Vermeil Not Interested in Coaching the Browns

The Cleveland Browns, coming off the worst season in franchise history, checked on the availability of former UCLA and Philadelphia Eagles Coach Dick Vermeil, but he isn’t interested in returning to coaching, a newspaper reported today.

“I really don’t have any interest in returning to coaching,” Vermeil told The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, which quoted a Browns source as saying the team had inquired about Vermeil’s availability through an intermediary.

“I don’t think there’s a job stimulating enough to cause me to even consider it,” said Vermeil, 54, who told the newspaper he hadn’t been contacted about the Browns’ coaching vacancy.

Vermeil, now a college football analyst for ABC, coached the Eagles from 1976-82 and had a 54-47 record. He blamed job burnout for his decision to retire.

Browns owner Art Modell declined to comment on whether he was interested in hiring Vermeil and wouldn’t comment on any other possible replacements for Bud Carson and his successor, Jim Shofner.

Team spokesman Kevin Byrne declined comment today on whether Vermeil was a candidate for the job.