Tuesday, September 26, 2000
Losing too painful for Coslet
By Neil Schmidt
The Cincinnati Enquirer
In the end, it hurt too much. Bruce Coslet took the hardships to heart.
Friends and colleagues said Coslet resigned Monday as Bengals coach because the stress and anguish of losing was affecting him greatly.
“He was basically dying a slow death, living in a hell,” Bengals radio analyst Dave Lapham said.
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BOOMER'S TAKE
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Former Bengals quarterback Boomer Esiason, a Coslet confidant, told the team's Web site that Coslet had been worn down by the Bengals' youthful mistakes.
“No matter what the situation is, Bruce has always been a realist,” Esiason said. “It's not about quitting. I think it was a noble gesture on his part. It was about family issues and relieving the stress of the people he loves. The stress can't be good for a man over 50.”
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Bengals president Mike Brown said Coslet had asked Sunday night for an early Monday meeting. There, he resigned.
“Bruce went through a tough ordeal,” Brown said. “He felt coaching was harder on him than it was meant to be. He didn't feel he could do for the team what needed to be done.”
New coach Dick LeBeau, who had been the team's defensive coordinator, said he didn't see Coslet's move coming.
“I was shocked,” LeBeau said. “I tried to talk him out of it, but he wouldn't be swayed. As a friend, my heart goes out to him.”
Coslet, 54, was not available to the media Monday. Those Coslet had talked to said he hadn't made any plans for what to do next.
His departure Monday ended 24 years in the Bengals organization — eight as a player, 16 as a coach.
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COSLET'S RECORD
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1990 NYJ 6 10
1991 NYJ 8 8
1992 NYJ 4 12
1993 NYJ 8 8
1996 Cin 7 2
1997 Cin 7 9
1998 Cin 3 13
1999 Cin 4 12
2000 Cin 0 3
Totals 47 77 .379
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“This is hard for me,” Brown said. “Bruce is a good man, a good friend, a good coach. This morning (the resignation) was a very emotional, personal conversation. I do not feel he gave anything less than his best effort for us.”
Players were generally surprised by the timing.
“I don't know if he felt that (a firing) was going to happen eventually,” injured linebacker Brian Simmons said. “But I know it was a hard thing to do, to give up something he loves doing.”
Coslet, who became the team's head coach midway through the 1996 season, went 21-39 here. He went 26-38 from 1990-93 as the New York Jets' coach, leading them to the 1991 playoffs, and had a 47-77 mark overall.
Coslet is regarded as an offensive whiz, serving as the offensive coordinator on the Bengals' Super Bowl team in 1988. In that role from 1986-89, the Bengals twice had the NFL's No.1-ranked offense ('86, '88).
When he returned as coordinator in 1994, so did the scoring. The '94 Bengals scored 89 more points than the '93 club, and the '95 team topped the '94 total by another 73 points. Then his midseason promotion in '96 led to a 7-2 mark.
In '97, things started to sour. Boomer Esiason returned as quarterback for a late-season spark, but when he retired after the season, the Bengals' momentum was nill.
They're 7-30 since. The 37-0 loss Sunday at Baltimore represented rock bottom.
“I think that was the final nail in the coffin,” Lapham said. “He couldn't understand why a team would fall apart like that.”
Said ESPN analyst Solomon Wilcots, another former Bengal: “For whatever rea son, it's obvious they weren't responding. I'm not blaming this on Bruce, but if a team is performing below expectations, it reflects on the coach. It's the coach's job to get them to play.”
Lapham thinks Coslet might resurface in coaching next year in a coordinator's role somewhere else.
“Bruce is highly regarded around the NFL as a very astute offensive coach,” he said.
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Losing too painful for Coslet
