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Bengals Booth Podcast: Danny Boy · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast. The Oh Danibo addition, as I
0:13
Speaker 1: go one on one with the Bengals new offensive coordinator
0:17
Speaker 1: Dan Pitcher. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you
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Speaker 1: Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals.
0:40
Speaker 1: Now here's a quick reminder that you can have the
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Speaker 1: latest edition of this podcast delivered write to your phone,
0:46
Speaker 1: tablet or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts.
0:50
Speaker 1: It's the greatest thing since the original rules of basketball.
0:56
Speaker 1: In eighteen ninety one, doctor James Nasmith, a phizit instructor
1:01
Speaker 1: in Springfield, Massachusetts, was looking for a way for his
1:04
Speaker 1: students to get indoor exercise during the cold New England
1:08
Speaker 1: winter months, so he wrote down thirteen rules for a
1:13
Speaker 1: new game he called basket ball. That original document, now
1:18
Speaker 1: one hundred and thirty three years old, still exists and
1:21
Speaker 1: I saw it this week. Doctor Nasmith eventually became the
1:25
Speaker 1: first head coach at the University of Kansas, and when
1:28
Speaker 1: his family auctioned off the original rules several years ago,
1:32
Speaker 1: a wealthy Kansas alum purchased them for more than four
1:36
Speaker 1: million dollars so that they could be permanently displayed at KU.
1:42
Speaker 1: Think about it, There's nothing else like it in sports.
1:46
Speaker 1: Nobody scribbled down the original rules of football or golf,
1:49
Speaker 1: for baseball, or any of the other major sports, so
1:52
Speaker 1: it was really cool to see. If you would like
1:55
Speaker 1: to learn more, check out the ESPN thirty for thirty
1:59
Speaker 1: documentary called There's No Place Like Home. Now let's get
2:05
Speaker 1: to the Bengals new offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher. The job
2:09
Speaker 1: became open when Brian Callahan was named the new head
2:12
Speaker 1: coach of the Tennessee Titans. A couple of hours before
2:15
Speaker 1: Brian spoke to the media in Nashville on Thursday, Zach
2:19
Speaker 1: Taylor was asked how proud he was of his friend
2:23
Speaker 1: and colleague.
2:24
Speaker 2: That's hard to describe. You know, how much he's meant
2:27
Speaker 2: to me, how much he meant to pitch this organization
2:29
Speaker 2: for all these guys. It's it's hard when you work
2:33
Speaker 2: side by side, you know, with the guy for five years.
2:35
Speaker 2: And like Pitch said that the the lows to the highs,
2:40
Speaker 2: trying to problem solve through unsolvable problems, it felt like
2:43
Speaker 2: sometimes and he was as steady as they come. And
2:46
Speaker 2: and so Tennessee got a good one. And it's the
2:49
Speaker 2: right place. It's the right opportunity for him. I hate
2:51
Speaker 2: that it's in the conference. I hate that we play
2:53
Speaker 2: him next year. I kind of like that we play
2:54
Speaker 2: him next year. Uh, there's we'll see where it poppsed
2:57
Speaker 2: up on the schedule. But you know, just really really
3:00
Speaker 2: happy for him and Allison and and it's you know,
3:04
Speaker 2: he's waited a long time for that opportunity. He's been
3:06
Speaker 2: prepared for a long time for that opportunity. I think
3:08
Speaker 2: the right place came calling for him. And I'm really
3:10
Speaker 2: happy the way it felt out. I know it felt
3:12
Speaker 2: right for him. And and we'll hear more, you know,
3:14
Speaker 2: one what he says in his press conferences. We'll be
3:16
Speaker 2: watching anxiously to see him on that stage, but really
3:20
Speaker 2: really happy that it worked out for him.
3:21
Speaker 1: And when they watched Brian's introductory news conference, they saw
3:25
Speaker 1: him get very emotional when he described his five years
3:28
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati.
3:30
Speaker 3: I would like to thank the Cincinnati Bengals organization, Mike Brown,
3:34
Speaker 3: who was one of probably one of the greatest men
3:37
Speaker 3: that I've ever met. I'll get it together in a second,
3:41
Speaker 3: No worry. Katy and Troy Blackburn, their daughters, Elizabeth, the Caroline,
3:47
Speaker 3: and Duke Tobin and his staff. They gave me an
3:50
Speaker 3: incredible opportunity to grow, and they're patient and they invested
3:55
Speaker 3: in me, and I'll forever be grateful for that. The
3:59
Speaker 3: next one you can see how much these people mean
4:01
Speaker 3: to me.
