Cincinnati Bengals quarterbacks coach Dan Pitcher seemed like one of the most obvious assistants set to leave the team this offseason.
And while Pitcher was a big candidate for the offensive coordinator vacancy with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he says there was too much pulling him back toward Cincinnati to actually leave.
“We’ve got something special going on now,” Pitcher said, according to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “I’ve been a part of this from the ground up. I believe the Super Bowl is in our near future and I want to be a part of that.”
Pitcher has been on the staff with the Bengals longer than all but two people after remaining in the wake of the transition from Marvin Lewis to Zac Taylor and that certainly played a role.
“This organization has been incredible to me and my family. They gave me my first coaching job in the NFL,” Pitcher said. “To promote me numerous times and for Zac to keep me in the head coaching change (to Taylor from Marvin Lewis), I do feel a tremendous sense of loyalty to Zac, (director of player personnel) Duke Tobin and the Brown and Blackburn families.
While a report said the Bengals swooped in and gave Pitcher an extension as soon as other teams started sniffing around, he told Hobson his return is about “finishing it off” with a championship.
Like big-name free agents wanting to join a contender, this is the sort of luxury a winning team enjoys — Pitcher is back and he joins both coordinators and receivers coach Troy Walters as guys coming back to keep it going, too.
