By Myra Bean

Deshea Townsend has a new title before his name: coach.

The Arizona Cardinals announced the hiring of the Batesville native as defensive backs assistant coach on February 16.

The Cardinals have shored up their coaching staff with people who have had ties to the Steelers in the past. Head coach Ken Whisenhut was a former Steeler coach and he hired Ray Horton to be the defensive coordinator.

Horton, who has been an assistant coach for 17 years, spent the last seven as the Steelers’ defensive backs coach. He was Townsend’s position coach before Townsend left last year after 12 years with the Steelers.

In a Monday morning telephone interview, Townsend, 35, was excited and humbled that both Horton and Whisenhut offered him the position.

“It is a good feeling that your position coach sees that in you and trusts you,” Townsend said.

He spent last season a part of the Colts organization.

One of the first people Townsend called with the news was his former high school coach, Willis Wright, now retired but still making his home in Batesville.

“I am so proud of him. I was ecstatic when he told me,” Wright said. “I told him he had to take it. It is really a feather in his cap.

“It shows his character and what people think about him in the NFL,” Wright continued. “He is well thought of in the NFL.”

Wright was also excited that Townsend is getting into the NFL “coaching fraternity” at such an early age.

Though Wright is excited for Townsend, he knows that it will not always be easy.

“He had to learn to play, now he has to learn to coach,” Wright said.

Townsend said he has had some practice being a player coach.

“For the most part, it was part of my game,” he said. “I was coaching as I was playing. I let guys know some stuff and the coaches asked my input on other defenses.”

The coaches would also let him run the room in meetings on defense when he was a player.

When asked about the Steeler connection moving to Arizona, Townsend laughed a little.

“If you are going to copy something, copy something that is consistent,” Townsend said.

Townsend has two Super Bowl rings from his 12 years with the team. The Steelers returned to the Super Bowl this year, but lost to the Green Bay Packers. The Steelers have won six of eight Super Bowl appearances.

The Cardinals were founded in 1898 and are the oldest continuously run professional football franchise in the nation. They have a long and storied history.

They spent 28 years in St. Louis before relocating to Arizona in 1988.

“I am going to root for him,” Wright said.

Townsend’s wife, Carla and three children are still in Oxford. They will follow him there after school ends.

Townsend sponsors a football camp for children and health fair for adults and children in Batesville each year. He will return Saturday, May 21, for this year’s camp.