Robert Prince - Pro Football Rumors

Coaching Updates: Cowboys, Bears, Vikings, Steelers, Browns

March 23rd, 2024 at 3:22pm CST by Ely Allen

The Cowboys announced a number of staff updates recently. We’ve tracked many of the initial changes to occur with the departure of Dan Quinn and a few assistants across the division to Washington, but with the staff filled out, head coach Mike McCarthy opted to hand out of few promotions.

Firstly, Al Harris, who serves as the team’s defensive backs coach has had the title of assistant head coach added to his title, per Josina Anderson of CBS Sports. Dallas had blocked Harris from interviewing for a lateral move to follow Quinn and opted to sweeten the deal after keeping him from another opportunity. ESPN’s Todd Archer tells us that, also on defense, assistant defensive backs coach Cannon Matthews has been granted the title of safeties coach for 2024, making him a full position coach.

On offense, wide receivers coach Robert Prince has added the role of pass game coordinator to his position. Likewise, Chase Haslett, previously the assistant tight ends coach, will serve as the pass game specialist next season. Lastly, game management and offensive assistant Ryan Feder has replaced “offensive assistant” in his job title with “assistant quarterbacks coach” for the 2024 season.

Here are a few other staff updates from around the NFL:

The Bears made a couple of adjustments to their front office recently. Vice president Corey Ruff was promoted by the organization to senior vice president of strategy and analytics and chief of staff. Chicago also hired Tanya Dreesen as the team’s senior vice president of strategy and global affairs and chief of staff, per Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2.
We’ve tracked a number of Vikings staff changes throughout the offseason, but we have a new promotion and an update to an earlier report. First, 2023’s assistant quarterbacks coach and chief of special projects Grant Udinski earned a promotion, replacing “chief of special projects” in his job title with “assistant offensive coordinator,” according to Kevin Seifer of ESPN. Udinksi will assist new quarterbacks coach Josh McCown. We had originally reported that former quarterbacks coach Chris O’Hara had been moved to pass-game specialist with McCown’s addition, but we now see that Minnesota has him listed as senior offensive assistant.
The Steelers will add veteran defensive assistant Anthony Midget to their 2024 staff, according to Brooke Pryor of ESPN. Midget has experience as the Texans former secondary coach and most recently served as the defensive backs coach in Tennessee. After being fired by the Titans following the 2022 NFL season, Midget sat out in 2023. He rejoins the ranks of NFL coaching as the assistant secondary coach in Pittsburgh.
Finally, the Browns will add an intriguing young name in Nick Charlton, per ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Charlton made history at Maine, where he became the youngest head coach in Division I history at 31 years old. Following a three-year stint with the Black Bears, Charlton accepted the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coaching job at UConn. He’ll leave the Huskies to serve as the new offensive assistant and run-game specialist in Cleveland.

Cowboys To Add Paul Guenther, Jeff Zgonina, Greg Ellis To Staff

February 16th, 2024 at 12:14pm CST by Sam Robinson

Mike Zimmer is bringing in some familiar faces to work on his first Cowboys defensive staff. Former Zimmer assistants and at least one of his former players in Dallas will be part of the group.

Part of Zimmer staffs in Cincinnati and Minnesota, former DC Paul Guenther will have another chance in the league. The Cowboys are hiring Guenther to be their run-game coordinator on defense, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Clarence Hill. Dallas will also bring in veteran assistant Jeff Zgonina to coach its defensive line, the Washington Post’s Nicki Jhabvala tweets; Zgonina will replace Aden Durde, who agreed to leave for the Seattle DC job last week.

Former Cowboys pass rusher Greg Ellis will also make a major leap in the coaching ranks. Serving as the head coach of a Texas-based NAIA school last season, Ellis will join Guenther and Zgonina in his old stomping grounds. Zimmer is bringing the former Cowboys sack artist aboard as his assistant D-line coach, Hill adds.

Guenther, 52, coached alongside Zimmer with the Bengals and eventually succeeded him as Cincinnati’s DC under Marvin Lewis. Finishing his Cincy run with Zimmer as the team’s linebackers coach, Guenther linked up with his former boss in Minnesota in 2021; the Vikings brought him in as a senior defensive assistant during what turned out to be Zimmer’s final year running the show in the Twin Cities. Guenther, who served as the Raiders’ DC from 2018-20, has not been in the NFL since that Vikings one-off.

After a 17-year career as a D-lineman, Zgonina has been a regular assistant around the NFL. While Dan Quinn has poached multiple Cowboys assistants — including Joe Whitt as DC — Dallas will hire Zgonina after a Washington stay. Zgonina, 53, has worked with the Texans, Giants, 49ers and Commanders over the past 11 years. He served as D-line coach in San Francisco and Washington, holding that job on Ron Rivera‘s staff over the past two years. The Commanders effectively cut Zgonina’s legs out from under him at the trade deadline, moving Montez Sweat and Chase Young off the roster. Both contract-year players were off to strong starts before being dealt.

Ellis, 48, will make the most interesting move. He served as head coach at Southwestern Assemblies of God University from 2022-23, going 11-10 in that time. Ellis resigned his post in November; he previously served as head coach at another NAIA school (Texas College). Ellis has also devoted time to the theater since retiring from the NFL, directing multiple plays and founding a multimedia company. This will represent a key step for the former Cowboys defensive end, who spent most of his time in Dallas playing under Zimmer.

The Cowboys drafted Ellis eighth overall in 1998, and he became a regular starter for the next decade. The team gave Ellis a six-year extension in 2003; the North Carolina alum registered 77 sacks as a Cowboy from 1998-2008, making the Pro Bowl and earning Comeback Player of the Year acclaim in 2007. Ellis tallied a career-high 12.5 sacks that season.

