Paul Guenther is in his seventh season on the Bengals coaching staff in 2011, and this season he takes on a new assignment. While continuing to serve as assistant special teams coach, he will work with defensive backs Kevin Coyle in the secondary. From 2006-10, in addition to his special teams duties, Guenther assisted with the linebackers.
Paul Guenther is in his seventh season on the Bengals coaching staff in 2011, and this season he takes on a new assignment. While continuing to serve as assistant special teams coach, he will work with defensive backs Kevin Coyle in the secondary. From 2006-10, in addition to his special teams duties, Guenther assisted with the linebackers.
Guenther also has helped raise the standard of the overall defense in the past three seasons, working with coordinator Mike Zimmer in constructing each week’s game plan.
Bengals.com has reported that “Guenther is going to have a big say in how the picture looks on third down, as his role expands in game-planning the passing downs. He had already been doing some of that, working on various blitzes with defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer.”
“I like working with Zim because he’s so agressive and likes to be on the cutting edge,” Guenther says. “It’s important to understand the whole concept. What kind of routes are they running against the pressures? What are the protection schemes against the pressures we run? How does it affect the DBs? Get them to understand how they react as well.”
In 2010, Guenther contributed to a “trifecta” year for the linebackers in the team tackling totals, as starters Dhani Jones, Keith Rivers and Rey Maualuga finished 1-2-3 on the squad.
Jones, who played his 11th NFL season in 2010, led the team in tackles (160) for the third straight season. WLB Rivers was second with 95 tackles, despite playing nearly the full year with a painful foot condition (plantar fasciitis). Maualuga, who showed progress at SLB during his second season, will switch to MLB in 2011.
Working with special teams, Guenther helped Cincinnati lead the NFL in punt coverage last season, with an average yield of only 4.8 yards on 26 opponent returns. No foe had a return of longer than 20 yards. The 4.8 mark was third-best in franchise history and the best since the strike-shortened season of 1982, when opponents averaged a record-low 4.0 in only nine games.
Guenther (pronounced “GUN-thur”) was offensive assistant on the Washington Redskins staff from 2002-03. Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis was one of his associates in 2002, serving as assistant head coach/defensive coordinator of the Redskins. Guenther’s primary position assignment with the Redskins was running backs.
From 1997-2000, Guenther was head coach at Ursinus College, an NCAA Division III school in Collegeville, Pa. He was the youngest head coach in college football in ’97, at age 25, and he led the team to the playoffs in ’99 and 2000.
His 1999 team finished 10-2, advancing to the second round of the playoffs. The 10 wins was a school record, and the team broke most of the offensive and defensive marks in the school record book.
Guenther began his coaching career from 1994-95 at Western Maryland. He was an assistant at Ursinus in 1996, moved to Jacksonville University as defensive coordinator in ’97, and returned to Ursinus that same year.
Guenther was born Nov. 22, 1971. His hometown is Richboro, Pa. He played LB in college at Ursinus, setting a school career tackles record (355) while three times earning all-conference honors.
He received his undergraduate degree in communications from Ursinus in 1994, and a master’s degree in sports administration from Western Maryland in ’97.
PLAYING AND COACHING HISTORY - 1990-93: Played LB at Ursinus College. 1994-95: Assistant coach (AC), Western Maryland. 1996: AC, Ursinus. 1997: Defensive coordinator, Jacksonville Univ. 1997-2001: Head coach, Ursinus. 2002-03: AC, Washington Redskins. 2005-present: AC, Bengals.
