Bobby Babich

Last updated

Bobby Babich
Buffalo Bills
Position: Defensive coordinator
Personal information
Born: (1983-07-30) July 30, 1983 (age 40)
Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S.
Career information
High school: Fargo South
College: North Dakota State (2002–2005)
Career history
As a coach:
Coaching stats at PFR

Bobby Babich (born July 30, 1983) [1] is an American football coach and former player who is the defensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the North Dakota State Bison and previously served as a coach with the Kent State Golden Flashes, Eastern Illinois Panthers, Carolina Panthers, Cleveland Browns and FIU Panthers.

Contents

Early life

Babich was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of football coach Bob Babich. [2] He attended Fargo South High School in North Dakota where he played football and track and field, being a running back and cornerback in the former. [3] He was selected first-team all-conference and first-team all-state as a senior in football and also received all-conference honors in track. [3]

Babich played college football as a defensive back for the North Dakota State Bison, whom his father was the coach for. [4] [5] He totaled 10 tackles and an interception as a true freshman in 2002. [3] He then started 10 games with 29 tackles as a sophomore in 2003, and had 22 tackles in 11 starts as a junior in 2004. [3] He led the team in interceptions as a senior and ended his collegiate career having been named academic all-conference twice. [6]

Coaching career

Early career

A year after the end of his playing career, Babich entered coaching, serving as a graduate assistant with the Kent State Golden Flashes in 2006. [7] One year later, he was hired by the Eastern Illinois Panthers as secondary coach. [8] He served in this role through 2010. [9]

Babich first entered the National Football League (NFL) in 2011, being hired by the Carolina Panthers to the role of administrative assistant to the coaching staff. [10] In this role, he was an assistant to defensive backs and helped the team's day-to-day operations. [11] [12] This year was the first of four consecutive years when he had to face off against his father, who was at the time serving as the defensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears; Bob beat Bobby in all four "Babich Bowls". [5] [13] He received a promotion to defensive assistant in the 2012 season. [14]

In 2013, Babich joined the Cleveland Browns and served through 2015 as an assistant defensive backs coach. [15] He initially accepted a position as defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach for the Edinboro Fighting Scots in 2016, but then moved to the FIU Panthers as secondary coach and defensive pass game coordinator before the season started. [16] [17]

Buffalo Bills

In 2017, Babich was hired by the Buffalo Bills as assistant defensive backs coach under Sean McDermott, joining his father who was also on the team's staff. [18] He helped in the development of Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde, two of the best safeties in the league, and in 2017 helped Hyde earn a spot in the Pro Bowl while Tre'Davious White was the leader in rookie pass deflections. [2] [17] He received a promotion to safeties coach in 2018. [15] USA Today noted that "all his groups performed admirably"; in 2020, he helped them reach the conference championship while being third in the league in takeaways, and in 2021 they had the top overall defense in the league, led in six major defensive categories, and both Hyde and Poyer were named All-Pro. [2] [15]

Babich was moved from safeties coach to linebackers coach in 2022, replacing his father who had retired. [19] He worked with Pro Bowler Tremaine Edmunds and helped Matt Milano earn first-team All-Pro honors in his first year in his new position. [2] [17] The following year, after Edmunds left, Babich helped develop Terrel Bernard, who went from having seen little playing time in 2022 to being a top player in 2023. [15] The team reached the AFC Divisional Round of the playoffs, with Bernard getting injured playing a role in their defeat by the Kansas City Chiefs. [15]

After having been interviewed by other teams for defensive coordinator positions multiple times following the 2023 season, Babich was promoted by the Bills to serve in that capacity on January 30, 2024. [20]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Dorsey</span> American football player and coach (born 1981)

Kenneth Simon Dorsey is an American football coach and former quarterback who is the offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Miami Hurricanes, where he won the national championship and the Maxwell Award in 2001. He was selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the seventh round of the 2003 NFL Draft, later playing for the Cleveland Browns and the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (CFL), before retiring in 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leslie Frazier</span> American football player and Assistant Head coach for the Seattle Seahawks (born 1959)

Leslie Antonio Frazier is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the assistant head coach of the Seattle Seahawks. He played professional football as a cornerback for the Chicago Bears in the National Football League (NFL), winning a Super Bowl in the 1985 season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Johnson (American football)</span> American football player and coach (1941–2009)

Jim Johnson was an American professional football player and coach in the National Football League (NFL). He was a defensive coordinator for nine seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles. Widely regarded as one of the best defensive coordinators in NFL history, he was especially known for being a master architect of blitzes, disguising them skillfully and keeping offenses off balance.

