NEWSLETTER
Special teams coaches and coordinators don’t get a ton of pub, but I like the cut of Richard Hightower’s jib.
Starting on May 21, the Chicago Bears special teams coach will participate in the NFL’s Coach Accelerator Program during the NFL’s spring meetings in Minneapolis.
ESPN’s Courtney Cronin has the deets:
Side note: Patrick dives into the other assistant coaches who are joining Hightower in the program in today’s BN NFL Bullets. Are you following our league-wide football coverage? If not you should change that ASAP. Anyway, back to the post.
The accelerator program is meant to promote diversity and expose owners and league executives to a wider range of coaching candidates. Last winter, we saw Bears Assistant GM Ian Cunningham get involved in the league’s front-office accelerator program. Even though Cunningham didn’t land a GM gig this offseason, he had a few interviews. And there is a general belief that it is only a matter of time until Cunningham gets to run his own show. Cunningham was singing the praises of the program last December. Perhaps Hightower will have a similarly good experience.
Hightower, 42, has a strong coaching résumé that dates back to 2006 with a stint as an assistant with the Houston Texans. Since then, Hightower made stops in Washington (2010-13), Cleveland (2014), and San Francisco (2015) before his first stop in Chicago (2016). And after a brief second stint in San Fran (2017-21), Hightower returned to the Bears as part of Matt Eberflus’ staff. Hightower has extensive special teams coaching experience, but this accelerator program will hopefully allow him an opportunity to branch out and expand his portfolio. At a minimum, it should help with the networking process which can be beneficial for so many of these assistant coaches.