4:03
Speaker 4: I'll get it together.
4:04
Speaker 3: And then, probably most importantly, Zach Taylor. He's a great friend,
4:09
Speaker 3: He's been an incredible mentor, and he's a fantastic football coach.
4:14
Speaker 3: Thank you for everything, all right, thank you to the
4:17
Speaker 3: players and the coaching staff. Obviously, without an incredible amount
4:21
Speaker 3: of hard work, I don't get to stand here. And
4:23
Speaker 3: there's a lot of people that go into that staff, players,
4:28
Speaker 3: particularly the quarterback room, Joe Burrow, Jake Browning, those guys
4:33
Speaker 3: are I'm incredibly indebted to. I wish I could list
4:37
Speaker 3: the whole team, but I can't. We'll be here too long.
4:39
Speaker 3: You guys would get bored. But I loved working with
4:42
Speaker 3: those players every day. There's something special about where I
4:46
Speaker 3: came from that I hope to replicate here. I think
4:48
Speaker 3: you can see it and how I feel when I
4:50
Speaker 3: speak about it. But I love going to work every
4:53
Speaker 3: single day there. And that's the environment we're going to
4:55
Speaker 3: create here. I want a place where people love coming
4:58
Speaker 3: to work, they enjoy every they're around, and that creates
5:02
Speaker 3: an environment that sustainable and you can have sustained excellence
5:05
Speaker 3: and have a chance to win a lot of football games.
5:07
Speaker 3: And so that's what we're after.
5:09
Speaker 1: Brian was later asked what he learned from working with
5:12
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor.
5:13
Speaker 3: The greatest thing about Zach for me and my experience
5:18
Speaker 3: in Cincinnati was he was an open book, and so
5:21
Speaker 3: I was involved in a lot of the things that
5:24
Speaker 3: came across his desk, a lot of conversations, very involved
5:28
Speaker 3: in the scouting process in Cincinnati as a lot of
5:30
Speaker 3: you know, and so just seeing all of those processes
5:34
Speaker 3: work over five years, seeing the pitfalls and problems where
5:38
Speaker 3: the land mines can be. His allowing me that access
5:41
Speaker 3: to those conversations has been huge. And I walk into
5:45
Speaker 3: this role today and I'm sure there'll be plenty of surprises,
5:49
Speaker 3: but I feel very confident that I'm prepared for it.
5:51
Speaker 3: And it's because of his his allowance and access to
5:54
Speaker 3: what occurred on a daily basis, and he would often
5:57
Speaker 3: come by and say, hey, this, you should think about
6:00
Speaker 3: this for a second, then to write this down when
6:02
Speaker 3: you're doing this, here's how you should handle it. So
6:05
Speaker 3: just incredible, incredible investment in me to help me grow
6:08
Speaker 3: on that. And again, I feel because of all those experiences,
6:11
Speaker 3: I'm kind of uniquely positioned for my first time doing this.
6:15
Speaker 4: I feel really good about it.
6:16
Speaker 1: I can honestly say that I don't know anybody who
6:19
Speaker 1: knows Brian Callahan that doesn't like and respect him. He's smart, friendly, funny, and,
6:25
Speaker 1: for lack of a better word, normal, which isn't always
6:28
Speaker 1: the case among football coaches. He'll be missed in Cincinnati,
6:33
Speaker 1: but it's impossible not to be thrilled for him, and
6:36
Speaker 1: fortunately the Bengals had a great replacement waiting in the
6:39
Speaker 1: wings in quarterbacks coach Dan Pitcher. The Patriots, Raiders, and
6:44
Speaker 1: Saints reached out to Dan about their offensive coordinator openings,
6:48
Speaker 1: but being the OC of an offense with Joe burrowod
6:51
Speaker 1: quarterback is hard to pass up a.
