02-14-2023, 05:25 PM
(02-14-2023, 04:46 PM)Ell Prez Wrote: I feel bad for Lou. With only 2-4 openings/year, and a pool of candidates, it’s hard to finally get a HC job. Everyone says he’s better off here than in a bad situation- I disagree. Strike while the iron is hot. He’s been a coach Joe long, and he just now got an interview? He’s coming off 2 great years. His window for HC could be closing. All it takes is to have a bad year defensively (we are gonna lose a bunch of D players) and he could be long forgotten.
Lou has a lot working against him, though.
1. His age. He turns 57 in August and a lot of teams prefer going with younger candidates who can be around for a long time.
2. While he does have a long resume, it's not a very good resume outside of the last 2 seasons. He was usually a position coach, and his secondaries performed poorly.
He was pretty bad as an interim DC in Miami. He was bad his first 2 years in Cincy, although we now attribute that to him not having players.
3. Fan perception. When your average fan thinks of the Bengals, they think of Joe Burrow and the offense. Selling the fans on the Bengals' 57 year old defensive coordinator might not be the most thrilling idea.
The training, nutrition, medicine, fitness, playbooks and rules evolve. The athlete does not.
