Marvin Lewis is in his 10th season as Bengals head coach, having posted the most wins (69) in franchise history. He has led the team to the postseason in two of the last three years.
Marvin Lewis is in his 10th season as Bengals head coach, having posted the most wins (69) in franchise history. He has led the team to the postseason in two of the last three years.
Lewis’s Bengals were one of the NFL’s surprise teams last season, a young squad with new stars that posted a 9-7 record and earned a Wild Card playoff berth. Cincinnati lost at Houston in the Wild Card game, but the point was already made – the Bengals far exceeded widespread forecasts that they would not be a playoff contender.
Long regarded among the NFL’s top defensive coaches, Lewis in 2011 accomplished a major makeover of a Cincinnati offense that had struggled in 2010. Under new coordinator Jay Gruden, the offense featured rookie standouts in QB Andy Dalton and WR A.J. Green, and the young unit played superbly in clutch situations, winning five games featuring fourth-quarter comebacks. Dalton and Green became the first rookie QB-WR duo from the same team to play in the Pro Bowl, and second-year TE Jermaine Gresham also was selected for the Pro Bowl.
With second-year DT Geno Atkins completing Cincinnati's Pro Bowl lineup, the Bengals had four players in the game, with a total of only six NFL seasons among them.
Lewis spreads the praise much more widely, however.
“This whole team worked their butts off and I’m proud of them,” he said. “They just have to know they don’t get to start 2012 where they left off (as a playoff team). We have to start over again from step one, and work as hard and smart as we did last year, and then we take it up a notch and work even harder.”
Lewis is the Bengals all-time leader in seasons as a head coach (10). Paul Brown and Sam Wyche are tied for second at eight seasons. Lewis has risen to third in the NFL in longest current tenure with one team, trailing only Philadelphia’s Andy Reed (14th season in 2012) and New England’s Bill Belichick (13 seasons). In the category of most seasons as head coach with any team, Lewis ranks seventh among active coaches.
Lewis’s Bengals record is 69-74-1 in regular season, 0-3 in postseason and 69-77-1 overall. In a win on Oct. 23 of last season at Seattle, Lewis passed Wyche (64-68-0) into first place for Bengals head-coaching wins.
Lewis was the consensus choice as NFL Coach of the Year in 2009, when the Bengals won the AFC North title while sweeping all six division games. The Bengals are among only 10 NFL teams to make the playoffs in two or more of the last three seasons. Lewis has a total of three playoff berths and two division titles, as the Bengals also won the division in 2005.
Named the ninth head coach in Bengals history on Jan. 14, 2003, Lewis started quickly. His ’03 club finished 8-8, six games better than the ’02 club, good for the biggest improvement in the NFL. Lewis finished second (behind Belichick of Super Bowl champion New England) in Associated Press Coach of the Year voting.
Lewis came to the Bengals with credentials as a record-setting NFL defensive coordinator, having played a huge role in a championship season. His six seasons (1996-2001) as Baltimore Ravens coordinator included a Super Bowl victory in 2000, when his defense set the NFL record for fewest points allowed in a 16-game campaign (165). The Ravens clipped 22 points off the previous mark. The 2000 Ravens are always an entry in discussions regarding the best NFL defensive units of all time.
In 2002, the season before he joined the Bengals, Lewis led the Washington Redskins to a No. 5 NFL defensive ranking, serving as assistant head coach as well as defensive coordinator.
He had his first NFL assignment from 1992-95, as linebackers coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He aided the development of four Pro Bowl players – Kevin Greene, Chad Brown, Levon Kirkland and Greg Lloyd.
Lewis began his coaching career as linebackers coach at his alma mater, Idaho State, from 1981-84. ISU’s team (also nicknamed the Bengals) finished 12-1 in Lewis’s first season and won the NCAA Division 1-AA championship.
Lewis played LB at Idaho State, earning All-Big Sky Conference honors for three consecutive years (1978-80). He also saw action at quarterback and free safety during his college career. He received his bachelor’s degree in physical education from Idaho State in 1981, and earned his master’s in athletic administration in ’82. He was inducted into Idaho State’s Hall of Fame in 2001.
Born Sept. 23, 1958, Lewis attended Fort Cherry High School in McDonald, Pa. (near Pittsburgh), where he was an all-conference quarterback and safety. He also earned high school letters in wrestling and baseball. He and his wife, Peggy, have a daughter, Whitney, and a son, Marcus.
PLAYING AND COACHING HISTORY - 1978-80: Played linebacker, quarterback and safety at Idaho State. 1981-84: Assistant coach (AC), Idaho State. 1985-86: AC, Long Beach State. 1987-89: AC, New Mexico. 1990-91: AC, Univ. of Pittsburgh. 1992-95: AC, Pittsburgh Steelers. 1996-2001: Defensive coordinator, Baltimore Ravens. 2002: Assistant head coach/defensive coordinator, Washington Redskins. 2003-present: Bengals head coach.
