"There was a time when the Pittsburgh Steelers stunk.

Perennial Pro Bowl linebacker Andy Russell remembers it well. The players would call meetings to try to figure out why. They wondered whether they suffered flawed psyches. They talked about whether they were playing hard enough.

From 1964-68, the Steelers won no more than five games in a season. They won just two games twice.

Then coach Chuck Noll arrived.

"He's the guy," Russell said, "that changed the entire mind-set."

How Noll and other NFL coaches and executives who built reputations as turnaround specialists reversed the culture of losing can provide a road map for the Browns. Names such as Marv Levy with Kansas City and Buffalo; Marty Schottenheimer with the Browns, Kansas City and San Diego; Gil Brandt with Dallas; Dan Reeves in Denver, New York and Atlanta; and Ron Wolf in Green Bay all offered ideas from their own experiences.

The formula, it seems, is some combination of leadership, stability, buy-in across the board, talent (especially at quarterback) and tough love.

Soon after landing the job, Noll, who played for the Browns under coach Paul Brown and prepped at Benedictine, called Russell to his office. The linebacker expected praise for making his first Pro Bowl. "