Local connections aplenty in Super Bowl XLI

Super Bowl XLI between Indianapolis and Chicago is not short on local storylines.

The NFC champion Bears were put together by a member of the Cradle of Coaches.

Jerry Angelo has led the team to three division titles in six years as Bears general manager. Angelo played defense tackle for three seasons (1968-1970) at Miami University and coached as a graduate assistant in 1971.

A team built through the draft, the Bears have a Bengals connection in the front office. Chicago’s director of pro personnel, Bob DePaul, was a Bengals assistant coach from 1994-96, spending 1995 as the defensive line coach.

Bears wide receivers coach Darryl Drake spent time in Bengals training camp in 1983.

In the Bears NFC Championship Game victory Sunday against New Orleans, they ran for 198 yards and allowed no sacks. Chicago’s offensive line coach is Harry Hiestand, who coached the offensive line at the University of Cincinnati for five seasons (1989-1993) and was the Bearcats offensive coordinator in 1993. The Bears’ assistant line coach, Harold Goodwin, coached Bengals offensive linemen Eric Ghiaciuc and Adam Kieft at Central Michigan.

The Colts, making their first Super Bowl appearance as a franchise since moving to Indianapolis in 1984, have a couple of major Bengals coaching connections on their staff.

Leslie Frazier, Indianapolis’ special assistant to head coach Tony Dungy, was Bengals defensive coordinator in 2003 and 2004. Colts defensive coordinator Ron Meeks was Bengals defensive backs coach from 1992-96.

The Colts have three players with local connections: Backup linebacker Rocky Boiman played at St. Xavier High School. Linebacker Tyjuan Hagler played at the University of Cincinnati. And rookie tailback DeDe Dorsey was with the Bengals in training camp.