HEADLINES

Matt Raich

Colts Announce Finalized 2023 Coaching Staff

March 8th, 2023 at 9:55pm CST by Ely Allen

New Colts head coach Shane Steichen has officially put the finishing touches on his first NFL coaching staff, according to Colts.com writer JJ Stankevitz. We’ve covered a number of staff announcements like the hiring of offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter and the retaining of defensive coordinator Gus Bradley, but below are any moves from the announcement that we haven’t already reported on.

On the offensive side of the ball, we’ve covered most moves already. One piece of new information is that offensive quality control coach Brian Bratton has been retained in the same position for 2023. Bratton works primarily with wide receivers, assisting wide receivers coach Reggie Wayne, who was also retained. Joining them and the rest of the offensive staff will be former Notre Dame graduate assistant Chris Watt. Watt was previously the offensive line coach at Tulane in 2021 and will serve as assistant offensive line coach for the Colts under new offensive line coach Tony Sparano Jr.

We also received information that most of the defensive staff will be retained alongside Bradley. Linebackers coach and run game coordinator Richard Smith and defensive backs coach Ron Milus were both blocked by Indianapolis from interviewing for lateral moves and will stay in place in 2023. Their second-in-commands will both remain in place, as well, as assistant linebackers coach Cato June and assistant defensive backs coach Mike Mitchell were also retained. Similarly, defensive line coach Nate Ollie and assistant defensive line coach Matt Raich were kept on staff for next season. Lastly, Brent Jackson, who served last year as the team’s 2022 Tony Dungy Defensive Coaching Fellow, was promoted to defensive quality control assistant.

On special teams, it was confirmed that newly hired former Notre Dame special teams coordinator Brian Mason will serve as the Colts’ own special teams coordinator next year, despite this being his first NFL coaching position. Last year’s assistant special teams coach Joe Hastings will help Mason after being retained for 2023. Lastly, Indianapolis plans on hiring two Tony Dungy Diversity Fellows for next season, which it will announce at a later date.

And, with that, we have the first NFL coaching staff under Steichen. He retains much of what was put together in former head coach Frank Reich‘s last year but with a few of his own touches. Now Steichen can focus on roster-building as free agency and the draft loom on the horizon.

Bengals Hire Alex Van Pelt As QB Coach

January 12th, 2018 at 4:36pm CST by GregGoldstein

Marvin Lewis continues to add new faces to his staff. The team has agreed to hire Alex Van Pelt to be their quarterbacks coach for next season, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Van Pelt worked most recently in the same position for the Packers, but was not retained after his contract expired this past season.

Alex Van Pelt (Vertical)

Schefter adds in the same tweet that the the Bengals have also brought on Daronte Jones to coach the secondary and Matt Raich as a defensive assistant.

We have also learned that the Bengals have decided to keep Dan Pitcher as an assistant QB coach, per Jim Owczarski of the Enquirer (Twitter link). He worked with the team’s wideouts last year. Owczarski also notes that Robert Couch is being retainted in his current role as the Bengals assistant offensive line coach.

Van Pelt is clearly the the most notable hire of this group as he’s worked in he NFL in a variety of capacities since 2006. He held his previous job in Green Bay for four seasons before the team opted to go in a different direction after they missed the playoffs for the first time since 2008.

As the quarterbacks coach for the Packers, Van Pelt had the pleasure of working with Aaron Rodgers for many years, but will get a new challenge trying to help Bengals signal caller Andy Dalton elevate his play with the hopes of securing his first playoff victory in 2018.

Since surprisingly retaining Lewis as head coach after the regular season, the Bengals have shaken up their coaching staff by adding Teryl Austin as its new defensive coordinator and former Cowboys offensive line coach Frank Pollack to replace longtime Bengals staffer Paul Alexander.