Sean Payton

Sean Payton

Career history
Chicago Bruisers (AFL) Ottawa Rough Riders (CFL) Chicago Bears Leicester Panthers (UK Budweiser National League)

Patrick Sean Payton (born December 29, 1963 in San Mateo, California) is the head coach of the New Orleans Saints. He was previously 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, his first with the Saints, he was chosen as the recipient of the AP NFL Coach of the Year Award, obtaining 44 out of 50 votes for the honor. He was also honored as Motorola's NFL Coach of the Year Award, as selected by NFL.com voters.

Biography

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. He lived in Newtown Square, PA during his grade school and middle school years. 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 I-AA Playoffs in 1986; while at EIU, he became a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity. The Panthers, under Payton's lead, were called Eastern Airlines during this time because of their passing game, typically in which Payton would throw for 300 to even 500 yards per game. He followed Jeff Christensen who was drafted by the Bengals and had a brief NFL career. Little did he know he would become a cultural hero.

Professional career

Playing career

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 3 games he completed 8 of 23 passes (34.8%), for 79 yards, 0 TDs, and 1 INT, for a QB Rating of 7.3. He was also sacked 7 times for 47 yards and had one rush attempt for 28 yards.

In 1988, he played in the United Kingdom for the Leicester Panthers. Payton landed the starting quarterback role for the Panthers. Payton led the Panthers to a touchdown on the first possession. That same season saw the Panthers go to the Quarterfinals of the British League, eventually losing to the London Olympians after Payton had returned early to the US to take up a coaching position.

Coaching career

Early coaching career

Payton began his coaching career in 1988 as an offensive assistant at San Diego State University. He made a series of short stops at Indiana State, Miami University, Illinois, and again at San Diego State, all in various assistant coaching positions, before landing a job as the quarterbacks coach with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1997.

Philadelphia Eagles (Quarterbacks Coach)

From 1997-1998, Sean Payton was hired for the role of quarterbacks coach for the Philadelphia Eagles. Under his guidance the Eagles' quarterbacks passed for 4,009 yards in 1997.

New York Giants (Assistant Coach)

In 1999 Sean Payton was hired as the quarterback coach for the New York Giants. In 2000, he was promoted to the role of offensive coordinator. Under his guidance the Giants would go on to represent the NFC in Super Bowl XXXV. During his time he was known to lock himself in the stadium and sleep on the couches while studying plays on off-days. 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 Dallas Cowboys, he would have likely been fired.

Dallas Cowboys (Assistant Coach)

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 3,000-yard seasons.

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

New Orleans Saints (Head Coach)

Payton received his first head coaching job in 2006 with the New Orleans Saints. The team had previously finished the 2005 season with a 3–13 record, ranking as the second worst team in the league. However, Payton turned the struggling team around, and, with newly acquired Drew Brees as quarterback, led them to their first playoff appearance in six years, all in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The team had one of the league’s most productive offenses, ranking first in passing, and fifth in points scored. The Saints won the NFC South with an 10-6 record, and progressed to the NFC Championship Game against the top-seeded Chicago Bears. The Saints out-gained the Bears in offense, but lost the game by a score of 39-14.

In the 2007 season, the Saints tried to improve upon their 10-6 record from last season. They and the Pittsburgh Steelers opened the NFL preseason, playing the Hall of Fame Game on August 5, 2007. The Saints were 3-2 in the pre-season. The Saints also had the honor of opening the season against the defending champion Indianapolis Colts. The Saints finished the 2007 season 7-9.

Payton coached the Saints to their best-ever year in the 2009, the season that finished with Superbowl XLIV win, the first ever in the franchise's history and the first in Payton's coaching career.

Head coaching record

Team	Year	Regular Season					Post Season
		Won	Lost	Ties	Win %	Finish	Won	Lost	Win %	Result
NO	2006	10	6	0	.625	1st in NFC South	1	1	.500	Lost to Chicago Bears in NFC Championship Game.
NO	2007	7	9	0	.438	3rd in NFC South	-	-	-	-
NO	2008	8	8	0	.500	4th in NFC South	-	-	-	-
NO	2009	13	3	0	.813	1st in NFC South	3	0	1.000	Super Bowl XLIV Champions
NO Total		38	26	0	.594		4	1	.800
Total		38	26	0	.594		4	1	.800

Coaching tree

NFL head coaches under whom Sean Payton has served:

• Ray Rhodes, Philadelphia Eagles (1997–1998)
• Jim Fassel, New York Giants (1999–2002)
• Bill Parcells, Dallas Cowboys (2003–2005)

Assistant coaches under Sean Payton who became NFL head coaches:

• None

External links

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