6:54
Speaker 4: Lot of people in this profession that I respect, who
6:57
Speaker 4: have great perspective, who have reached out to me almost
7:00
Speaker 4: to a person, you know. Their advice is, when you
7:04
Speaker 4: have an elite quarterback, you hang on as long as
7:06
Speaker 4: you can. And we have that here. And not only
7:10
Speaker 4: is he an elite player, but you know, I've gotten
7:12
Speaker 4: to know him so well as a person. He's a
7:15
Speaker 4: special person. He's different. They don't make many like him.
7:19
Speaker 4: And to get to continue working with him day in
7:22
Speaker 4: and day out, knowing that we have a guy that
7:25
Speaker 4: can win us a world championship, it's hard to put
7:28
Speaker 4: a price on that.
7:29
Speaker 1: By now, you've probably either watched Dan Pitcher's news conference
7:33
Speaker 1: online or read one of the many stories written after
7:37
Speaker 1: that news conference. When I sat down with Dan later
7:40
Speaker 1: in the day, I was aiming for something a little different,
7:43
Speaker 1: a more personal look at how he landed one of
7:47
Speaker 1: only thirty two offensive coordinator jobs in the NFL. As
7:53
Speaker 1: hard as you've worked for it is a little bit
7:55
Speaker 1: mind boggling to have one of these jobs. I don't
8:02
Speaker 1: mind boggling is the word.
8:03
Speaker 4: It's it's definitely an opportunity to just kind of take
8:07
Speaker 4: a look at your career and all the stops up
8:10
Speaker 4: at this point and all the people that have helped
8:11
Speaker 4: you get here. Really, I think that's probably the the
8:15
Speaker 4: best part of this for me, is just you know,
8:16
Speaker 4: all the people that have reached out and getting a
8:19
Speaker 4: chance to thank them, because we're all products of people
8:23
Speaker 4: that have helped us along the way. And I've earned
8:25
Speaker 4: this and I know that, and I'm very proud of that.
8:27
Speaker 4: But there's no way I did it by myself.
8:30
Speaker 1: I found an old quote from your mom. She said,
8:33
Speaker 1: I remember Dan at a young age sitting at the
8:36
Speaker 1: coffee table in the living room drawing plays, the x's
8:40
Speaker 1: and o's on paper. Do you remember doing that?
8:45
Speaker 3: I don't.
8:45
Speaker 4: I don't remember drawing plays. I do remember having like
8:50
Speaker 4: a weird obsession with when the Super Bowl would come along,
8:53
Speaker 4: or March Manas or whatever. My mom would buy me
8:55
Speaker 4: these poster boards and I would I would color the
8:57
Speaker 4: whole field in and I would I would make the
9:00
Speaker 4: players and I would arrange them informations. And it's that
9:03
Speaker 4: that may be what she's remembering, but I mean, like, listen,
9:06
Speaker 4: this is I've loved this game for as long as
9:09
Speaker 4: I can remember, and the fact that I've got got
9:13
Speaker 4: to make it my profession and have gotten to this
9:16
Speaker 4: level with this opportunity in front of me. Is it's
9:19
Speaker 4: very special.
9:21
Speaker 1: Did you always have an interest in how and why
9:23
Speaker 1: plays worked? Oh?
9:24
Speaker 4: Yeah, big time. That's you know, it's the curiosity of that,
9:29
Speaker 4: you know, that's when I sit in here and study
9:32
Speaker 4: for days on end in the off season, or when
9:34
Speaker 4: I'm getting when I'm game planning and I'm pouring over tape.
9:37
Speaker 4: And I love that part of it, I really do.
9:40
Speaker 4: You know, It's it's a passion of mine and just
9:44
Speaker 4: exploring those very questions, you know, how and why and
9:47
Speaker 4: then can we do this or not? Do we have
9:50
Speaker 4: the right people for it? Are we're playing the right
9:52
Speaker 4: playing against the right scheme? You know all those things.
9:54
Speaker 4: That's that's a major part of what I love about
9:57
Speaker 4: this job.
9:58
Speaker 1: You are a highly successful quarterback at the Division III
10:01
Speaker 1: level at Cortland State, reigning national champs by the way,
10:04
Speaker 1: congratulations for that, But you weren't an overnight success. How
10:08
Speaker 1: long were you in college?
