Bengals fill two coaching vacancies

The Cincinnati Bengals have hired Ken Zampese as offensive coordinator and Jim Haslett as linebackers coach.

“It’s a good day for our coaching staff as we move forward for the coming season,” Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis said.

Zampese, 48, had been the Bengals quarterbacks coach since head coach Lewis arrived in 2003. He replaces Hue Jackson, who left to be the head coach in Cleveland.

“I’m excited for Kenny’s opportunity to continue to grow our offense,” Lewis said. “He’s been in the offensive room over the years with our past coordinators, and he understands my vision about our future. It’s time for him to really put his hands on it now and advance the development. He has been Andy Dalton’s position coach, and Andy has just kept on getting better, so we’ve obviously got some good continuity working there.”

Prior to coming to Cincinnati, Zampese was an assistant coach for Philadelphia, Green Bay and St. Louis.

The 60-year-old Haslett has 21 years of coaching experience in the NFL, including six seasons as the head coach in New Orleans from 2000-05.

He also was the interim head coach in St. Louis for the final 12 games of 2008.

“Jim is just a very outstanding and thorough football coach,” Lewis said. “He has a tremendous background, including both as a head coach and a coordinator. It’s a wealth of expertise and ideas that he’s going to bring to a position group that has to be successful for us to succeed as a team.”

Haslett spent the 2015 season as a consultant at Penn State. The only other time he worked outside of the NFL since joining the Los Angeles Raiders as a linebackers coach in 1993 was when he worked one season as the head coach for the Florida Tuskers in the United Football League.

Haslett’s offensive coordinator with the Tuskers was Jay Gruden, who left that job to become Bengals offensive coordinator from 2011-13.

When Gruden took over as Redskins head coach in 2014, he kept Haslett as the defensive coordinator, the position he had held since 2010.

This will be Haslett’s second coaching stint in the AFC North. He was the defensive coordinator in Pittsburgh from 1997-99, replacing Dick LeBeau when he came to Cincinnati to join Bruce Coslet’s staff.

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