By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The Bengals' coaching-staff makeover is under way and will accelerate if Marvin Lewis is hired as head coach.

There was no movement Saturday, although Pittsburgh's playoff loss at Tennessee appears to set up a second interview today or Monday for Steelers offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey.

But it still seems to be Lewis' job to lose.

As the coaching search unfolded the past two weeks, a pair of longtime Bengals assistants left the team. Special teams coach Al Roberts was fired, and Tim Krumrie was hired Friday as the Buffalo Bills' defensive line coach.

Meanwhile, former head coach Dick LeBeau is expected to talk this week with Buffalo about an undetermined staff or consultant's position. Wide receivers coach Steve Mooshagian is one of two finalists for the head-coaching job at Division I-AA Sacramento State.

Space is being created for Lewis, and what's clear from Lewis' head-coaching near-misses in the past three years is that he has specific assistants in mind for a potential Bengals staff.

A Lewis staff with the Bengals probably wouldn't resemble the core group that has been in Cincinnati since the Dave Shula era.

Bengals president Mike Brown said he would maintain financial veto power on hires but that the choice of assistants belonged to the new coach.

Lewis, a defensive specialist, has tipped his hand about potential offensive coordinators in the past.

He reportedly wanted to take former NFL quarterback Bill Musgrave, now the offensive coordinator at the University of Virginia to Buffalo when Lewis was close to getting that job.

Musgrave, 35, also has coached quarterbacks and tight ends at Virginia for the past two seasons and previously was quarterbacks coach and then offensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers. He was a member of George Seifert's staff.

A possible Musgrave hire in Cincinnati as either tight ends coach or quarterbacks coach might push current assistants John Garrett or Ken Anderson into the scouting department. Brown has said some assistant coaches who aren't retained by the new coach might be hired as scouts.

When Lewis was on the verge of getting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' head-coaching job last year, his reported choice of offensive coordinator was Cleveland Browns wide receivers coach Terry Robiskie. Interim head coach of the Washington Redskins for three games at the end of 2000, the 48-year-old Robiskie has 22 years of NFL coaching experience. He has worked in the league as a passing-game coordinator.

Another possible Lewis offensive coordinator, Hue Jackson, the newly appointed offensive coordinator in Washington, signed a contract extension with the Redskins on Friday to prevent him from leaving.

Lewis was the Baltimore Ravens' defensive coordinator for six seasons before joining Steve Spurrier's Redskins staff a year ago. Not surprisingly, Lewis apparently has some Baltimore assistants on a potential staff list.

Ravens secondary coach Donnie Henderson is first among them. Henderson, 45, almost went to Washington with Lewis and was his first choice to join him as defensive coordinator had Lewis accepted the head-coaching job last month at Michigan State. Henderson is known as an outstanding teacher.

Another close Lewis associate on the Ravens' staff is special teams assistant Bennie Thompson. A former special teams standout with the Browns, Kansas City Chiefs and New Orleans Saints, the 39-year-old Thompson could be in line to replace Roberts.

Another possible Lewis hire could be Ravens linebackers coach Mike Smith. A former Canadian League player, Smith has been with Baltimore for four seasons - the first three as defensive assistant/defensive line coach.

Brown said he envisioned a new staff that included a couple of holdovers. One lock appears to be 19-year running backs coach Jim Anderson, one of the league's most respected assistants.

Offensive line coach Paul Alexander appears to be another Brown favorite. Alexander, a native of Rochester, N.Y., reportedly had been considered a candidate to be the Bills' offensive line coach. But Buffalo coach Gregg Williams told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle on Friday that he hadn't asked the Bengals for permission to speak with Alexander.

E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

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