10:11
Speaker 4: Well, not as long as some of the guys these
10:13
Speaker 4: days with COVID years and multiple transfers, but it was
10:17
Speaker 4: a long time. So I graduated high school in two
10:20
Speaker 4: thousand and five. I spent two plus years at Colgate.
10:26
Speaker 4: I sat out a season. I had a medical red shirt.
10:28
Speaker 4: From that time I went to Courtland, I had another
10:31
Speaker 4: medical red shirt. I petitioned for some more time, and
10:35
Speaker 4: I think I ultimately reported to seven training camps and
10:42
Speaker 4: played six seasons. So it was a long time. I
10:44
Speaker 4: believe I've caught the brunt of many jokes.
10:47
Speaker 1: A long years. What were the injuries that you dealt with?
10:50
Speaker 4: I had a shoulder labor and repair and torn achilles.
10:55
Speaker 1: So after you graduated, I read that you wrote letters
10:58
Speaker 1: to NFL coaches in college coaches seeking an entry level opportunity.
11:03
Speaker 1: Roughly how many and did anybody get back to you?
11:07
Speaker 4: Yeah. So I'm going to give Paul Alexander a lot
11:10
Speaker 4: of credit here and when I talk about people that
11:13
Speaker 4: helped me get to where I am, you know, Paul
11:16
Speaker 4: just out of the goodness of his heart, decided to
11:19
Speaker 4: take me under his wing when I'm twenty one years
11:21
Speaker 4: old and now he made me do some manual labor
11:24
Speaker 4: for it at his at his summerhouse it's on Skinny
11:26
Speaker 4: Alas Lake. But in the process he he really guided me.
11:31
Speaker 4: And one of the things he suggested was Hey, listen,
11:32
Speaker 4: sit down. I want you to handwrite a letter to
11:35
Speaker 4: the head coach of every NFL team and every Power
11:38
Speaker 4: five college conference and tell him who you are, tell
11:42
Speaker 4: him what you're about, tell him what you'd like to do,
11:44
Speaker 4: and see if it leads anywhere. And so I did.
11:47
Speaker 4: I wrote one or two a day, and you know,
11:49
Speaker 4: I probably have Carpel tunnel syndrome from that experience, but
11:54
Speaker 4: I did. I got some back, you know, there were some.
11:57
Speaker 4: I got a couple of handwritten responses. I got some.
12:00
Speaker 4: You know. It led to ultimately a couple of chances
12:03
Speaker 4: to go interview for graduate assistant ships and what could
12:07
Speaker 4: have opened some doors. And ultimately, you know, one of
12:10
Speaker 4: those letters I wrote was to Ryan Grigson, who's the
12:13
Speaker 4: new GM of Indianapolis Colts. Got to meet him in
12:16
Speaker 4: person and and that was my start.
12:19
Speaker 1: So for those who don't know, Paul Alexander is the
12:21
Speaker 1: former Bengals offensive line coach and like you, he went
12:24
Speaker 1: to Courtland State. Was he taking care of another red
12:27
Speaker 1: dragon or do you think you impressed him in some
12:31
Speaker 1: way when you first.
12:31
Speaker 4: Met I think he asked about those questions, you know,
12:34
Speaker 4: I think he saw an opportunity to pay it forward
12:38
Speaker 4: with the position that he had worked himself to. And
12:43
Speaker 4: as with anything in life, it's about who you know,
12:44
Speaker 4: but it's about making the right impression on who you
12:47
Speaker 4: know and who you meet. And I think he was
12:48
Speaker 4: impressed with me, and he knew that if he, you know,
12:52
Speaker 4: if he stamped me and and put his name on
12:54
Speaker 4: me to people that could potentially give me opportunities, that
12:57
Speaker 4: I wasn't going to disappoint him. And so I think
12:59
Speaker 4: I've on that and I'm forever grateful.
13:03
Speaker 1: We're visiting with Dan Pitcher, the Bengals new offensive coordinator.
13:06
Speaker 1: So you take a job with the Colts as a
13:08
Speaker 1: scouting assistant under Ryan Griggs, and you mentioned him their
13:11
Speaker 1: GM at the time. What does an entry level scouting
13:15
Speaker 1: assistant fresh out of college.
13:17
Speaker 4: Do anything he gets told to do. He picks up
13:23
Speaker 4: guys from the airport for workouts at midnight, He carts
13:26
Speaker 4: him around town to doctor's appointments. He locks himself in
13:31
Speaker 4: a closet with a film system and breaks down college
13:35
Speaker 4: players and puts together what we used to call profile tapes,
13:40
Speaker 4: which is something that all these services that we now
13:43
Speaker 4: subscribe to do for you. But that was before those
13:45
Speaker 4: the days of those services. You really just immerse yourself
13:50
Speaker 4: in the world of football, and you do it at
13:53
Speaker 4: a level where there's no job too small. And my
13:57
Speaker 4: mentality when I took that job was to go into
13:59
Speaker 4: that building, put my head down, speak when spoken to
14:05
Speaker 4: for two years and proved everyone that I was about
14:08
Speaker 4: the right stuff and trust that when I picked my
14:11
Speaker 4: head up after that, you know, people would be invested
14:14
Speaker 4: in my success and be willing to open doors for me.
14:18
Speaker 4: And that's exactly what happened.
14:19
Speaker 1: I'm guessing you were not getting rich.
14:22
Speaker 4: No no, no, no, no no. My my wife, who
14:26
Speaker 4: was by then fiance, had moved out to she had
14:31
Speaker 4: finished school, so I was out there by myself for
14:33
Speaker 4: a year and then she moved out and she was
14:35
Speaker 4: nannying for a couple families and let's just say she
14:37
Speaker 4: was the bread winner.
14:40
Speaker 1: Thank you, missus Pitcher for helping make this happen. So
14:43
Speaker 1: you were hired by the Colts right when they drafted
14:46
Speaker 1: Andrew Luck. Were you stunned when he retired at twenty nine?
14:53
Speaker 4: Yeah? Sure. You know, it's been a long time since
14:57
Speaker 4: I've talked to Andrew. Andrew it was always amazing to me.
15:03
Speaker 4: He's a great person, He treated people the right way.
15:06
Speaker 4: It was so fun to watch him lead in his
15:10
Speaker 4: own way and just how authentic it was and how
15:13
Speaker 4: great he was at his job. And you know, and
15:16
Speaker 4: unfortunately for him, I think just the injuries and and
15:19
Speaker 4: everything kind of piled up, and you know, it probably
15:23
Speaker 4: cut his career short. But you know, at the end
15:27
Speaker 4: of the day, and again, having not spoken to him
15:29
Speaker 4: in a really long time, I'd be willing to bet
15:31
Speaker 4: that he's very happy and fulfilled doing whatever it is
15:34
Speaker 4: he's doing right now, because I know that's the kind
15:36
Speaker 4: of person he is. And but yeah, I mean, you
15:40
Speaker 4: talk about stepping into the NFL and your first experience
15:44
Speaker 4: is getting to watch him every day. That was pretty cool.
15:47
Speaker 1: Does his story and that cautionary tale have any impact
15:52
Speaker 1: on your desire to try to protect Joe Burrow as
15:55
Speaker 1: much as any coach possibly can.
15:57
Speaker 4: I mean sure, you know, I think for me when
16:01
Speaker 4: I sit down and you know it's been talked about, well,
16:04
Speaker 4: you know, I've done their downs and and I've you know,
16:07
Speaker 4: had influence in other areas as well. But when you're
16:09
Speaker 4: talking about the passing game, the first, the very first
16:12
Speaker 4: thing that I always start with is how do we
16:15
Speaker 4: not get the quarterback hit. That's just philosophically what I
16:19
Speaker 4: believe in, and that can take on a variety of
16:23
Speaker 4: different things. Some weeks, that might mean getting empty and
16:26
Speaker 4: spread them all out and let them see it and
16:28
Speaker 4: just find quick answers and they can never hit him
16:32
Speaker 4: because they can't get to him in time. Some weeks
16:33
Speaker 4: that might mean seven or eight man protection based on
16:37
Speaker 4: the defensive looks that we're getting and the personnel that
16:39
Speaker 4: we're facing. So that doesn't that philosophy doesn't tie me
16:44
Speaker 4: to a specific schematic approach, but it is a foundation
16:49
Speaker 4: for how I look at things. And keeping the quarterback
16:54
Speaker 4: clean is everybody's job, including the quarterback, and it's about
16:58
Speaker 4: playing on time. It's about putting the things in place
17:02
Speaker 4: to be able to distribute the ball before the rush
17:05
Speaker 4: can get there, and then drilling and working on things
17:07
Speaker 4: that let you elude the rush when it does come,
17:10
Speaker 4: because it always it's gonna come. You watch every obviously
17:12
Speaker 4: in one of these games, and I mean, those guys
17:14
Speaker 4: a getting paid a lot of money to get after
17:16
Speaker 4: the quarterbacks. So but yeah, that's a central component to
17:19
Speaker 4: how I think about offensive football.
