| Atlanta Falcons | |
|---|---|
| Title | Defensive line coach |
| Personal information | |
| Born | January 8, 1992 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Career information | |
| High school | Mount Carmel (Chicago, Illinois) |
| College | Ball State (2010–2013) |
| Position | Defensive tackle |
| Career history | |
| |
| Awards and highlights | |
Nathan Christopher Ollie (born January 8, 1992) is an American professional football coach and former defensive tackle who is the defensive line coach for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). Ollie played college football for the Ball State Cardinals.
Ollie attended Mount Carmel High School in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois, where he played football. [1] After graduating high school, Ollie attended Ball State University, where he continued to play football. [2] While at Ball State, Ollie was named to the second-team All-MAC team in 2011 and 2013. [3] [4] Ollie initially studied criminal justice and intended to be a police officer while at Ball State until his junior year, when his father, Anthony, died. [5] After his current defensive line coach at Ball State, Chad Wilt, drove Ollie to and from his father's funeral in Chicago, Ollie became motivated to change his career path to coaching following a conversation with Wilt during the drive back. [5]
After graduating from Ball State, Ollie first worked as an assistant coach at Yorktown Middle School. [2] Ollie then spent the next three years as a graduate assistant for the Tennessee Volunteers football team, and was elevated to interim defensive line coach in 2017. [2] In 2018, Ollie was named the defensive line coach for the Eastern Kentucky Colonels. [6] After a year there, Ollie joined the NFL as an assistant defensive line coach for the Philadelphia Eagles. [7] Ollie spent two years there until taking the same job for the New York Jets in 2021. [8] In 2022, Ollie was elevated to defensive line coach after joining the Indianapolis Colts. [9] While with the Colts, Ollie helped raise the number of sacks from 33 in the year before his arrival to 44 in 2022, and then 51 in 2023, which was the most since the team moved to Indianapolis in 1984. [5] However, Ollie's contract was unexpectedly not retained by the Colts, and instead he joined the Houston Texans as an assistant defensive line coach in 2024. [10] [11] After one year in Houston, Ollie again became the sole defensive line coach after being hired by the Atlanta Falcons in 2025. [12] Ollie's hiring is intended to revitalize the Falcons' pass rush, which has finished near the bottom of the NFL in sacks over the past four years, with Ollie's energetic coaching. [5]