Cincinnati Bengals 2009 Media Guide.indb - Bengals Home

PAUL GUENTHER – Asst. Special Teams/Asst. Linebackers
Paul Guenther is in
his fifth season on the
Bengals coaching staff in
2009, serving for the fourth
straight year as assistant
special teams/assistant
linebackers coach.
The 2008 season
was a productive one
for the linebackers as the
Bengals posted a No. 12
NFL defensive yardage ranking, the team’s best since
2001. MLB Dhani Jones posted a career-high 165
tackles. LB Brandon Johnson, who had no defensive
stats over 2006-07 with Arizona, blossomed into an
impact defender with 112 stops. And Rashad Jeanty, a
third-year NFL player with pro experience in Canada,
developed into a full-time starter, ranking fourth on the
team with 97 tackles.
Together, the linebackers’ play helped make up for
the absence of top draft pick Keith Rivers, who started
promisingly but missed more than half the year due to a
jaw fracture. Rivers, back at full speed for 2009, ranked
second on the team with 50 tackles through the seven
games he played.
The defense’s No. 12 ranking was based on 325.5
yards allowed per game, and as the Bengals closed the
season with a three-game win streak, opponents managed
only 19 total points and averaged 227.3 yards per game.
The defense tied a pair of club records during the
finishing stretch, holding foes scoreless for a stretch of
seven consecutive quarters and allowing no touchdowns
for nine consecutive quarters.
Guenther also worked with special teams coach
Darrin Simmons in 2008 to help the kickoff and punt
coverage units finish in the league’s top half in average
Jay Hayes, a 21-year
veteran of major college
and NFL coaching, is in
his seventh season as
Bengals defensive line
coach. He helped direct
the Bengals last season
to a No. 12 NFL finish
in fewest yards allowed
— the team’s best rank
since 2001 — and he
oversees a line group that has several players showing
potential for breakout seasons.
Though triple-digit tackle totals are rare for interior
linemen, DT Domata Peko logged 108 stops last year in
only his third pro season. Another tackle, rookie Pat Sims,
showed continuous improvement through the season and
started six of the last seven games.
At defensive end, the Bengals suffered last year with
starters Robert Geathers and Antwan Odom both missing
JAY HAYES — Defensive Line
— 11 —
yards allowed. Opponents were limited to 22.5 yards per
kickoff return (ranked 13th) and 9.1 yards per punt return
(ranked 14th).
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 nearly every offensive and defensive
mark in the Ursinus 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.
signifi cant time due to injuries. But they are expected
back at full speed for 2009, and in their absence last
year, fourth-year pro Jonathan Fanene had by far his
best season.
The defense’s No. 12 ranking was based on 325.5
yards allowed per game, and as the Bengals closed the
season with a three-game win streak, opponents managed
only 19 total points and averaged 227.3 yards per game.
The defense tied a pair of club records during the
finishing stretch, holding foes scoreless for a stretch of
seven consecutive quarters and allowing no touchdowns
for nine consecutive quarters.
Hayes works with various options of line combinations,
as game situations dictate.
“It’s my job to pick somebody to get a spark, so we
can have the chemistry and keep it running hot,” Hayes
says. “We want to keep getting after people and not let
them find room to breathe. If we can continue doing that,
we can be successful.”
Hayes came to the Bengals from the Minnesota Vi-
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