Mark Duffner (born July 19, 1953) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach who is the senior defensive assistant for the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). Duffner served as the head coach of the

Maryland Terrapins football The Maryland Terrapins football team represents the University of Maryland, College Park in the sport of American football. The Terrapins compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and the Big Ten Conference. The Terrapins jo ...

team from 1992 to 1996. Duffner was born and raised in the

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

suburb of

Annandale, Virginia Annandale () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia.Annandale High School Annandale High School is a State school, public high school in Annandale, Virginia, United States. It is part of the Fairfax County Public Schools system. The school's student body has been recognized for its high level of racial and cultural ...

and played collegiately at the

College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (abbreviated as W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III and Queen Mary II, it is the second-oldest instit ...

, recruited to the school by assistant coach

Bobby Ross Robert Joseph Ross (born December 23, 1936) is an American former football coach. He served as the head football coach at The Citadel (1973–1977), the University of Maryland, College Park (1982–1986), Georgia Tech (1987–1991), and the ...

. His first coaching job was as a Graduate Assistant under iconic coach

Woody Hayes Wayne Woodrow "Woody" Hayes (February 14, 1913 – March 12, 1987) was an American college football coach and player. He served as the head football coach at Denison University from 1946 to 1948, Miami University in Oxford, Ohio from 1949 to 195 ...

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

followed by a stint as Defensive Coordinator for the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...

Bearcats; he moved to Holy Cross in the same role in 1981 and ascended to the Head Coach position in 1986, compiling a stellar 60–5–1 record. At Maryland, Duffner compiled a 20–35 record, his most important legacy at Maryland has been in the record books; most of the Terps' longstanding single game, season, and career passing and receiving record were broken during his tenure. This was due to the implementation of his run and shoot offense and quarterbacks John Kaleo,

Scott Milanovich Scott Stewart Milanovich (born January 25, 1973) is an American professional football coach and former player who is the head coach for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was also the head coach of the Toront ...

, and Brian Cummings. However, his teams were notoriously weak on defense, frequently giving up points so fast that even his prolific offense couldn't keep up. Duffner's only winning season came in 1995 when the Terps finished with a 6–5 record and started with four consecutive wins. After leaving Maryland, Duffner became an assistant with the

from 1997 to 2002, where he served as linebackers coach and then

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator (DC) is a coach responsible for a gridiron football team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's coaching structure, wit ...

. From 2003 to 2005, he served with the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

. In early 2006, he was signed by the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team ...

as the linebackers coach. He was hired by the Miami Dolphins in January to be their linebackers coach for the 2014 season. On October 15, 2018, Duffner was named as the new defensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Duffner was hired by the Bengals as a senior defensive assistant on March 7, 2019. He missed the team's week 10 game in 2020 against the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...

due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

protocols. Duffner was fired by the Bengals at the end of the 2024 season. The surname Duffner originates from the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

habitational name for someone from Teufen in

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Province of Hohenzollern, Hohenzollern, two other histo ...

or from Tüffen near Saint Gallen, in Switzerland.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Cincinnati Bengals profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duffner, Mark 1953 births Living people American football defensive linemen Cincinnati Bearcats football coaches Cincinnati Bengals coaches Green Bay Packers coaches Holy Cross Crusaders football coaches Jacksonville Jaguars coaches Maryland Terrapins football coaches Miami Dolphins coaches NFL defensive coordinators Ohio State Buckeyes football coaches Tampa Bay Buccaneers coaches William & Mary Tribe football players Coaches of American football from Virginia Players of American football from Fairfax County, Virginia