The Cincinnati Bengals announced Friday afternoon that former Cornell quarterback Bill Lazor ’94 will be assuming the offensive coordinator role for the team, effective immediately.
NEWS: #Bengals announce that quarterbacks coach Bill Lazor will assume offensive coordinator responsibilities effective immediately. pic.twitter.com/oaLcMEeIo1
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) September 15, 2017
In his playing time on East Hill, Lazor built a resume that ranks him fourth all-time in passing yards and third in passing touchdowns. By the time of his graduation, the three-year starter broke 26 passing and total offensive records for the program.
Lazor was an All-Ivy honorable mention selection in his sophomore season in 1992 and earned the team’s Pop Warner Most Valuable Player Award the following year. He was inducted into the Cornell Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012.
After graduating from East Hill, Lazor was an assistant coach at his alma mater until 2000. He then made the lead to the NFL in 2001 as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Buffalo Bills. Since then, Lazor has had stints in Atlanta, Washington and Seattle before making a brief detour into the college ranks once again when he was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the University of Virginia from 2010 until 2012. Lazor ventured back into the NFL as a part of the Philadelphia and Miami organizations, before ending up in Cincinnati.
The announcement of his promotion came less than a day after the Bengals’ Thursday night matchup against the Houston Texans, where the team dropped a 13-9 contest. The Bengals have lost the first two games of its young season, including its home opener, 20-0, against the Baltimore Ravens.
“Trust me, things have happened very fast,” Lazor said in a conference call Friday afternoon, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. “We’ll have a chance to convene [Saturday] morning after everyone has had a chance to take in what’s happening and we’ll go forward a lot faster after that. But the most important thing I think for today is just the relationships with the coaches on the staff and being all together and being prepared to move forward.”
Lazor joined the organization in January 2016 as the quarterbacks coach after his predecessor Ken Zampese was promoted to offensive coordinator and assumes his new role after the firing of Zampese.
“Today, I’m really thinking more about Ken having been through it from the other side and knowing how much he put into it and feeling badly and trying to be humane about that,” Lazar added about Zampese, according to the Enquirer.