pass attempt with just 6.75 yards.

At Miami, Banda coached five players who would play in the NFL.

After two seasons, Banda, 44, was hired as a DC at Utah State with additional duties as safeties coach. The call was that Banda would now be able to call his own defense under head coach Blake Anderson. Banda’s defensive plan relied on urgency, disruption and physicality.

It’s something of a homecoming for Banda, widely known for his workplace safety coaching. His style is aggressive, which is something the Cleveland secondary really needed.

Banda has elevated the safety room since arriving in Cleveland. He knows Schwartz’s defense and is a competent coach. Moving Banda one position to the DC is a fluid move and does not interrupt the style and scheme Schwartz is implementing. He’s already been DC twice, so it’s not like he’s the next deer in the headlights. In 2024, he was named Team USA’s DC at the Senior Bowl.

The Browns under Schwartz have arrived. But much of the pass defense credit rests solely on the shoulders of the two defensive backs coaches. Under Banda, safeties have been partly responsible for Cleveland being ranked No. 1 in pass defense in 2023, No. 14 in 2024 and ranked No. 4 last season with the third-best pass defense.

And more importantly, Banda is not an outsider coming in to try to understand Schwartz’s system.

When the head chef leaves, all the recipes stay behind for the next group of cooks to follow.

abdulmanannet77@gmail.comFebruary 7, 2026

0 4 7 minutes read