17:22
Speaker 1: Your first years, the quarterbacks coach was Joe's first year
17:25
Speaker 1: as the Bengals quarterback. I'm going to ask you to
17:27
Speaker 1: be immodest here. How do you think you've helped Joe Burrow?
17:32
Speaker 4: Well, I think Joe and I are able to relate
17:37
Speaker 4: to one another. I think we share some personality traits.
17:41
Speaker 4: Unfortunately for me, I don't share any of the elite,
17:45
Speaker 4: world class skill that he has, but I think we
17:49
Speaker 4: look at things similarly, and so for that reason, I
17:54
Speaker 4: think he's respected my opinion on things from a very
17:59
Speaker 4: really from the start, and so it's allowed us to
18:02
Speaker 4: have some i think, really kind of truthful conversations about
18:08
Speaker 4: hard topics at times, and I think he respects where
18:12
Speaker 4: I'm coming from on those. He will seek out my
18:14
Speaker 4: opinion when it comes to things like that, and I
18:18
Speaker 4: think it's helped him get to where he is today.
18:20
Speaker 4: You know, now, again, he deserves the line's share of
18:23
Speaker 4: the credit because he's the guy doing it, but everybody
18:26
Speaker 4: needs people around him to help put him in a
18:28
Speaker 4: spot to succeed. And I'm proud of the part that
18:31
Speaker 4: I've played in that, and now I'm excited that I
18:33
Speaker 4: get to play an even bigger part moving forward.
18:35
Speaker 1: In year two. Working together the Bengals go to the
18:38
Speaker 1: Super Bowl. You are about to be a dad for
18:41
Speaker 1: the first time. I think your son was born about
18:42
Speaker 1: ten days after that Super Bowl. What are your most
18:45
Speaker 1: vivid memories of Super Bowl fifty six.
18:49
Speaker 4: Well, I mean just the whole process, everything leading up
18:53
Speaker 4: to that, you know that, you know, month to whatever
18:57
Speaker 4: it was, six weeks and just kind of groundbreaking win
19:02
Speaker 4: after groundbreaking win, and the just elation that came with
19:07
Speaker 4: each of those, and the feelings that you have in
19:09
Speaker 4: the locker of a room, and you know, just the
19:13
Speaker 4: fulfillment that comes from that. The super Bowl experience in
19:17
Speaker 4: and of itself really, you know, to me, I tried
19:21
Speaker 4: to make it as normal a week as I could
19:24
Speaker 4: make it. I wanted it to feel like my normal
19:26
Speaker 4: prep leading up into the game. And I think I
19:28
Speaker 4: did a pretty good job of that. And and we
19:30
Speaker 4: I mean, shoot, it just felt like we were going
19:33
Speaker 4: to win another game. It really did, all the way
19:36
Speaker 4: all the way through, you know, and and it really
19:41
Speaker 4: the pain of the outcome is there and will always
19:46
Speaker 4: be there, you know. I just remember waking up the
19:48
Speaker 4: next morning and you have that brief moment where you
19:52
Speaker 4: start to get yourself together and remember what the heck,
19:55
Speaker 4: just happened, and and it just it just sits in
19:58
Speaker 4: your stomach, and it sits for a long long time.
20:01
Speaker 4: But it doesn't it doesn't take away the joy they
20:04
Speaker 4: came with that. And what it does do is absolutely
20:08
Speaker 4: fuel the fire to get back and not wake up
20:12
Speaker 4: with that pit in your stomach the next time, but
20:14
Speaker 4: to be parted in for a month straight.
20:18
Speaker 1: It's been well documented that at this time last year
20:21
Speaker 1: you turned out an opportunity to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
20:23
Speaker 1: Why did you stay for this?
