Cowboys coaching hire update: Ben Bloom & Keith O’Quinn promoted as part of 2018 staff

It’s been a while since we had a new hire for the Cowboys coaching staff, but the ever-reliable Todd Archer reports two positions have been filled. Ben Bloom will move into the role of linebacker coach, while Keith O’Quinn will be the special teams coordinator. Both coaches were already on the Cowboys staff and are being promoted.

It had been assumed that O’Quinn would be the guy to replace Rich Bisaccia after he moved to Oakland to join Jon Gruden. O’Quinn was Bisaccia’s assistant for the past four seasons. The special teams did pretty well last year, ranking fifth in Rick Gosselin’s annual special teams rankings.

Bloom will be replacing Matt Eberflus, who will be joining Josh McDaniel in Indianapolis. Bloom has held a variety of positions with the Cowboys.

Bloom has also been on Garrett’s staff since 2011. He joined the Cowboys as a quality control coach under then coordinator Rob Ryan. He worked with Matt Eberflus and the linebackers in his first three seasons before shifting to assistant defensive line coach in 2014 and ‘15. He spent the last two seasons as assistant coach/special projects.

This pretty much finishes out the staff except for tight ends coach. There are some other assistant and quality control positions that will need to be filled.