Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis dipped into the Ravens' Super Bowl staff Wednesday when he finalized his roster of coaches for the upcoming season.
In addition to hiring Kyle Caskey as offensive quality control coach, Lewis appointed Jeff Friday as assistant strength and conditioning coach to replace Ray Oliver after his departure to head the program at the University of Kentucky. Friday, Baltimore's head strength and conditioning coach for nine seasons that included the championship season of 2000, is reunited with Bengals head strength and conditioning coach Chip Morton, his assistant in Baltimore from 1999-2001, and Lewis, then the Ravens defensive coordinator.
When Ravens head coach Brian Billick was let go after the 2007 season, Friday started his own strength training business and last year served as a consultant to the United Football League. While supervising the league's strength and conditioning programs he also assisted the hiring of coaches. Friday's hometown is Milwaukee and he's a graduate of the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee with a master's degree from Illinois State.
Caskey, who replaces new Princeton University head coach Bob Surace, worked last season at the University of Mississippi as a defensive assistant working with safeties and quality control handling all opponent offensive breakdowns and scouting report materials.
After a stint as a graduate assistant in 2004 at Louisiana-Monroe, Caskey worked at Indiana State from 2006-08 and coached tight ends and running backs while also serving as recruiting coordinator in his final season. Out of Daingerfield, Tex., Caskey played tight end at Texas A&M in 1997-98 and was a four-year letterman in track and field from 1998-2002, including 2000 All-Big XII honors in the discus.
The job of the offensive quality control coach is heavily computer oriented with film breakdown of the Bengals and foes with analysis and input for short-term and long-term projects. He also helps various positions on the field during practice and is usually in the press box during games.
