Browns’ Callie Brownson coaches U.S. women to gold medal

Callie Brownson has earned that golden feeling again.

Brownson finished her first stint as a head coach Sunday by guiding the U.S. National Team to a gold medal with a 42-14 victory over Great Britain in the final round of the International Federation of American Football Women’s Tackle World Championship in Vantaa, Finland.

The Americans had won gold medals in each of the three previous women’s world championships — 2010 (Sweden), 2013 (Finland) and 2017 (Canada).

Brownson, 32, played wide receiver and safety for two of those teams (2013 and 2017) and had yearned for more gold ever since.

“There’s no better feeling in the world than playing your tail off and then somebody putting a gold medal around your neck,” Brownson said in December, when she was named coach of the national team. “That’s one that still sits with me today.”

Brownson has served as Browns coach Kevin Stefanski’s chief of staff the past two seasons, and she added the title of assistant wide receivers coach in February. Stefanski allowed Brownson to take a leave of absence from Browns training camp this summer so she could fulfill a dream by leading the women’s national team.

The Browns had Sunday’s gold medal game streaming throughout their headquarters in Berea.

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The Americans prepared for the IFAF’s eight-team tournament by conducting a training camp for about a week in late July at Walsh University in North Canton.

In Brownson’s head coaching debut, the U.S. routed Germany 63-0 in the opening round on July 30. The Americans then defeated Finland 28-10 in a semifinal on Aug. 3 to advance to the gold medal game versus Great Britain.

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On July 22, Brownson told the Beacon Journal she adopted the mantra “gold standard” for her team.

“When I first got the job, I had to think of something that separated this national team from all the other ones,” Brownson said. “For me, it was there’s been three other national teams before them who have all won gold, so the standard is gold.

“It’s more than just, ‘Hey, we get off the plane, and we step on the podium.’ For us, it’s in every little facet of what we do. Every single rep, the classroom reps that we get, how we fuel our bodies, how we sleep, how we recover is at a gold standard. It’s the standard at which a person who deserves a gold medal acts, and all of the little facets will ultimately lead to the bigger facet.”

Brownson’s approach worked, and the American women stood atop the podium for the fourth time.

Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com.

On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.