With Al Golden On Short List of Bengals DC Candidates, a Look at Other Coaches Who Had Multiple Stints With Team

CINCINNATI – Per a report from our Drae Harris, the Cincinnati Bengals’ search for their next defensive coordinator is down to Patrick Graham and Al Golden.

Graham, who was the defensive coordinator for the Las Vegas Raiders the last three seasons, already has interviewed with the team.

Golden, the defensive coordinator at Notre Dame, has been immersed in game-planning for the Ohio State Buckeyes in Monday night’s College Football Playoff championship game.

But Bengals head coach Zac Taylor and the other decision makers in the front office already know plenty about Golden and what he would bring to the position because he was the team’s linebackers coach from 2020-21.

Golden left after Super Bowl LVI to become Marcus Freeman’s defensive coordinator.

If he returns, he would not be the first coach in franchise history to have separate stints coaching the Bengals.

In fact, the team just fired three others who had done it.

Frank Pollack was the offensive line coach in 2018, the year before Taylor arrived and fired him in favor of Jim Turner. One season later, Taylor brought Pollack back and added the title of run-game coordinator for his second stint from 2020-24.

Mark Duffner had been a senior defensive assistant for all six seasons under Taylor. He previously was with the Bengals for six seasons as linebackers coach (1997-2000) and defensive coordinator (2001-02), but Marvin Lewis did not retain Duffner when he became the head coach in 2003.

Louie Cioffi had been a defensive quality control coach since 2021. He previously worked 14 seasons with the Bengals under head coaches Bruce Coslet, Dick LeBeau and Lewis, primarily as assistant defensive backs coach.

All totaled, there have been 10 coaches who had separate stints with the team.

Here are the others:

Bruce Coslet (1985-89; 1994-2000)

He joined Sam Wyche’s staff in 1985 and was promoted to offensive coordinator the following year, remaining in that role through 1989 before taking the head coaching position with the New York Jets.

After getting fired in New York following the 1993 season, Coslet returned as Dave Shula’s offensive coordinator and eventually succeeded him as head coach. The Bengals named Coslet the interim head coach after firing Shula in the middle of the 1996 season, and the made the permanent head coach in 1997.

Coslet resigned three games into the 2000 season following a 37-0 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

Kevin Coyle (2001-11; 2016-17)

Coyle coached cornerbacks under LeBeau in 2001-02, and Lewis retained him to coach defensive backs from 2003-11, when he left to be the defensive coordinator in Miami.

Coyle worked alongside Taylor and Anarumo before getting fired five games into the 2015 season, resulting in Anarumo succeeding him as interim defensive coordinator.

Lewis brought Coyle back as defensive backs coach before parting ways with him after the 2017 season.

John Garrett (1995-98; 2001-02)

Currently the GM of player personnel at Duke, Garrett joined Shula’s staff as an offensive assistant and wide receivers coach in 1995.

He left after the 1998 season to become the quarterbacks coach with the Arizona Cardinals, working under head coach Vince Tobin, the father of current Bengals director of personnel Duke Tobin.

Fired after two seasons in Arizona, Garrett – who played one game for the Bengals as a wide receiver in 1989 – return to Cincinnati as an offensive assistant for another two seasons but was not retained by Lewis in 2003.

Hue Jackson (2004-06; 2012-15; 2018)

The only man on the list with three terms as a Bengals assistant coach, Jackon joined Lewis’ staff as wide receivers coach working with Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh in 2004.

He left in 2007 to become the offensive coordinator of the Atlanta Falcons and got caught up in the mess when Bobby Petrino quit in December.

Jackson returned to the Bengals in 2012 after getting fired as head coach of the Oakland Raiders after one season in which he went 8-8.

He left in 2016 to become the head coach of the Cleveland Browns and was fired midway through 2018, at which point Lewis brought him back in the role of special assistant to the head coach for the final six games of the season.

Bill “Tiger” Johnson (1968-78; 1985-90)

The offensive line coach under Paul Brown when the Bengals were born in 1968, Johnson was Brown’s pick to succeed him as head coach in 1976 rather than Bill Walsh.

Johnson resigned five games into the 1978 season and was replaced by Homer Rice.

After four seasons with the Detroit Lions and two with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as offensive line coach, Johnson returned to Cincinnati to be Wyche’s tight ends coach for six seasons.

Dick LeBeau (1980-91; 1997-2002)

Forrestt Gregg hired LeBeau to be his defensive backs coach when he took over the Bengals in 1980, and Wyche promoted him to defensive coordinator when he took over in 1984.

LeBeau stayed in that role through 1991, when Wyche was fired and Shula did not retain him.

Coslet brought LeBeau back to the organization as defensive coordinator in 1997, and Mike Brown promoted LeBeau to interim head coach after Coslet’s resignation in 2000 and named him head coach in 2021.

Brown fired LeBeau after he went 10-22 in two seasons, paving the way for the Lewis era.

Chuck Studley (1969-78; 1989-91)

After resigning as the University of Cincinnati head coach in 1966, Studley was out of coaching for two seasons when Paul Brown hired him to coach the defensive line in 1969.

He stayed in that position until 1979 when Walsh became the head coach of the 49ers and hired Studley as his defensive coordinator.

After defensive coordinators stops in Houston (where he also was interim head coach for 10 games in 1983) and Miami, Studley returned to the Bengals as defensive line coach in 1989.

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