Marvin Lewis decides to stay on as Cincinnati Bengals head coach
Even though the Cincinnati Bengals are not making the changes that head coach Marvin Lewis wants, he will be back again to coach the team next season.
The front office will barely change and Lewis’ request for an indoor training facility has been denied. They’ll just have to get used to practicing in the cold. The contract extension which Lewis agreed to was not made public, but it makes him the longest
reigning head coach in franchise history. Owner Mike Brown had initially decided to make some changes to the roster and staff to appease both sides, after a particularly dismal season.
The Bengals ended their season on Sunday with a 4-12 record. In the past 20 years, the team has had a winning record for only two seasons, both of which were under Lewis. He is 60-69-1 in the eight seasons that he has been coaching in Cincinnati, losing
in both of their playoff runs.
"We are close to being the kind of team we can be," Brown said. "I think continuity will give us the best shot at becoming that team. We have a good relationship, Marvin and I. We work well together. It isn't an easy relationship, but it's a good one."
Lewis had said before that he would really like to stay with the Bengals, but only if they made the changes that he has been requesting for years now. The team had offered Lewis an extension last year when they were on the road to winning their division
title, but he did not take up the offer.
Lewis and Brown met with each other, and talked over what it would take for Lewis to stay. They held discussions again the next day and finally reached a compromise on Tuesday afternoon.
"When you consider all things, looking forward and so forth, I think this is the right spot for me to be," Lewis said. "I'm not happy with where we are. It's not finished. I came here to do a certain thing and we're not done. I just felt that way. I really
came to the realisation this morning that this is what I wanted to do."
Brown said that the extension was for a minimum of at least two years, after sources claimed that the team had hit a snag in talks, due to uncertainty over the collective bargaining agreement.
"And I would say this: I think we're going to have a better year next year, and it might get longer than that real fast," Brown said.
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