FitzGerald is new linebackers coach

By Mark Curnutte
mcurnutte@enquirer.com

Bengals linebackers can expect to hear a lot about Ray Lewis from their new position coach.

Jeff FitzGerald, who was announced today as the team's new linebackers coached, handled Lewis and the rest of Baltimore's star-studded linebacker corps for the past four seasons.

"Everyone can get better," FitzGerald told The Enquirer in a phone interview tonight from Baltimore-Washington International Airport.

That list includes Ray Lewis.

"He was always eager and wanted to get better," said FitzGerald, whose stop with the Bengals will be his fifth as an NFL position coach. "He worked his (butt) off in practice. I was always jumping all over the other guys. `You can’t run around the way he runs around, and he has accomplished everything?'"

FitzGerald, 47, takes over a position group whose success or failure in 2008 will be pivotal in the overall fortunes of the team and a defense searching for redemption.

The Bengals are toying with the idea of switching from a defensive scheme that uses three linebackers to one that employs four, known as the 3-4.

The Bengals placed four linebackers on the season-ending injured reserve list in 2007, including rising third-year player Ahmad Brooks.

"I am told we have some potential difference-maker players," said FitzGerald, who met late last week with head coach Marvin Lewis and new defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer at Paul Brown Stadium.

In addition, the Bengals are expected to regain the services of promising pass-rush outside linebacker Eric Henderson (wrist) and possibly Odell Thurman, a play-maker as a rookie who was suspended the past two years for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy. The Bengals might be considering a move to outside linebacker for defensive end Robert Geathers.

FitzGerald is all about linebackers. He played linebacker at Oregon State before a knee injury ended his career. Three of his four pervious NFL coaching stints – Baltimore, Arizona and Washington; he worked with defensive backs and special teams at Tampa Bay from 1990-93 – were as linebackers coach.

"I think I bring I bring a lot," he said. "I'm going to be able to help these guys develop. It is my job and obligation to bring them along and make them thorough linebackers: blitzing, against the run, zone (pass coverage) drops, man-to-man coverage. I'm going to make them better football players."

As Ravens linebackers coach from 2004-07, FitzGerald became just the second position coach to have four of his players named to the Pro Bowl team (2006). They were Ray Lewis, Bart Scott, Terrell Suggs and Adalius Thomas.

Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis was formerly Baltimore's defensive coordinator but had not worked with FitzGerald before. Still, they were professional friends.

"Jeff’s recent experience is in our AFC North division, and he's been instrumental in a very successful performance by the Ravens' front seven," Marvin Lewis said in a statement released by the Bengals. "He does a great job communicating with his players, and we are excited to have him on our staff."

Zimmer was announced as defensive coordinator last week.

"We sat down for a couple of days," Zimmer told The Enquirer in a phone interview this afternoon from Mobile, Ala., home of the Senior Bowl. "I am impressed with him."

FitzGerald has local coaching roots. He started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at the University of Cincinnati in 1985.

Before working in Baltimore, he coached in the NFL at Tampa Bay (1990-93), Washington (1998-99) and Arizona (2000-03).

FitzGerald replaces Ricky Hunley, fired Jan. 2.

FitzGerald was fired along with Ravens head coach Brian Billick and Billick's entire staff Dec. 31. New Ravens coach John Harbaugh did not contact FitzGerald.

"I felt it was time to go," said FitzGerald, whose goal is to become a defensive coordinator in the NFL. "It was time to move onto new challenges. The Bengals have so much upside. The offense is awesome. It’s kind of like the tables are turned from how it was in Baltimore.

"I am a stickler for details. I will take any player where he is and work to make him better."