Perry Fewell is an American football coach. He currently serves as the senior vice president of officiating administration for the National Football League (NFL)'s officiating department. Previously, he served as the defensive backs coach or defensive coordinator for eight NFL teams between 1998 and 2019. He also served as the interim head coach for the Buffalo Bills in 2009 and for the Carolina Panthers in 2019. Fewell won Super Bowl XLVI as the defensive coordinator of the New York Giants, a position he held for five seasons.

Charles Evans Bresnahan is an American football coach and former player. He was the defensive coordinator of the Oakland Raiders on two occasions and the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL) as well as the Florida Tuskers and Sacramento Mountain Lions of the United Football League (UFL). He also served as defensive coordinator in the college ranks at the University of Central Florida, University of South Florida and University of Maine. Bresnahan also served as an assistant coach with the Cleveland Browns and Indianapolis Colts of the NFL and the United States Naval Academy (Navy) and the Georgia Institute of Technology in the college ranks. Bresnahan also assisted in the Officiating Department of the NFL for 3 seasons. He is the son of Tom Bresnahan, a long time NFL assistant and Offensive Coordinator who coached 4 Super Bowls under Marv Levy (HOF-2001) with the Buffalo Bills.

Bob Babich is an American football coach and former player, who was formerly the linebackers coach for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). Babich was the head football coach at North Dakota State University from 1997 to 2002, compiling a career record of 46–22. He played college football as a linebacker at the University of Tulsa in the early 1980s.

Steven Bernard Wilks is an American football coach and former player. He last served as the defensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers. He served as the head coach for the Arizona Cardinals in 2018. He has also served as defensive backs coach for the Chicago Bears and San Diego Chargers, as well as the defensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers, Cleveland Browns and Missouri. He played college football at Appalachian State.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sean McDermott</span> American football coach (born 1974)

Sean Michael McDermott is an American football coach who is the head coach for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He began his NFL coaching career as an assistant for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2001, serving as defensive coordinator from 2009 to 2010, and was later the defensive coordinator of the Carolina Panthers from 2011 to 2016. Following his six seasons with the Panthers, which included a Super Bowl appearance in Super Bowl 50, he was hired in 2017 as the Bills head coach and assumed defensive coordinator duties in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gus Bradley</span> American football coach and former player (born 1966)

Paul Casey "Gus" Bradley is an American football coach who is the defensive coordinator for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He came to prominence as the defensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks from 2009 to 2012, where he was the original playcaller of the team's Legion of Boom secondary. Bradley later served as the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2013 to 2016. Following his dismissal from Jacksonville, he returned to assistant coaching and became the Colts' defensive coordinator in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greg Roman</span> American football coach (born 1972)

Gregory P. Roman is an American football coach who is the offensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). Previously, he was the offensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens for four seasons and resigned from the team following the 2022 season. Prior to serving with the Baltimore Ravens, Roman was an assistant coach for the Buffalo Bills, San Francisco 49ers, Houston Texans and Carolina Panthers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al Holcomb</span> American football coach

Al Holcomb is an American football coach who is the linebackers coach for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the interim defensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers and as an assistant coach for the Cleveland Browns, Arizona Cardinals and New York Giants.

Scott Gregory Hazelton is an American football coach. He was recently the defensive coordinator at Michigan State University. Hazelton was the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Kansas State University in 2019 before moving to Michigan State. He was previously the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at the University of Wyoming in 2017 and 2018 where he led nationally ranked defenses in both seasons, linebackers coach at USC in 2012 and the defensive coordinator of the 2011 FCS National Champions, North Dakota State Bison. Hazelton was tutored as a defensive coach under the guidance of then North Dakota State head coach and current Buffalo Bills assistant Bob Babich and Gus Bradley who is a former head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, former Bison assistant coach, and is currently the defensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Chargers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jordan Poyer</span> American football player (born 1991)

Jordan Lynn-Baxter Poyer is an American football safety who is a free agent. He played college football at Oregon State, where he was named a consensus All-American. Poyer was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2013 NFL Draft and has also played for the Cleveland Browns. While a senior in high school, he was selected by the Florida Marlins in the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft.

John Butler is an American football coach who was most recently the defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the secondary coach for the Houston Texans and has coached collegiately at several schools, including Penn State, South Carolina, and Minnesota.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Klieman</span> American football coach (born 1967)

Christopher Paul Klieman is an American college football coach. He is the head football coach at Kansas State University, a position he has held since the 2019 season. Klieman served as the head football coach at North Dakota State University from 2014 to 2018. He succeeded the retiring Bill Snyder at Kansas State after leading the North Dakota State Bison to four NCAA Division I Football Championship titles in five seasons.

