Lewis, Jackson back on sidelines to coach in Collegiate Bowl

PASADENA, Calif. — Hue Jackson and Marvin Lewis don’t know if they will appear again on an NFL sideline but today they will be coaching players who hope to get to the next level.

The close friends are the head coaches for the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl. Lewis led the Cincinnati Bengals for 16 years but was fired in 2018 after the franchise’s third straight losing season. Jackson had three stints as an assistant on Lewis’ staff, including last season when he was hired shortly after being fired by the Cleveland Browns.

Both are glad to be back directing their staffs on a sideline, even if only for a week.

“He’s one of my best friends in the business. It is always good to compete against him,” Jackson said.

Lewis has spent most of the past year as a special adviser at Arizona State. Herm Edwards said the main reason for bringing Lewis aboard was to help him coach the coaches, but it also includes advance work on opponents as well as going through practice plans.

The role allowed Lewis to be closer to family. His daughter is an Arizona State graduate and still lives in the area.

Since Lewis was not one of the 10 assistants, his position didn’t include any on-field work until the Sun Devils’ appearance in the Sun Bowl, when he was an interim assistant due to changes to the staff.

“It has been great and fulfilling to assist the players and coaches. It also gave me a chance to recharge and go back to the lab and study football,” he said. “It has allowed me a chance to understand more of the college game and help them with trends in the NFL. I can look at different things and see if we might be able to implement them.”

Lewis was 131-129-3, including playoffs, with the Bengals and led them to four division titles. The only thing he wasn’t able to do was get a playoff win in seven attempts. After five straight postseason trips from 2011 to 2015, the Bengals had losing records in Lewis’ final three seasons.