Cunningham, Westhoff win assistant coach achievement award

Mike Westhoff and the late Gunther Cunningham have won the 2019 Paul “Dr. Z” Zimmerman Award from the Professional Football Writers of America.

Cunningham spent 33 of his 35 NFL seasons as an assistant coach, renowned for his feared defensive units in Kansas City over two stints and nine seasons as the Chiefs’ defensive coordinator. Westhoff spent 32 seasons as an NFL assistant coach and is regarded as a special teams pioneer.

The Dr. Z Award is given for lifetime achievement as an assistant coach in the NFL and is named for Zimmerman, who covered the NFL for 29 years as Sports Illustrated’s pro football writer.

Other 2019 nominees for the Dr. Z Award were the late offensive line coach Bobb McKittrick; current Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator and defensive line coach Rod Marinelli; and current Jacksonville Jaguars running backs coach Terry Robiskie.

___

More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/tag/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL