Lucas Gebhart
Sports Editor
After every football season, the coaching carousel plays its tune forcing NFL coaches into new positions and new cities.
This year was no different and when the music stopped, ISU found itself with two alumni in head coaching positions.
Marvin Lewis, the head coach for the Cincinnati Bengals graduated from ISU.
Dirk Koetter, the new head coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is also an ISU alumni and started his coaching career in Pocatello.
Shortly after his graduation, Lewis coached the linebackers for ISU from 1981-1984.
Lewis also coached linebackers at Long Beach State (’85-’86), New Mexico (’86-’89) and Pittsburgh (’90-’91).
Lewis continued to coach linebackers in the NFL as he helped develop a historically stout defense in the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1992-1995 before assuming a defensive coordinating position in Baltimore.
As the Ravens defensive coordinator, Lewis coached what many believe to be one of the best defenses in NFL history as the 2000 Ravens only gave up 970 rushing yards. That defense was good enough to win Lewis his first and only Super Bowl ring as the Ravens defeated the New York Giants 34-7 in Super Bowl XXV.
Lewis took over as head coach for the Cincinnati Bengals in 2003 where he remains to this day.
Lewis is the second longest tenured coach in the NFL. Bill Belichick is the longest who has been with the Patriots since 2000.
Lewis has yet to win a playoff game in his time in Cincinnati.
Unlike Lewis, Dirk Koetter is offensive minded.
Koetter was promoted from offensive coordinator to head coach by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers just a few weeks ago after the firing of Lovie Smith.
Koetter, a Pocatello native, attended Highland High School, and coached the Rams from 1983-1984 before accepting and offensive coordinator position at San Francisco State in 1985.
Koetter bounced around college football assuming offensive coordinator positions at Texas El Paso, (‘86-‘88) Missouri, (‘89-‘93) Boston College (‘94-‘95) and Oregon (‘96-‘97). In addition, Koetter was the head coach at Boise State (’98-’00) and Arizona State (’01-’06).
Koetter takes over a Tampa Bay squad with the young and talented quarterback Jameis Winston. Koetter helped Winston in his rookie season as he was the Bucs offensive coordinator in 2015. Koetter was also an offensive coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars (’07-’11), and Atlanta Falcons (’12-’14).
Although the Bucs have struggled in recent years, Koetter has a promising future in Tampa Bay. The Bucs won just six games in 2015, but considering Tampa Bay only won two games in 2014, the lowest record by any NFL team during that season, the Bucs seem to be headed in the right direction.
In the aftermath of that forgettable season, the Bucs drafted Winston with the first overall pick in the 2014 NFL draft. Koetter helped Winston throw for over 4,000 yards and 22 touchdowns during his rookie season.
Now as Winston’s head coach, Koetter will continue to groom the young quarterback into what Bucs fans hope to be the face of the franchise.
