Packers Finalize 2018 Coaching Staff
The Packers officially announced the coaching staff for the 2018 season.
By TimBackes
The Packers made their changes to the coaching staff official this morning. The following coaches were officially introduced by head coach Mike McCarthy as being either new members of the staff or taking on new roles with the team:
- Joe Philbin, offensive coordinator
- Mike Pettine, defensive coordinator
- James Campen, offense, run game coordinator/offensive line
- Jim Hostler, offense, pass game coordinator
- Patrick Graham, defense, run game coordinator/inside linebackers
- Joe Whitt Jr., defense, pass game coordinator
- Frank Cignetti Jr., quarterbacks coach
- Ryan Downard, defensive quality control coach
- Maurice Drayton, assistant special teams coach
- Scott McCurley, defensive assistant
- Jerry Montgomery, defensive line coach
- David Raih, wide receivers coach
- Jason Simmons, secondary coach
Most of these coaching changes had already been reported, but had not yet been officially announced by the team. Coaches returning to their same roles are as follows:
- Brian Angelichio, tight ends coach
- Ben Sirmans, running backs coach
- Jeff Blasko, assistant offensive line coach
- Winston Moss, assistant head coach/linebackers coach
- Ron Zook, special teams coordinator
- Mark Lovat, strength and conditioning coordinator
- Chris Gizzi, strength and conditioning assistant
- Thadeus Jackson, strength and conditioning assistant
- Grant Thorne, strength and conditioning assistant
Note that Darren Perry could still return to the Packers. He is waiting on possible offers from teams he has interviewed with for a possible Defensive Coordinator position.
On to 2018.
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Tim Backes is a lifelong Packer fan and a contributor to CheeseheadTV. Follow him on Twitter @timbackes for his Packer takes, random musings and Untappd beer check-ins.
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Comments (21)
FTS Messamore
January 24, 2018 at 10:37 am
To many chief's. I dont understand the Passing/Running game coordinator titles. Are we giving titles out like candy on Halloween? Good job Big Mike!
Turophile
January 24, 2018 at 11:31 am
The pass and run coordinators may well be an attempt to get ALL the offense or ALL the defense on the same page.
One of the problems the Packers have had, particularly on defense, is that the units (D line, ILB, OLB, CB, S) are not all working together as one defensive unit.
McCarthy has experimented before in combining position groups in class discussion/film study sessions, for example putting the QB class with the receiver class. This looks like the same thing pushed forward another step.
FTS Messamore
January 24, 2018 at 12:19 pm
When Alex Van pelt coached the WR/QB positions in 2015? I think we all remember how well that turned out. My thing is this, if you have 5 coaches determined to educate the same message, you are going to have 5 different ways on how that message is getting across. I spoke with a police officer once. During his time in the academy he described that the instructor lined all the cadets in a single file line. The instructor explained an event to the first cadet and asked him to explain it the same way to next cadet behind him and so on. When the last cadet had to explain the event back to the instructor, he described a totally different event with new add in material. My point is, the more chiefs you have explaining the material, the more a message becomes lost in the process and confuses the other participants. I doesn't surprise me we still have communication issues on defense.
Spock
January 24, 2018 at 03:07 pm
FTS, Pretty much anyone over the age of 50 did this in grade school. The teacher would give a story to the first student on one side of the room and they would relay it to the next desk behind them. By the time it got to the other end of the classroom (typically about 30-35 plus students in my day) the last student would tell the story and then the teacher would give the original (written) story to the class. It was used as a lesson in how people tend to embellish/change what they've been told. I'm 63 now and can't remember what this exercise was called (maybe 'post office'?), but it was an excellent way of teaching young minds that they need to check out the FACTS before believing a story. Wish more people did this in today's society (sigh).
WKUPackFan
January 24, 2018 at 03:17 pm
Post office was what we called it (58 here). It was also a popular children's birthday party game.
dobber
January 24, 2018 at 09:28 pm
There are other teams that have these positions on their staff. I'm not sure if it's new in the NFL or if the Packers are late to the party...
NickPerry
January 25, 2018 at 05:01 am
In Dallas wasn't Scott Linehan called the "Passing Game Coordinator"?
CAG123
January 24, 2018 at 10:55 am
Smh Mark Lovat is still employed
NickPerry
January 25, 2018 at 05:07 am
Sigh...... This must be another on of McCarthy's "Buddies" who will stay employed as long as McCarthy has a job. I find it absolutely mind boggling Lovat still has a job in the NFL or at least a job in GB.
After 7 straight years of mash unit squads you'd think McCarthy would try SOMETHING different other than what they give the players to drink or installing a new "Snack Period" at a particular time of the day. UGH!!!!!
