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It's official: Rutgers offensive coordinator Ron Prince has joined the Detroit Lions' coaching staff. He is not going to serve as the Lions' offensive coordinator, though. Instead, Prince has been named the Lions' assistant head coach and tight ends coach.
Prince only ended up spending one season at Rutgers. He became their offensive coordinator after spending a few years in the NFL ranks. He was Jim Caldwell's assistant offensive line coach for two seasons in Indianapolis, and he held the same position in Jacksonville. Before that, he was an offensive line coach for various schools, the head coach at Kansas State from 2006-08 and the special teams coordinator at Virginia in 2009.
With Prince set to coach tight ends for the first time in his college/NFL career, Dave Birkett reports that the Lions are going to shift Bobby Johnson, last year's tight ends coach, over to assistant offensive line coach. Also, Terry Heffernan, last year's assistant O-line coach, is now set to be an offensive assistant.
I'm not exactly sure why the Lions didn't just keep Johnson at tight ends coach and have Prince assist with the offensive line, but another piece of the puzzle is now in place for Detroit's coaching staff.
