Jim Lippincott receives a framed Bengals jersey in 2012 after practice with then head coach Marvin Lewis looking on. The jersey commemorates Lippincott’s twenty years with the organization.
For Lima Central Catholic 1967 graduate Jim Lippincott, the game of football has always consumed him. Despite his diminutive size at 104 pounds as a freshman, so small he remembers being told by a coach that, because of safety reasons, he wouldn’t play him, Lippincott was determined to make football his life’s work. A combination of his networking skills back before the term “networking” was in vogue, and a tireless work ethic made it happen.
“I put aside the disappointment of being told I was too small to play by becoming a statistician for the team,” recalls Lippincott. “I asked so many questions of LCC’s coaches in order to learn. Assistant coaches Ron Balazs and Art Zeleznick helped, and to a much larger degree, Jerry Glanville. Our relationship continued long after Jerry left LCC for other coaching opportunities, and I often sought his advice over the years.”
After enrolling at Xavier, Lippincott immediately established contact with football head coach Eddie Biles in the fall of 1967 and gained access to many football-related activities. Both Biles, who left in 1968 to climb his own coaching ladder and the next two head coaches, Irv Etler and Dick Selcer, also allowed Lippincott to be a part of the program. The English Education major was also able to spend time with legendary head coach Bron Bacevich during his student teaching at Roger Bacon High School. Bacevick went on to win over 300 games.
Following his Xavier graduation in May of ‘71 and before leaving for a stint in the National Guard, Lippincott secured a promise to join Xavier head coach Tom Cecchini’s staff following his service but the school’s Board of Trustees voted to drop football before that could happen.
Setting aside disappointment, Lippincott began climbing his football ladder by building relationships with many who helped him along the way. At Sidney High School, he served under well-respected head coach Dave Haines, whose teams crafted a 30-game winning streak between 1968 and ’70. From Haines, Lippincott recalls that he learned you can get away with offensive simplicity if execution is perfect and there are enough wrinkles.
“We only had three running plays, but we had the personnel to do that and we ran those plays out of multiple sets and a lot of motion,” said Lippincott.
At 24, Lippincott was the youngest head football coach in Ohio when he took the Marion Local job in 1974, going 9-1 his first year, earning conference coach of the year honors. After the 1978 season, Lippincott left Marion Local and joined his father’s business repairing and selling musical instruments.
However, the lure of football had him coaching again a year later. Following head coaching stints back at Sidney and at Columbus Grove, he sought out a more renowned program, and none were more so in the 1980s than Cincinnati Moeller, where he applied and was hired.
“I was able to learn so much being on the staffs of head coaches Ted Bacigalupo and Steve Klonne from 1981 to ’91,” Lippincott said. “I’m always a bit leery about talking about our successes because I’ve seen the other side at times, but I will say over eleven years, we played in four state championship games, winning two, and at one point, won 77 straight league games. The ’82 state-championship team also was named national champions by USAToday.”
In what might be some sort of record for returning to a school, Lippincott returned to Moeller after a twenty-year absence in 2012 and 2013 as defensive coordinator for back-to-back state championship teams on John Rodenberg’s staff. Current Bengal Sam Hubbard played safety for Lippincott.
But what about that twenty-year gap between stints with Moeller’s Crusaders?
Lippincott said, “In my first year at Moeller, I called the Bengals offices and explained who I was and what I wanted, which was to be allowed access. One thing led to another, and eventually, I met with both Bengals owner Paul Brown and Mike Brown, his dad’s top administrative assistant. I spent a lot of time with Forrest Gregg’s staff and then Sam Wyche’s as well and learned so much football from both head coaches and also from men like Lindy Infante, Dick LeBeau, Bruce Coslet, Jim McNally, Hank Bullough and so many others.”
Lippincott also grew very close to both Paul and Mike Brown, so close that, following Paul Brown’s death in 1991, after Mike took over principal ownership, Mike asked Lippincott to join the organization.
“I was originally hired as a scout even though I wasn’t really qualified, but Mike had confidence in me, knew he could trust me and encouraged me,” recalls Lippincott. “He used one of his father’s favorite expressions, telling me, ‘Find your own niche.’”
While it was difficult leaving Moeller, Lippincott did, eventually climbing the ladder from scout to director of scouting to director of player personnel to director of football operations over his twenty years that covered the head coaching tenures of Dave Shula, Bruce Coslet, Dick LeBeau and Marvin Lewis.
Lippincott said, “While I’m so grateful for my time there, I think the countless hours I spent with Mike may have been the biggest plus. I learned so much from him, especially about his father. Besides my dad, Mike’s the only man I’ve ever known who I’d take a bullet for.”
As for his years with the Bengals, Lippincott is indeed thankful. While he cherishes the memories of playing a prominent role in many NFL drafts, he does have an interesting admission.
“The draft is grueling when you’re involved in the process, so much preparation. It’s far more exciting for the fans, no doubt.”
Lippincott’s first attempt at retirement after his second stint with Moeller failed, when he was asked by then Cincinnati Woodward head coach Kali Jones to be his defensive coordinator, a role he took on in 2017 and ’18. Now, some six years into his second retirement, he and his wife of 52 years, Lu Ann, are blessed to have both their son, David, their daughter, Kelly, and their five grandchildren within ten minutes of their home in Mason, Ohio.
Looking back on his four-plus decades of football, Lippincott is equal parts grateful yet still a smidge resentful if he looks back far enough.
“God’s blessed me, that’s for sure,” he said. “I’m sure back when I was that 104-pound LCC freshman, I know there were those who never thought I’d ever accomplish anything in football, but I wasn’t afraid to reach out to others nor was I afraid of hard work.”
John Grindrod is a regular columnist for The Lima News, a freelance writer and editor, and author of two books. He can be reached at [email protected].
