Koetter Named Head Coach of Tampa Bay

 
POCATELLO, Idaho- With the announcement of Dirk Koetter being named head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Idaho State University now has two alums who are head coaches in the NFL as Marvin Lewis has been head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals since 2003.

ISU is one of only three institutions who have two alums as NFL head coaches. Pete Carroll (Seattle Seahawks) and Hue Jackson (Cleveland Browns) are alums of Pacific while Jeff Fisher (L.A. Rams) and Jack Del Rio (Oakland Raiders) are alums of USC.

Of the 31 current NFL head coaches (Tennessee has yet to hire a new coach), 17 head coaches are alums of FCS level schools or lower while 14 are alums of FBS schools.

Koetter  finished his playing career at Idaho State in 1981. He was the head coach at Highland High School from 1983-84 before being named the offensive coordinator at San Francisco State in 1985. Koetter has a storied and successful history coaching offense as he was also the offensive coordinator at UTEP (1986-88), Missouri (1989-93), Boston College (1994-95) and Oregon (1996-97).

Koetter was the head coach at Boise State from 1998-2000 before taking the head job at Arizona State in 2001. His final season at ASU was in 2006. He was then the offensive coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2007-11 and for the Atlanta Falcons from 2012-14. Koetter was the offensive coordinator at Tampa Bay in 2015 before being named head coach.

Lewis is the winningest coach in Cincinnati history as he has led his team to the post season in five of the last six seasons.   Lewis ranks second in the NFL in longest current tenure with one team, trailing only Bill Belichick, who is in his 16th straight season with New England.

Lewis was the consensus choice as NFL Coach of the Year in 2009, when the Bengals won the AFC North Division while sweeping all six division games. The Bengals were AFC North champions under Lewis also in 2005 and '13.

Lewis came to the Bengals with credentials as a record-setting NFL defensive coordinator, having played a huge role in a championship season. His six seasons (1996-2001) as Baltimore Ravens coordinator included a Super Bowl victory in 2000, when his defense set the NFL record for fewest points allowed in a 16-game campaign (165). That team clipped 22 points off the previous mark. The 2000 Ravens are always an entry in discussions regarding the best NFL defensive units of all time.

Lewis began his coaching career as linebackers coach at his alma mater Idaho State from 1981-84. ISU's team (also nicknamed the Bengals) finished 12-1 in Lewis' first season there and won the NCAA Division 1-AA championship.