Sean Payton

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Sean Payton
Date of birth	December 29, 1963 (age 43)
Place of birth	San Mateo, California
Position(s)	Head Coach Quarterback
College	Eastern Illinois
Honors	Eastern Illinois Hall of Fame (2000) NFL Coach of the Year (2006)
Career Record	11-7-0 including 1-1 in the Postseason)
Stats
Playing Stats	DatabaseFootball
Coaching Stats	Payton.htm Pro Football Reference
Team(s) as a player
1987 1987 1987 1988	Chicago Bruisers (AFL) Ottawa Rough Riders (CFL) Chicago Bears Leicester Panthers (UK Budweiser National League)
Team(s) as a coach/administrator
1988-1989 1990-1991 1992-1993 1994-1995 1996 1997-1998 1999 2000-2002 2003-2005 2006-present	San Diego State (offensive assistant) Indiana State (runningbacks coach) San Diego State (runningbacks coach) Miami of Ohio (offensive coordinator) Illinois (quarterbacks coach) Philadelphia Eagles (quarterbacks coach) New York Giants (quarterbacks coach) New York Giants (offensive coordinator) Dallas Cowboys (assistant head & quarterbacks coach) New Orleans Saints (head coach)

Sean Payton (born December 29, 1963 in San Mateo, California) is the head coach of the New Orleans Saints. He was the quarterbacks coach and later assistant head coach of the Dallas Cowboys until being hired by the Saints on January 17, 2006.

On January 6, 2007, after the 2006 NFL season and his first with the Saints, he was named as the recipient of the AP NFL Coach of the Year Award, obtaining 44 out of 50 votes for the honor ^[1]. He was also honored Motorola's NFL Coach of the Year Award. This award is chosen by NFL.com voters.

[edit] Early life

Payton was raised in Naperville, Illinois by parents Jeanne and Thomas Payton. He has an older brother, Tom, an older sister, Patrice and a younger sister, Molly. Sean attended Naperville Central High School in Naperville, IL, starting as quarterback his senior year before graduating in 1982. He then had a successful career playing quarterback at Eastern Illinois University, leading the Panthers to an 11-2 record and the quarter-finals of the Division 1-AA Playoffs in 1986. In 1987, he played quarterback for the Chicago Bruisers during the inaugural season of the Arena Football League. He was also a member of the Chicago Bears squad of replacement players during the 1987 NFL players strike. In 1988, he played in the United Kingdom for the Leicester Panthers. He quarterbacked the Panthers to a playoff spot with a pass rating of 114 after throwing for 2,159 regular season yards and 21 TDs. After that, he began his coaching career. During his time as offensive coordinator with the New York Giants, he was known for locking himself in the stadium and sleeping on the couches while studying plays on off-days.

He and his wife, Beth, have a daughter, Meghan (3/21/97), and a son, Connor Thomas (5/31/00).

[edit] Professional career

[edit] Early jobs

In 2000, Sean Payton was promoted to the role of offensive coordinator for the Giants. During the 2002 season, after several poor showings by the Giants' offense, Payton's role in play-calling was taken over by then head-coach Jim Fassel; under Fassel the offense improved and propelled the team to a wild-card playoff berth. While Payton was still ostensibly in charge of the offense, his role in the team was clearly diminished and had he not been hired away by the Cowboys, he would have likely been fired.

Payton joined Bill Parcells and the Cowboys as assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach in 2003, where he helped coach Quincy Carter, Vinny Testaverde, and Drew Bledsoe to 3000-yard seasons. During the 2004 offseason, he was offered the head coaching job of the Oakland Raiders, but declined the opportunity after consulting with Bill Parcells.

In 2005, he was promoted by Parcells to assistant head coach/passing game coordinator.

[edit] New Orleans Saints

On the night before the 2006 NFL Draft, Sean Payton was dining when he heard the news that the Houston Texans (who owned the first pick) had passed on running back Reggie Bush and had already agreed to terms with Mario Williams, leaving the Saints able to snag Bush with the #2 pick. "The news came between minestrone and redfish," he said. Payton then started drawing up plays with Bush and Deuce McAllister in the backfield.

With back to back road wins over Cleveland and Green Bay to start his career, and an emotionally-charged home opener win against Atlanta, in which the Saints were finally able to return home to the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina ravaged it and the rest of the Gulf Coast in late August 2005, Sean Payton became the first head coach of the New Orleans Saints to win his very first three games.

Payton took a 3-13 Saints team and reformed it into a 10-6 team using methods that, when initially taken, were risky. He signed Drew Brees as he came off of shoulder surgery, and started several rookies in defense and offense. However, they all proved to shape the team even better, as 7th-round draft pick Marques Colston became a hit; 4th-round draft pick Jahri Evans protected Drew Brees quite efficiently; Scott Fujita signed with the Saints and bolstered their somewhat shallow linebacker corps, and Zach Strief assisted Evans with protecting their quarterback. Payton led the Saints (for the first time in New Orleans Saints' 40-years history) to the NFC Championship game, where they lost to the Chicago Bears, 39-14, falling but one game short of the Super Bowl. Ironically, Payton played as a temporary quarterback for the Chicago Bears, with his last NFL pass intercepted by the New Orleans Saints.

[edit] External links

• Sean Payton at NewOrleansSaints.com
• Sean Payton at ArenaFan Online