USA TODAY Sports

Browns to Have six Participants in Bill Walsh Coaching Diversity Fellowship

Originally posted on FanNation Browns Digest
By Brandon Little | Last updated 5/25/23

Cleveland Browns are welcoming six participants in the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship through the remainder of the offseason. Three of the fellows joined this week as OTAs began and three more will join the group next week.

This journey provides coaches the opportunity to observe, participate, gain experience, and ultimately land full-time positions in the NFL. Those who apply for the fellowship must either have NFL experience or coaching experience at the high school, college, or other league level (CFL, XFL, etc.).

The following fellows are the six joining, starting with three who joined this week:

Chris Labidou is in his second season as a grad assistant with Kansas. Labidou has worked with the offensive line for the most part with the Jayhawks and there may not be a better place to learn from than in Cleveland will Bill Callahan.

Brittany Bushman won a gold medal with the U.S. Women’s Tackle Football Team. Bushman is the starting quarterback and 2022 MVP for the Texas Elite Women’s Football team. She also played quarterback for Browns’ assistant wide receivers coach Callie Brownson when Brownson was the head coach of the U.S. Women’s Tackle team that won a gold medal at the IFAF World Championships over in Finland.

Jamael Lett is a special teams analyst at North Carolina and was previously an assistant at South Alabama.

The coaches joining next week are as follows:

Edwin Pata is a senior offensive analyst at Miami. Previously, Pata was a head coach at Immaculate-La Salle High School and an offensive line coach at Florida A&M, as well as FIU.

Deonte Gibson is a local coach just down the road at Youngstown State where he is the defensive line coach and defensive run game coordinator.

Graziella Napoli is a student defense coach at USC.

These coaches will get the benefit of working around NFL players and NFL staff members, which in turn could help them learn the ropes and get them on the right path to eventually coach in the NFL.