Additionally, the Cowboys reached an agreement to retain wide receivers coach Robert Prince, Todd Archer of ESPN.com tweets. Prince has been with the Cowboys for the past two seasons, overseeing the development of CeeDee Lamb in the wake of the Amari Cooper trade.

Saints To Interview Robert Prince For OC Job

February 10th, 2022 at 6:06pm CST by Ben Levine

The Saints have already revamped their offensive coaching staff, and it sounds like they’ll consider adding an offensive coordinator to a grouping that includes Pete Carmichael and Doug Marrone. Per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero (via Twitter), the Saints will interview Cowboys wide receivers coach Robert Prince for their OC job.

Prince literally finalized his contract with the Cowboys yesterday, and he could already be on the move. The 56-year-old has been coaching since the 1980s, with his first NFL gig coming with the Falcons in 2004. He served as Boise State’s offensive coordinator between 2012 and 2013 before a long stint with the Lions.

Prince served as the Lions WRs coach for seven seasons, and he had a one-game stint as acting head coach in 2020. The veteran coach moved on to Houston in 2021, serving as the Texans wide receivers coach.

Carmichael was the Saints offensive coordinator for the past 13 years, and he is on track to stay on the staff under Dennis Allen. The veteran coach will serve in a different role, however, with Carmichael requesting the change. The team also added Marrone in an unknown role yesterday, and there were rumblings that they were eyeing ex-Jets OC John Morton.

NFC Staff Notes: Panthers, Bears, Cowboys

February 8th, 2022 at 10:42pm CST by Sam Robinson

After two years back in college, Paul Pasqualoni is returning to the NFL. The Panthers hired the septuagenarian assistant as their defensive line coach Tuesday. Like Matt Rhule, Pasqualoni has spent most of his coaching career at the college level, being best known for his lengthy tenure as Syracuse’s head coach. Pasqualoni and Rhule were each head coaches, the former at UConn and the latter at Temple, in the American Athletic Conference’s debut season (2013). Pasqualoni, 72, resurfaced in the NFL in 2018, when he became Matt Patricia‘s defensive coordinator in Detroit. After Patricia fired him, Pasqualoni spent the past two years as a special assistant at Florida.

Here is the latest from the NFC coaching carousel:

The Bears have made a few more hires, staffing their front lines. They added Travis Smith to coach their defensive line. This will mark a notable change for Smith, who was with the Raiders for the past 10 years, coaching under Dennis Allen, Tony Sparano, Jack Del Rio, Jon Gruden and Rich Bisaccia. Chicago also added Jim Dray as its tight ends coach. A veteran tight end who retired not that long ago, Dray is moving up from the quality control level. This will be the 35-year-old assistant’s first position coaching gig, having been a QC coach in Cleveland over the past two years. Austin King is also set to become the Bears’ assistant O-line coach. King worked with Smith this past season, being the Raiders’ tight ends coach. He was Dayton’s OC from 2017-19.
Cowboys wide receivers coach Adam Henry is interviewing with the Giants. He will do so after turning down a new Cowboys contract, Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram tweets. Robert Prince is set to replace him, per ESPN’s Todd Archer and Field Yates (on Twitter). Prince and Cowboys OC Kellen Moore have an interesting history. Prince, 56, was a Boise State staffer during Moore’s final season (2011). He later joined the Lions’ staff during Moore’s QB tenure there. Prince spent seven seasons in Detroit as the team’s wideouts coach.
Curtis Modkins is likely to become the Vikings‘ next run-game coordinator and backfield coach, Mike Klis of 9News tweets. The Broncos’ running backs coach over the past four seasons, Modkins played a key role in Phillip Lindsay‘s rapid rise from UDFA to Pro Bowler and then aided Javonte Williams during his quality rookie season. Modkins, 51, is a two-time NFL OC, having served in that role with the Bills in the early 2010s and with the 49ers in 2016.
The Seahawks are in talks to add Karl Scott as their defensive passing-game coordinator, Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times tweets. Alabama’s DBs coach from 2018-20, Scott made his NFL coaching debut this past season as Vikings secondary coach. The Seahawks adding Scott would not be as a Sean Desai backup plan, per Condotta. Both could join the revamped staff. Seattle is targeting the 2021 Chicago DC for an assistant role, in the event Minnesota does not hire him as its next DC.

Lions’ Robert Prince To Serve As Interim Interim HC

December 24th, 2020 at 9:29am CST by Zachary Links

The Lions, technically speaking, are on to their third head coach of 2020. Wide receivers coach Robert Prince will man the sidelines on Saturday while interim head coach Darrell Bevell watches from afar, per the league’s COVID-19 protocols.

Bevell and nearly all of the Lions’ defensive staff were classified as close contacts to a COVID-positive assistant, putting the team in uncharted waters on a short week. Four other coaches will be keeping their distance too. The shuffle will see quarterbacks coach Sean Ryan call plays for the first time in his career. For his part, Prince previously served as Boise State’s offensive coordinator. He joined the Lions in 2014 under the Jim Caldwell administration and he stands as the team’s longest-tenured assistant.

While the Bucs make their playoff push, the Lions won’t be playing for much. If the season ended today, they’d be in line for the No. 11 overall pick.

In other Lions news, future Hall of Famer Adrian Peterson says he wants to continue his career in 2021. So far this year, the 35-year-old has averaged 3.7 yards per carry and scored six touchdowns.