Chicago Bears special teams coordinator Richard Hightower is set to be one of the two head coaches for this year’s East-West Shrine Bowl. Director of football operations for the East-West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galko, confirmed an announcement will be coming on Thursday that has Hightower coaching the East team, while New York Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka will coach the West.
Very excited to have our two 2024 @ShrineBowl Head Coaches locked in!
Tomorrow morning, we’ll announce:
🔵 West Coaching Staff, led by Mike Kafka
🔴East Coaching Staff, led by Richard Hightower pic.twitter.com/5sDZW6o2JS
— Eric Galko (@EricGalko) January 17, 2024
The East-West Shrine Bowl is one of college football’s postseason all-star games that dates back to 1925. Since 2017, the game has pulled assistant coaches from the NFL to serve as head coaches for each side. Hightower, entering Year 3 as the team’s special teams coordinator, now gets that honor and will have an up-close look at some of this year’s top draft prospects. He’s the second Bears coordinator to coach in a college all-star game in the last two years, joining former offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, who coached in last year’s Senior Bowl.
This year’s East-West Shrine Bowl takes place Thursday, February 4th, at 7 p.m. CT at the Ford Center at the Star in Frisco, TX.