Spock
January 25, 2018 at 02:59 pm
NP, totally disagree on MM not trying anything different. There were multiple articles about him hiring a yoga instructor (lots of amazement on how young she looked) who Rodgers and others swear by. MM was also very proactive in using technical methods for monitoring the movements of players and having trainers set up specific training for those players related to HOW THEY MOVE as well as hiring people to help specific players with good nutrition. You can accuse him of too much loyalty, but THIS one is off-based. Lovat and his staff have been awarded by their PEERS as leading edge innovators for their methods. I personally believe a lot of the Packers injuries were because the coaches put them in bad spots and they had to use muscles in ways not suitable for their position. -and let's be real, many of the Packers injuries had NOTHING to do with training: someone rolls up on their ankle, a cheap shot breaks a bone or causes a sprain or concussion. MM changed the training schedule to minimize the possibility of injuries. IMHO you are way off base here. We will have to agree to disagree (but I think I've got more data to support my side, LOL), Honestly Nick I think this is one of the biggest misconceptions that Packers fans have, that the training staff is (crap). Examination of the facts prove otherwise. Have the Packers had (crap) luck on injuries, there we agree.
Since'61
January 24, 2018 at 11:25 am
Including MM that gives the Packers 23 coaches. That is more than one coach per starting player. And yet we have players who can’t tackle or understand their assignments. Let’s hope this new group is more effective than the last especially on defense.
Plus all these coaches work 60+ hours per week from July until the season ends.
Yet Vince Lombardi with 7-8 assistants went home every evening at 5-6 PM and his players played well enough to win 5 NFL championships including 3 in a row.
Somewhere along the way the NFL has become overly engineered to the point where much less is achieved with much more.
We have all these specialists but nothing is actually special.
Thanks, Since ‘61
Coldworld
January 24, 2018 at 02:33 pm
Perhaps it’s a trade off: less real practice is permitted so more coaches and more teaching time.
Qoojo
January 24, 2018 at 11:48 am
Need more Coordinator titles.
Vending machine coordinator
Not getting enough good players coordinator
Forget the run, Rodgers is back, coordinator
4thand10
January 24, 2018 at 09:15 pm
I love that. I would like to add:
Ball security coordinator
:-)
Tundraboy
January 25, 2018 at 12:28 am
Love it. Ball inflation and balancing coordinator.....
John Ramble Kirk
January 24, 2018 at 07:26 pm
Disappointed to see Winston Moss back along with Lovat. Not thrilled Whitt is back.
Hard enough getting a new message across much less with members of the old guard around.
If you were brought into a company to run something that wasn't working would you want company holdovers or your own new staff?
We can thank Mark Murphy for this. The absentee landlord finally got a look at the building and is overcorrecting for years of neglect.
Wait! Jerry Montgomery is on staff? He went to Texas A&M. Just googled...he had a change of heart and came back. That's a shocker.
dobber
January 24, 2018 at 09:14 pm
Montgomery is no longer assistant DL but is now DL coach. I was surprised, too.
Spock
January 25, 2018 at 03:19 pm
Kirk, If they were the BEST people and the others dragged them down, yes, I would want to work with them. I've personally been in the position of going to companies where there was massive turnover. My experience is that often the people who were not cut were because they were too GOOD to be let go! You seem like a smart guy, but IMO you also seem to have a strong opinion on people you've never met. I'm willing to see how this shakes out. Maybe you're right in your early assessment, maybe not. I prefer to be more positive. If you'd told most of the Packers fan base before the last game that all this turnover was happening they'd have been doing cartwheels. Now the "Debby Downers" (not saying you are) are finding something else to worry about! I'm just going to R-E-L-A-X and see how it goes. I find your posts very interesting. I'm about 50/50 on whether I agree with you, but at least you have a very erudite style to your writing. I look forward to what you have to say when the season has ACTUALLY begun!!
John Ramble Kirk
January 25, 2018 at 05:38 pm
Your criticism is fair on a micro level. I don't know any of these guys personally. On a macro level, if I was put into the position of fixing something broken, I would want full autonomy in how that needed to happen. Perhaps, Pettine met these guys and was okay with them. I just think you can be nudged. If I'm hired to fix something, I'm new and have a boss. If that boss wants me to keep certain guys I'm inclined to do it even though I may not want them and feel they're more part of the problem than a solution. Just looks wrong to me based on some inferences that may be incorrect.
Appreciate the kind words. Polarizing is the best word for me with the majority not on my bandwagon. :)
Full disclosure. I'm one of those perfectionist types. One of my favorite moments was listening to Jerry Rice detail his most memorable moment from his career. I expected some catch in the SB. He went the other way and said it was a fumble vs the Giants that cost his team a playoff win. That's why he was Jerry Rice great wasn't good enough. I feel in Green Bay good is great enough and I hate that.
Oh, it's really too bad they got the call wrong in the TO playoff win at the Stick where he clearly fumbled. Maybe, that would've been his most memorable moment? :)
Spock
January 26, 2018 at 10:33 am
LOL, Enjoyed the last line. It's good that 'Kirk" and 'Spock' can have a rational conversation.
Thegreatreynoldo
January 25, 2018 at 12:44 am
Jason Simmons as secondary coach seems a bit dubious to me. Oh well, he was a DB in the NFL.