OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- The Baltimore Ravens completed a shake-up of their coaching staff Tuesday, officially hiring Jim Fassel as offensive coordinator and Rick Neuheisel as quarterback coach and
promoting Rex Ryan to defensive coordinator.
"Both sides of the ball will benefit from these moves," Ravens coach Brian Billick said. "Jim should be an NFL coach right now, and we reap the
benefits because he's not."
Fassel, who coached the New York Giants to the 2001 Super Bowl, accepted the position after realizing he wasn't going to get
another head coaching job this winter.
"Although things didn't work out the way I wanted it to this
year -- there was low turnover and it just wasn't going to line up --
the last thing I thought I was going to do was go back to being a
coordinator," Fassel said. "There was only one place I even
considered, and that was right here."
Before working as New York's head coach from 1997 to 2003, Fassel was
an offensive coordinator with the Giants, Denver and Arizona. He
worked this season as a senior consultant to the Ravens.
Fassel will now seek to improve an offense that ranked 31st in
the NFL under Matt Cavanaugh, who resigned under pressure Jan.
3.
"I'll wake up in the morning excited about what I'm doing,"
Fassel said. "This was the right thing to do."
While Fassel merely settled for his new post, Ryan was delighted
to replace Mike Nolan -- who took the head coaching job with the San Francisco 49ers -- and Neuheisel appreciated the opportunity to end
a two-year hiatus from coaching.
"I think I'm bred to coach defense," said Ryan, the son of former Philadelphia Eagles head coach Buddy Ryan and twin
brother of Rob Ryan, the Oakland Raiders' defensive coordinator . "I've
always wanted to run my own show, and getting this opportunity here, especially, is huge."
Neuheisel has been out of coaching since being fired by the
University of Washington in June 2003 for participating in a
high-stakes basketball pool. After impressing the Ravens while
interviewing for the job as offensive coordinator, he was hired to refine the skills of quarterback Kyle Boller, a role
Fassel filled this season.
"We were blown away by Rick Neuheisel in two interviews with us," Billick said. "We see immediately why he succeeded at a big-time level in
college, and why NFL teams were looking at him as a possible
head coach a couple of years ago."
Neuheisel was 66-30 in eight seasons at Colorado and Washington.
The NCAA investigated both Neuheisel and the Washington football
program and cleared the coach of wrongdoing.
"I'm excited as I can be to be back in the game," Neuheisel
said. "I don't pretend to have a wealth of experience and that I
can just snap my fingers. I'm going to follow the direction of Jim
Fassel, who has a great track record."
Billick believes Fassel and Neuheisel will
help Baltimore rectify the weakest facet of a team that went 9-7
and missed the playoffs this season.
"I sit here as a guy that, although exhausted, gets his cake
and eats it too in getting Jim Fassel as my new offensive
coordinator and Rick Neuheisel as our new quarterback coach,"
Billick said.
Although the Ravens now must find a new defensive line coach to
replace Ryan, Billick considers the offseason shuffling of his
staff to be virtually complete.
"I can't tell you how excited I am today to bring some finality
to the staff structure that we've been working on the past couple
of weeks," he said.
Ryan has been with the Ravens since 1999. In 2000, he helped construct a defense that set an NFL record for fewest points
allowed in a 16-game season (165). Baltimore won the Super Bowl
that season, beating Fassel's Giants 34-7.
"Rex has been waiting for this opportunity, and we've been
selfish in not letting him go some place else to be a
coordinator," Billick said.
Information from The Associated Press and SportsTicker was used in this report.