Former Titans Assistant Gets New (Old) Job

Kerry Coombs is following a familiar career path. In reverse.

The University of Cincinnati officially named Coombs its cornerbacks coach and special teams coordinator on Tuesday.

Coombs was the Tennessee Titans’ cornerbacks coach in coach Mike Vrabel’s first two seasons (2018-19). He joined the Titans after nine seasons as an assistant coach at Ohio State and left to become defensive coordinator at Ohio State.

Before his first stint with the Buckeyes, he spent five seasons as an assistant coach at UC, the last three as assistant head coach/defensive backs/special teams. Now, he has gone from Ohio State (he was not retained following the 2021 season) back to Cincinnati.

"I'm thrilled to welcome Kerry Coombs and his family back to Cincinnati and to our program," coach Luke Fickell said in the announcement. "Kerry has had tremendous success everywhere he has been at the high school, college and professional levels because he's an exceptional motivator and teacher of the game.

“Coaching with him, I've seen first-hand the positive impact Kerry can have on a program. He's an excellent special teams coach and he will do a great job developing our cornerbacks.”

Fickell coached at Ohio State from 2002-16, including serving as head coach in 2011 following Jim Tressel’s resignation. Coombs was a part of those staffs from 2012-17 as was Vrabel from 2011-13.

If his return trip continues, Coombs will be a high school coach before long. Before he made the jump to coaching college football with Cincinnati, he was a highly successful high school coach in Ohio for nearly two decades and won one state championship.

Cincinnati became one of the big stories of the 2021 college football season when it went undefeated (13-0) before a loss to Alabama in the College Football Playoff.