Matt Sheldon is the Game Management Coach for the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). He is a professional football coach, analyst and researcher with extensive NFL experience in research/analytics, in-game strategy, coaching and video editing with the New York Jets, Miami Dolphins, Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings, Buffalo Bills, St. Louis Rams and New Orleans Saints. Additionally, he has worked with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the Wisconsin Badgers of the NCAA. Sheldon also served as director of sports solutions development with Zebra Sports, the official provider of player tracking for the NFL. Sheldon has consulted with teams and leagues at the professional, olympic, collegiate and high school levels in North America and Europe. His areas of focus include strategy/tactics and decision-making, athlete tracking systems and elite athlete performance. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management and the University University of Wisconsin M.B.A. Program.

Eric Washington is an American football coach who is the defensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the defensive line coach for the Buffalo Bills following experience as the defensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers and defensive line coach for the Chicago Bears.

Tem Lukabu is an American football coach and former player who is the outside linebackers coach for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). He was previously the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Boston College, a position he held from 2020–2022. Lukabu spent the 2019 season as the linebackers coach for Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL). Lukabu served as a defensive assistant for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the NFL from 2012 to 2013 and has coached both linebackers and defensive line at the collegiate level, including stops at the University of Rhode Island, Rutgers University, Colgate University, Florida International University (FIU), and Mississippi State University.

Joseph Brady is an American football coach who is the offensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the offensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers from 2020 to 2021. He was a passing game coordinator and wide receiver coach for the LSU Tigers during the 2019 season, winning the Broyles Award for the best assistant coach in college football, and an offensive assistant for the New Orleans Saints from 2017 to 2018.

References

  1. ↑ 2023 NFL Record and Fact Book (PDF). National Football League. 2023. p. 51.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Bobby Babich" (PDF). Buffalo Bills.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Bobby Babich". North Dakota State Bison.
  4. ↑ "Babich heads to NFL". The Bismarck Tribune . Associated Press. February 5, 2003. p. 29, 30 – via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  5. 1 2 DiRocco, Michael (October 17, 2014). "Babich Bowl IV: Jaguars' Bob trying to sweep son Bobby". ESPN.
  6. ↑ "Ron Cooper to Defensive Coordinator; Adds Bobby Babich as Secondary Coach". Rivals.com . May 23, 2016.
  7. ↑ Traina, Patricia (January 23, 2024). "Giants Request Permission to Interview Bills Assistant Coach for DC Role". Sports Illustrated .
  8. ↑ "Panthers' new coach has Bears tie". Herald and Review . Associated Press. July 13, 2007. p. 13 – via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  9. ↑ "Browns: Bobby Babich, Daron Roberts added to coaching staff". WKYC. January 29, 2013.
  10. ↑ Schudel, Jeff (January 29, 2013). "Browns add two assistant coaches". The News-Herald .
  11. ↑ "Bobby Babich and Tim Harris, Jr., Join Head Coach Butch Davis' Staff". Rivals.com . November 29, 2016.
  12. ↑ "EIU's Babich moves to Carolina Panthers". Journal Gazette . February 28, 2011. p. 12 – via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  13. ↑ Scott, Jon (December 20, 2018). "Coaching the Bills Defense a Family Matter for the Babichs". Spectrum News.
  14. ↑ Buscaglia, Joe (January 30, 2024). "Bills promote Bobby Babich to defensive coordinator: Will Sean McDermott still call plays?". The Athletic .
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 Maiorana, Sal (January 30, 2024). "Bills promote linebackers coach Bobby Babich to become new defensive coordinator". USA Today .
  16. ↑ "Bobby Babich" (PDF). NFL.com .
  17. 1 2 3 Masala, Mike (January 29, 2024). "4 things to know about Dolphins defensive coordinator candidate Bobby Babich". USA Today .
  18. ↑ D'Arcangelo, Lyndsey (February 8, 2019). "The father and son behind the Bills' defense: How Bob and Bobby Babich's coaching paths converged in Buffalo". The Athletic .
  19. ↑ "Babich Embraces A New Challenge". The Buffalo News . June 26, 2022. p. D1, D3 – via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  20. ↑ Getzenberg, Alaina (January 30, 2024). "Bills promote LB coach Bobby Babich to defensive coordinator". ESPN.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.