20:27
Speaker 4: You know, for this opportunity here? So much had gone
20:31
Speaker 4: into just the equity that I think built up in
20:36
Speaker 4: this building with these people, with mister Brown and the
20:43
Speaker 4: Brown and Blackburn families and Zach and Duke and all
20:46
Speaker 4: the you know, the person the guys in personnel and
20:49
Speaker 4: the coach. I mean, it's just like it just felt like,
20:53
Speaker 4: I mean, yeah, this is an enticing opportunity, but it's
20:56
Speaker 4: the timing is not right, and you're gut If you
20:58
Speaker 4: just be patient and you just trust in yourself and
21:01
Speaker 4: the organization, this opportunity that you're sitting here interviewing me
21:05
Speaker 4: about is gonna is gonna come to fruition and sure.
21:09
Speaker 4: Were there moments where you think, like, oh man, maybe
21:11
Speaker 4: it won't. Yeah, but that's okay. Like I knew that
21:14
Speaker 4: when I when I decided what I decided, and I
21:16
Speaker 4: was okay with that, and I'm just I'm really happy
21:20
Speaker 4: that it's worked out.
21:21
Speaker 1: If Brian Callahan did not get an NFL head coaching
21:24
Speaker 1: job this year, would you have taken an offensive coordinator
21:28
Speaker 1: opportunity somewhere else?
21:29
Speaker 4: I think at some point, if you're serious about growing
21:33
Speaker 4: in your profession, there there there becomes a point where
21:37
Speaker 4: you're you're left with no other choice. Would that have
21:40
Speaker 4: been this year? Maybe again, depending on situation. Uh, but
21:45
Speaker 4: it's fun that that will forever be hypothetical and and
21:49
Speaker 4: not something I actually had to decide.
21:51
Speaker 1: We're visiting with Dan Pitcher. Brian interviewed for just about
21:55
Speaker 1: every NFL head coaching opportunity that was out there before
21:58
Speaker 1: he was hired by the Titan, and many teams that
22:01
Speaker 1: had offensive coordinator opportunities reached out to you. How much
22:05
Speaker 1: do you think that your success, the team success with
22:09
Speaker 1: Jake Browning this year and what he showed late in
22:11
Speaker 1: the season, had to do with all of the interest
22:14
Speaker 1: that you and Brian received.
22:16
Speaker 4: I think it was a big deal. I think anytime
22:21
Speaker 4: you have an elite player at the quarterback position, sometimes
22:27
Speaker 4: I don't necessarily think that maybe it gets enough acknowledgment
22:31
Speaker 4: or respect that the things you have to put around
22:34
Speaker 4: that player still for him to have the success that
22:36
Speaker 4: he has. But certainly when that player is removed and
22:40
Speaker 4: you demonstrate that you're able to still have success with
22:45
Speaker 4: the number two guy, I think that's a big deal.
22:49
Speaker 4: Because we all know that injuries are a certainty. It's
22:53
Speaker 4: not a matter of if but when, and you do
22:55
Speaker 4: everything in your power to avoid them, but when they
22:57
Speaker 4: do happen, you have to be able to adjust. That's
22:59
Speaker 4: what we get to do. It's not you can't just
23:01
Speaker 4: throw a towel in and say, Okay, try again next year.
23:05
Speaker 4: And we did that, and Jake deserves a ton of
23:10
Speaker 4: credit because we did put great plans around him. But
23:13
Speaker 4: I always say it, and I mean it truly, like
23:16
Speaker 4: there's one guy that catches the ball, and there's one
23:18
Speaker 4: guy that makes the decisions, there's one guy that makes
23:20
Speaker 4: the throws, and Jake did a great, great job, and
23:23
Speaker 4: so I do think that mattered. I think that showed
23:25
Speaker 4: people that we have a good system we have the
23:27
Speaker 4: ability to adapt and we can take whatever's given to
23:32
Speaker 4: us and go be successful.
23:34
Speaker 1: Well, the Bengals offense looked different next year, and do
23:38
Speaker 1: you want it to look different?
23:41
Speaker 4: I think every year brings with it opportunity to grow.
