Ex-Bengal Moyer named DC coach

How does a team that finished 1-9 attract a former NFL player as its new head coach? Ken Moyer credits a little divine intervention for his new job at Dayton Christian High School.

The one-time Cincinnati Bengals offensive lineman was introduced as the Warriors football coach Thursday.

Moyer said he learned of the job when his wife got a call asking if Ken might know someone who would be a good fit. His response? “Why not me?”

Moyer has been a teacher and assistant coach at Oak Hills in suburban Cincinnati the last two years, going against some of the top public school teams in the state.

Dayton Christian might be a step down from that athletically, but Moyer is more interested in his new job from a spiritual perspective. “I define winning differently than most,” he said. “How the scoreboard lights up at the end of the game isn’t the most important thing to me. I like to focus a whole lot more on the process.”

Moyer is no stranger to the role of underdog. An undrafted free agent coming out of the University of Toledo in 1989, he ended up starting the majority of games he played for the Bengals in five seasons, including the last time Cincinnati won a playoff game.

After five seasons with the Bengals, Moyer played his final year in Philadelphia before an injury forced him into retirement. He came back to Cincinnati and for 16 years served as team chaplain for the Bengals and Reds.

Moyer hopes his experience can be a boost in his first job as a head coach. “In some sense there is that instant credibility because I played (in the NFL) that they are going to come and trust what I have to say,” Moyer said. “There is a core nucleus of athletes that can really compete well, and that excites me.”

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