At age 63, Charles Richard LeBeau still relishes the miracle of birth. Not the X- and Y-chromosome kind, mind you, but rather that of X's and O's. The Bengals' new head coach delights in drawing up defenses and bringing them to life.

        The father of the zone-blitz scheme that revolutionized the NFL in the 1990s will now spread his teaching talents to both sides of the ball. In promoting LeBeau from assistant head coach/defensive coordinator, Bengals president Mike Brown sent the Bengals back to the drawing board.

        In the good sense.

LeBEAU FILE

• Born: Sept. 9, 1937   • Hometown: London, Ohio   • Family: Wife Nancy, son Brandon (21).   • Playing career: Played defensive back and running back at Ohio State from 1954-57, winning a national championship his senior season. Played 14 seasons for the Detroit Lions (1959-72).   • Notables: Voted to three Pro Bowls. Set an all-time durability record for cornerbacks, playing in 171 consecutive games. At the time of his retirement, his 62 interceptions ranked third in NFL history (now tied for sixth).   • Coaching career: Special teams coach, 1973-75, Philadelphia; defensive backs coach, 1976-79, Green Bay; defensive backs coach, 1980-83, Cincinnati; defensive coordinator, 1984-91, Cincinnati; defensive backs coach, 1992-94, Pittsburgh; defensive coordinator, 1995-96, Pittsburgh; assistant head coach/defensive coordinator, 1997-2000, Cincinnati; head coach, 2000, Cincinnati.

        “I don't know anyone who's more knowledgeable about football than Dick LeBeau,” Brown said. “He's a good teacher who knows how to present his ideas, and he's got a lot of ideas to present.”

        LeBeau, in his 42nd NFL season, relishes the role of quiet taskmaster. The man who says he keeps weight off “by worrying” frets not about a generational gap.

        “You have to teach athletes,” he said. “They want to learn. I do not think you need to approach them any different than ... I was approached (as a player).”

        LeBeau is not your ordinary football coach.

        He's a Civil War buff. He's a musician, playing guitar and writing songs. He writes poetry. He plays golf.

        “He's a very well-informed, well-read, well-spoken guy,” Bengals radio analyst Dave Lapham said. “He'd be a lifeline for me on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”

        LeBeau is a laid-back, soft-spoken guy with a hint of a central Ohio drawl. And he's a living legend in the locker room: a three-time Pro Bowl defensive back with 62 career interceptions, a coaching pioneer who drew up a new defense on a airline napkin in the mid-1980s.

        “He speaks by way of experience, knowledge, wisdom,” said ESPN analyst Solomon Wilcots, who played defensive back for LeBeau here from 1987-90 and in Pittsburgh in 1992 and '93.

        “He has touched the lives of so many individuals, you can't possibly count them. We'd talk not only about football, but about life. He was a tremendous influence about my life.”

        Little wonder, then, that his first address to the team Monday lacked fire and brimstone: “I told them to ... be introspective momentarily, each man to look at himself, and to come in Wednesday ready to get this going in the correct direction.”

        And?

        “I already think highly of him, so maybe this is the start of a new era,” second-year safety Cory Hall said. “With his overall knowledge of the game, I trust him 100 percent.”

        Said third-year linebacker Brian Simmons: “He's kind of quiet. But he's a coach you want to go out and play for.”

        LeBeau was a Bengals assistant from 1980-91, the last eight years of that span as defensive coordinator. He tinkered with a 3-4 defense that would use deception and pressure to keep offenses off-balance, blitzing but playing zone defense behind it.

        He coordinated two Super Bowl teams, here in 1998 and in Pittsburgh in 1995, leading the Steelers to three consecutive seasons with a top-3 ranked defense — earning the town the nickname “Blitzburgh.”

        Then he returned to Cin cinnati in 1997, a move surprising to those who remembered the “LeBeau Must Go” chants in 1991. Those had gotten to the usually stoic LeBeau, who was caught by TV cameras flipping the finger to jeering end-zone fans after a loss to the Raiders dropped Cincinnati to 1-11.

        LeBeau later regretted the incident. He loves Ohio. An Ohio State University graduate whose family remained in Cincinnati while he coached in Pittsburgh, LeBeau said this first head-coaching opportunity is special because it's here: “This is my team.”

        His return has occasionally been trying. His defense gave up 922 points the past two seasons, ranking last in the AFC in pass defense last year, as young players endured growing pains. He watched Baltimore and Jacksonville — the NFL's second- and fourth-ranked defenses in '99 — succeed with his zone-blitz playbook.

        But perhaps patience is what these Bengals need. And a good textbook.

        “Paul Brown once said, "Show me someone who can't teach, and I'll show you someone who can't coach,'” Wilcots said. “When you talk about good teachers, that's what comes to mind when you talk about Dick LeBeau.”
       

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