23:47
Speaker 4: That's been my experience every year i've been here. You
23:50
Speaker 4: look at number one, It all starts with who are
23:53
Speaker 4: your players? Like that's to me. I don't think you
23:57
Speaker 4: have the luxury at this level of just saying this
24:01
Speaker 4: is what we do and stop it. You have to
24:05
Speaker 4: have an identity, no doubt, but you also have to
24:08
Speaker 4: be able to adapt, and those adaptations are based on
24:12
Speaker 4: who you have playing football for you. And so that's
24:15
Speaker 4: what the next couple months is about, is building the
24:18
Speaker 4: roster for the twenty twenty four Bengals. And once we
24:22
Speaker 4: get all those things in place, we obviously have ideas
24:24
Speaker 4: of what we want to be able to do as
24:25
Speaker 4: an offense. And then once that roster it becomes solidified,
24:30
Speaker 4: you may start to lean in one direction or another.
24:33
Speaker 4: So I can't say with any specificity what those changes
24:38
Speaker 4: may be, if there will be changes, I just know
24:40
Speaker 4: that our process is one that is open minded and
24:44
Speaker 4: is willing to pivot and go in whatever direction we
24:48
Speaker 4: feel like we need to go to win football games.
24:51
Speaker 1: There are three games left in the season, the championship
24:54
Speaker 1: games this weekend, the Super Bowl after that. Do you
24:56
Speaker 1: watch those games like the rest of us or are
24:59
Speaker 1: you studying? Man, that's something that we can do offensively
25:03
Speaker 1: next year and beyond.
25:05
Speaker 4: When I watch them on the couch, I'm more like
25:08
Speaker 4: the rest of us because I love the game, you know,
25:12
Speaker 4: and probably to a degree that my wife would would
25:18
Speaker 4: argue is unhealthy, But that's I lean into it. So
25:23
Speaker 4: I love football. I love watching it. Now as I'm
25:25
Speaker 4: watching it, do I see things that I mean, sure,
25:28
Speaker 4: I'm not above writing a little reminder in my phone
25:31
Speaker 4: if I see a play that popped up or something
25:33
Speaker 4: that happened, and and then I'll go back to it,
25:36
Speaker 4: you know, when I get into my office and I
25:38
Speaker 4: study it. So the answer to your question is yes
25:40
Speaker 4: to both. In the moment, I'm enjoying it. And then,
25:44
Speaker 4: you know, as much as someone who desperately would like
25:47
Speaker 4: to be in that situation can enjoy something like that,
25:49
Speaker 4: because it's a reminder that you're watching it on the
25:51
Speaker 4: couch and you're not there, and we've been there. I mean,
25:54
Speaker 4: let's be honest, we're having this conversation right now at
25:56
Speaker 4: a time in the last two seasons where we'd have
25:58
Speaker 4: been getting ready to go out on practice field right now,
26:00
Speaker 4: and that stings. But it's also good that it stings,
26:05
Speaker 4: because we know what we're capable of and we'll do
26:08
Speaker 4: everything in our power to get back there.
26:10
Speaker 1: Last thing for Dan Pitcher, Brian Callahan, ascend it to
26:13
Speaker 1: a head coaching position from the job that you have now.
26:16
Speaker 1: I assume that that is the goal for you. Have
26:18
Speaker 1: you already started planning for the day that you will
26:21
Speaker 1: be an NFL head coach.
26:23
Speaker 4: I think the best way to put myself in position
26:29
Speaker 4: to ultimately have that opportunity is to be the absolute
26:33
Speaker 4: best offensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals that I can be.
26:38
Speaker 4: I think there's a lot of carryover when it comes
26:41
Speaker 4: to this job and that job, and I would be
26:45
Speaker 4: foolish if every ounce of my effort wasn't going into
26:49
Speaker 4: this current role. And I think if I do that
26:53
Speaker 4: and I do this job well, those other things will
26:55
Speaker 4: take care of themselves. And so I come in here
26:58
Speaker 4: with a clear mind and that approach, and man, I'm
27:03
Speaker 4: just I'm really, really excited that I get to do it.
27:07
Speaker 1: This is a well deserved opportunity. We're really excited for you.
27:11
Speaker 1: I appreciate your time today and best of what going forward.
27:13
Speaker 1: Thanks Dan, that's going to do it for this episode
27:16
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27:48
Speaker 1: I'm Dan Hord and thanks for listening to The Bengals
27:51
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast.