A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's coaching structure, with the head coach being the first level. The primary role of the defensive coordinator is managing the roster of defensive players, overseeing the assistant coaches, developing the defensive game plan, and calling plays for the defense during the game. The defensive coordinator typically manages multiple position coaches, each of whom are responsible for various defensive positions on the team.
James Edward Hasty is a former professional American football cornerback who played in the National Football League for the New York Jets, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Oakland Raiders from 1988 to 2001.
Joshua Kenneth Heupel is an American football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at the University of Tennessee. Heupel was the architect of a unit that ranked in the FBS top 10 in points per game in each of his three seasons as the head coach at the University of Central Florida (UCF) in 2020 (42.2), fifth in 2019 (43.4) and sixth in 2018 (43.2). The Knights also ranked in the top five in the FBS in total offense per game in each of those three seasons—second in 2020 (568.1), second in 2019 (540.5) and fourth in 2018 (522.7).
Thomas Albert Clements is an American football coach and a former Canadian Football League (CFL) quarterback who is the quarterbacks coach for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He also served as an assistant coach for the Arizona Cardinals, Buffalo Bills, Pittsburgh Steelers, Kansas City Chiefs, New Orleans Saints and the University of Notre Dame.
Kevin Bernard Gilbride is an American football head coach. He was a coach for twenty years in the NFL, spending seven of them as the offensive coordinator for the New York Giants, with whom he earned two Super Bowl rings. From 1997 to 1998, he was the head coach for the San Diego Chargers. Most recently, Gilbride served as the head coach for the New York Guardians of the XFL.
Marty Mornhinweg is an American football coach and former player who was a senior offensive consultant for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He was the offensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers from 1997 to 2000, head coach of the Detroit Lions from 2001 to 2002, offensive coordinator for the Eagles from 2006 to 2012, offensive coordinator for the New York Jets from 2013 to 2014, and offensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens from 2016 to 2018.
Danny Barrett is an American football coach and former player who is the running backs coach for the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). He served as the interim head coach for the UCF Knights in 2015, and is a former Canadian Football League (CFL) quarterback. He has been the head coach of the CFL's Saskatchewan Roughriders and the running backs coach of the Miami Dolphins.
Bradley Childress is a former American football coach. He worked for over 40 years as a coach for various college programs and National Football League (NFL) franchises. He was the offensive coordinator for Wisconsin from 1994 to 1998, the offensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1999 to 2005, the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings from 2006 to 2010, the offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns in 2012, and the offensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2016.
Jeff Jagodzinski is an American football offensive line coach and former player who is the offensive line coach for the Philadelphia Stars of the United States Football League (USFL). He was previously the offensive coordinator at the Georgia State University Panthers football team.
Scott Thomas Linehan is an American football coach who currently works as an offensive analyst for Missouri. He was most recently the passing game coordinator for LSU. He was previously the head coach of the St. Louis Rams and the offensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions. Prior to becoming an NFL coach in 2002, Linehan was a college assistant coach for 13 seasons.
William Scott Musgrave is an American football coach and former player who is currently the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach of the California Golden Bears. He is also a former quarterback, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for multiple National Football League (NFL) teams. He played college football at the University of Oregon.
Nathan Troy Calhoun is an American football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at the United States Air Force Academy, a position he has held since the 2007 season.
Rick Steven Dennison is an American football coach and former player. He most recently was the senior offensive advisor for the Minnesota Vikings. He was the offensive line coach and run game coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL) from 2019-2020. An assistant in the NFL since 1995, he served as offensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos, Houston Texans (2010–2013), and Buffalo Bills (2017), and served as quarterbacks coach for the Baltimore Ravens in 2014. He was the special teams coach for the Super Bowl Champion Broncos in 1997 and 1998. A linebacker who spent his entire NFL playing career in Denver from 1982 to 1990, he appeared in Super Bowls XXI, XXII, and XXIV.
Bob Valesente is a former American football player and coach. He played college football at Ithaca College and spent more than 35 years as a football coach. He was the head coach of the Kansas Jayhawks football team from 1986 to 1987 and has also served as an assistant football coach in the National Football League with multiple teams.
Gil Haskell is a former American football coach. A long-time assistant coach in the National Football League (NFL) coach he served as the offensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks from 2000 to 2008. He began his career in the NFL as a ball boy with the San Francisco 49ers while his uncle, William O'Grady, was a part owner of the franchise. Haskell grew up in St. Brendan's Parish in San Francisco and graduated from St. Ignatius College Preparatory in 1961. He played college football played at San Francisco State University and then was head coach at St. Ignatius from 1973 to 1977. Haskell then left for University of Southern California (USC), spending five seasons there as an assistant coach. He broke into the NFL as a coach in 1983 with the Los Angeles Rams, coaching special teams, running backs and tight ends for nine seasons. In 1992, he joined the Green Bay Packers where he became part of Mike Holmgren's staff for the first time as a running back coach and wide receiver coach. When Holmgren left Green Bay for the Seattle Seahawks in 1998, Haskell accepted the offensive coordinator position with the Carolina Panthers. In 2000, he reunited with Holmgren in Seattle in the same role. He has indicated that he would like to be a head coach in the NFL and even launched a low key campaign for the Oakland Raiders position when the Raiders fired Norv Turner after the 2005 season. That position was eventually filled with the hiring of Art Shell.
Richard Todd Haley is an American football coach who is the current head coach and general manager for the Tampa Bay Bandits of the United States Football League (USFL). From 1997 to 2006, he had stints as the wide receivers coach of the New York Jets, Chicago Bears, and Dallas Cowboys. He served as the offensive coordinator of the Arizona Cardinals from 2007 to 2008, the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs from 2009 to 2011, the offensive coordinator of the Pittsburgh Steelers from 2012 to 2017, and the offensive coordinator of the Cleveland Browns in 2018, but he was fired in Week 8 of his first season with the team.
Ronald Ramon Heller is an American football coach and former offensive tackle, who played twelve seasons in the National Football League for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Philadelphia Eagles and Miami Dolphins. Heller is the former assistant offensive line coach for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL), a position he assumed in February 2013 to January 2016.
Scott Stewart Milanovich is an American football coach and former quarterback who is the quarterbacks coach for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the head coach of the Edmonton Football Team of the Canadian Football League (CFL) in 2020, the quarterbacks coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2017 to 2019 and the head coach of Toronto Argonauts from 2012 to 2016. Milanovich also served as an assistant coach for the Montreal Alouettes, Cologne Centurions and Rhein Fire.
Peter Edwards Carmichael Jr. is an American football coach who is currently the offensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He was named offensive coordinator on January 12, 2009, replacing Doug Marrone, who left to become the head coach of the Syracuse Orange. New Orleans led the league in scoring in 2008 and 2009.
Aaron Kromer is an American football coach who is the offensive line coach for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). Kromer served as the interim head coach of the New Orleans Saints for the first six games of the 2012 season.
