Bengals’ Wyche Asks Blacks, Whites to Room Together

The Cincinnati Bengals opened training camp Sunday and Coach Sam Wyche launched a new policy aimed at boosting team unity: he assigned roommates, asking blacks and whites to room together. He also asked offensive players and defensive players to room together.

Wyche said the Bengals haven’t had the “tight bond that a lot of winning teams have. We’re trying to create a situation in which that bond can develop.”

The Bengals were 4-11 last season and Wyche has been told by General Manager Paul Brown he will be dismissed if this year’s record isn’t “a lot better.”

Checking into camp Sunday were rookies, free agents and selected veterans. The rest of the veterans are scheduled to report Thursday.

Players at previous training camps picked their own roommates. In many cases, that resulted in blacks, whites, offensive players and defensive players sticking among themselves.

“It’s a good idea,” defensive back Robert Jackson said. “We’ve tried just about every way to win. So let’s try this and see if we win.”

Said running back Stanford Jennings: “I have no objection to it, but it will be a big adjustment for some. You’ve got some guys who have roomed with the same guy for years. I guess it’s just a matter of choice taken away. But that’s the move Sam took and he has been strong with it.”

Wyche said there is no racial problem on the team.

“If there were a racial problem, we could never do anything like this,” he said.

Wyche said only about 5% of his players don’t like the idea.