E-mail a friendMarvin Lewis
airdate January 30, 2004
When Marvin Lewis took the reigns of the Cincinnati Bengals, he became the third Black head coach in the NFL. And, he came with strong credentials - 22 years of experience, including stints with the Ravens, Steelers and Redskins. Since his arrival, Lewis has also tried to make a difference in the greater Cincinnati area by participating in activities supporting various non-profit organizations.
Tavis: Coach Marvin Lewis led the Cincinnati Bengals to a terrific season, nearly making the playoffs. Missed it by that much, uh, which would have been a remarkable achievement for a team that won just 2 games the year before he arrived. I am certain he'd prefer to be right now in Houston getting ready for Sunday's big game, but I'm glad at least that he's joined us tonight from Cincinnati. Coach, nice to see you.
Marvin Lewis: Hey, Tavis, how are you?
Tavis: I'm well, and yourself?
Marvin: Real good, real good.
Tavis: I gotta confess this up front for everybody watching, 'cause I know I'll get mail about how I wasn't fair and balanced in this conversation, but I am a Marvin Lewis fan, and I can't begin to tell you how delighted I was when after--long after you should have been recognized as a head coach candidate, you got out of Baltimore and got to Cincinnati. But I was a little scared that you went to Cincinnati. Uh, do you regret at all going to Cincinnati at this point?
Marvin: No, it's been fantastic, and, uh--you know, when you take a new job and there's a lot of unknowns, obviously, but the thing I was very confident about was our organization's goals, that they want to win football games and I felt like I could provide that direction.
Tavis: You were the defensive wizard for the Baltimore Ravens and helped them win that Super Bowl. Uh, and again, back to my earlier point. There were a lot of sports fans--and let's be honest, a lot of brothers--who were scared that Cincinnati just wasn't the right place for you, that you could never turn around that sorry franchise, and yet you did it. 2 wins last year, 8-8 this year, missed the playoffs by one game basically. How did you do it?
Marvin: Well, again, I think we did it with a lot of hard work. I think having a lot of people with a lot of goals, a lot of vision, and some thought forward. And now, it's a chance to build on that. Now we've laid a good foundation, but we've got to move forward, and that's what I'm excited to do.
Tavis: Let me jump to this issue right now, because we could talk all around it and dance all around it till later in our conversation, but it is one of the most significant issues being talked about in sport today, certainly in football, and that is the absence, the lack of a significant number of African-American coaches in the NFL. With all the vacancies that were around this year, it was a virtual job fair in the NFL this year for head coaches, and still only 2 African Americans got picked up--Denny Green and Lovie Smith in Chicago--Denny Green in Arizona, Lovie Smith in Chicago. What do you make of this ongoing controversy about whether or not black folk have what it takes to coach in the NFL, never mind your success?
Marvin: I think the number one thing, and this is continuing down the line, is as we get in more leadership positions as coordinators and so forth, these opportunities are gonna come, uh, because we've had a number of coordinators this year. So it's been a good year for that to occur. Guys move into those positions, into those seats, and I think as that continues, and the success that Denny Green has already had as an NFL head coach, Art Shell, Tony Dungy, uh, Herman, and now us having a degree here, I think will provide for more opportunities such as what Lovie got, and I just think as we go forward.
Tavis: I suspect the most difficult part of your job as a head coach, of course, is trying to find a way to win and win consistently. But with regard to your being a coach of African descent, aside from the winning, aside from putting together a winning franchise, what's the greatest challenge that you face trying to convince people that you do in fact have the skills to do what you do?
Marvin: Well, you're the CEO of their company. You're the picture, you're the face, you're the first thought in most people's mind between you and the star player. That's what they identify with with that team. So I think it's the owner becoming comfortable that this is the person that's gonna represent his business, and I think that's where things come down to all the time.
Tavis: Let's talk about the big game on Sunday, then. Who do you like and tell me why you like whoever you like.
Marvin: Well, I think it's gonna be difficult to beat the Patriots. They've got the experience playing in the big game. Their offense, defense, special teams right now is playing very, very well. They're gonna be an aggressive bunch and if they can jump up on those receivers and take away the passing game and then be able to stack the line of scrimmage and keep Steven from running the football downhill at them. So I think it's gonna be difficult to beat them. They're much more at ease being in that situation. I had an opportunity to be in Houston yesterday and take part a little bit in the media day, and just the difference in the 2 teams was very noticeable.
Tavis: So how disappointed were you when you guys came so close in Cincinnati to making the playoffs and just barely missed it?
Marvin: Very disappointed. I mean, that was our number one goal, to get that done. Our players, they need an opportunity to experience that. We experienced some big games this year. In fact, as we went down the stretch, all of our games were very big. But that playoff atmosphere, there's nothing like it, and as you go forward each and every week, it gets bigger and bigger and bigger. And I'm anxious for our guys to experience that, because that creates an atmosphere to work harder, to do more, to get better. So we were very disappointed.
Tavis: Let me jump back to the big game again because I neglected to ask the flip side of the question that I wanted to ask, and the question is this: the oddsmakers agree with you that New England obviously has the inside track on winning this game, but oddsmakers obviously aren't always right. If they were right, you wouldn't have done what you did in Cincinnati over this last season. What does Carolina have to do--if Carolina does pull off this upset, they will have done it by doing what?
Marvin: If I could have 2 things, Tavis...take care of the football, number 1, and hit some big plays down the field. I think that's what they're gonna have to do...is they're gonna have to hit some big plays, some explosive plays to Steve Smith and Muhammad and Ricky Proehl. I think if they can do that and not turn the football over, they've got a great chance.
Tavis: Let me go back to the issue of African Americans in the NFL. This time I don't wanna talk about coaches. I want to talk quickly here about black quarterbacks. You of course recall the controversy that Rush Limbaugh got into when he put his foot in his mouth about Donovan McNabb and Philadelphia, et cetera, et cetera. But it seems to me, though, that black quarterbacks have in fact changed the way the game is played. What's your sense of what they have done, or am I making much ado about nothing here?
Marvin: Well, no. I think there's been some guys who have really come and have changed the game, providing some movement, depending on each and every player, and each and every one of 'em is different. But I do think that Donovan McNabb and Steve McNair, right now, are kind of redefining how people used to think of the black quarterback. It used to be the guy that was gonna be running around and make the athletic plays and not necessarily the pocket passer. But what Steve McNair did this year and over the last few years, you see the maturation of him as a pocket passer. And that's just been incredible. You have down in Jacksonville now Byron Leftwich who played in a dropback pro-style passing game in Marshall, and what he did this year in Jacksonville. So I think as time goes on and the style of play changes, more and more African-American quarterbacks are gonna be that pocket-style passer.
Tavis: Let me ask you what it is that you like most about the way the NFL game is played today, and what do you think threatens the long-term--they're gonna be around forever, obviously, it seems--but what do you like about the game and what do you think the game needs to address?
Marvin: What I like about the game is I think it's been a consistent thing that the best teams now still are built on hard work, are built on teamwork. They don't necessarily have all of the best marquee players. They have a few, and your great players have to win and play good for you. What I think is gonna destroy the game is all the showboating, all the things talking about the exorbitant money and things like that--the fringe people that are playing the game for the wrong reason. This is a fun game. It's a great game. It's a great sport. It's a team sport. And that's what I think makes the sport so appealing to so many people.
Tavis: Coach, you can't say it's a fun game and then tell the brothers they can't celebrate when they score.
Marvin: They can celebrate, but you know...let's spend a little more time in our playbooks, in our notebooks than what we're gonna do when we do score, you know? That's my only problem with it is, you know, there's a lot of orchestrated stuff, and they're spending too much time...we got the whole Playstation generation goin' on rather than people outside workin' on their skills and workin' on to get better whatever it may be. And that's the generation we're in. And they're trying to do something to get themselves on Playstation.
Tavis: I've only got a few seconds left here, Coach, but I think--and I wanna try this out on you to see if it makes sense to you--I think I figured out a way we can address the issue of showboating in the NFL. Here's my idea: the only way you can showboat in the end zone is if you go in the end zone standin' up. If you go in the end zone any other way, you can't showboat. What do you think of that idea?
Marvin: That's good. And the NFL has always loved the celebration. But just the orchestrated thing--it's gotten out of hand, the foreign objects and everything like that. Because then you're somewhat showin' up the next guy, and the next guy's gotta go to the next thing, so...but that's a good idea. You go in standing up. We had our guy Kelly Washington do the squirrel. I said Kelly can do the squirrel every time he scores a touchdown, but I don't wanna see it on the first down.
Tavis: Ha ha ha ha! Well, when you see Commissioner Tagliabue, you tell him that Tavis said that the rule oughta be that if you go in the end zone standin' up, you all that. But if you roll over in there any other way, no celebrating.
Marvin: That's right. Ha ha ha.
Tavis: Coach, nice to see you. Congratulations on a great season.
Marvin: Thank you again.
Tavis: Take care of yourself. That's our show for tonight. As always, you can catch me on the radio tomorrow on NPR. We'll see you back here next time on PBS. Good night from Los Angeles and keep the faith.
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