Sean Payton profile and bio

The wave of new faces continues among the NFL coaching ranks as the New Orleans Saints chose Sean Payton to be their head coach for the upcoming 2006 season. Payton, who is now the leagues youngest coach at age 42, was selected over battle tested sideline screamers Mike Martz, Mike Sherman & Dick Jauron among others to become the 14th head coach in franchise history and is the latest fruit from Bill Parcells ever growing tree of assistants to make it big. Payton’s name has become a hot commodity over the past couple off seasons to fill the head coaching vacancies. Before taking over the Saints, he was being considered in Buffalo and Green Bay and was also rumored to have been offered the Oakland Raiders job in 2003. Though he has no prior head coaching experience, many General Managers around the league inquired about his services because of his time spent under the wing of some of the most successful coaches in league history and his reputation as one of the best young offensive coaches in the NFL. His success as an offensive coordinator led teams to four playoff appearances including a Super Bowl in 2000 with the New York Giants.

While Payton has seen a variety of ways to run a football team, there is a tough task ahead of him in the Big Easy as he inherits a 3- 13 team that is still reeling from the after effects of Hurricane Katrina. Payton is known as an X’s and O’s type coach and there is some talent on offense with Joe Horn, Dante Stallworth and Duece McAllister if he is able to return at full strength. Current QB Aaron Brooks has publicly stated that he does not want to return to the team. This is a blessing for the Saints in many ways. Cutting the over rated Brooks before June rids the team of a locker room cancer and wipes his undeserved $6 million per year salary off the books. The Saints also hold the second pick in the 2006 draft and are likely to draft either Matt Leinart or Vince Young , both franchise caliber QB’s who could lead the team for the next ten seasons. The Saints are also $10 million dollars under the cap not counting Brooks figure, all of which will be needed to improve a lousy defensive unit. The team also faces another season of playing home games outside of New Orleans.

Payton worked the past three seasons in Dallas as Assistant Head Coach and coach of the quarterbacks for Bill Parcells. In his time there he worked minor miracles with washed up QB’s Drew Bledsoe and Vinny Testaverde. His creative offensive mind and ability to relate to players allowed them to post very respectable numbers. In Bledsoe’s case, it was throwing for the second most yards in team history in 2005. Payton’s offensive genius even managed to squeeze a 3,000 yard season and playoff berth out of Quincy Carter in 2003.

The road to becoming the Big Tuna’s right hand man began in 1999 under Jim Fassil, starting out as the quarterback coach for the New York Giants. Before the start of the 2000 season Payton was promoted to offensive coordinator, a move which resurrected the career of Kerry Collins, who went on to break almost every team passing record en route to leading the Giants to the NFC East title and first Super Bowl appearance in 10 years. The Cinderella story didn’t last long as the Giants missed the playoffs the following season. The Giants stayed in an offensive funk until mid way through the 2002 season which prompted Coach Fassil to strip Payton of his play-calling duties seven games into the season, choosing the plays himself as the Giants rode a four-game winning streak to a playoff berth.

Payton’s first whiff of NFL grass came as a quarterback coach with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1997 under Ray Rhodes and was handed the unenviable task of turning the three headed ogre of Bobby Hoying, Rodney Peete and Ty Detmer into productive players. Knowing that not even God could pull off this task, he quickly moved on from this fiasco but says he gained valuable experience working Jon Gruden who was also a coach for the Birds at the time.

Prior to becoming an NFL coach, Payton spent 8 seasons coaching in the collegiate ranks, most notable as running backs coach for San Diego State in 1992 – 1993 working directly with Marshall Faulk as he ripped many NCAA rushing records to shreds. Sean Payton was also a 3 time AP All American Quarterback while at Eastern Illinois and is among the all time passing leaders in NCAA Division I-AA history with 10,665 passing yards. After graduating in 1996 with a degree in communications, Payton briefly played in the CFL, Arena league and had a cup of coffee with the Chicago Bears as a replacement player during the strike of 1987 appearing in one game finishing 3- 11 for 28 yards with no TD’s and 1 INT in ironically a loss to the Saints. Payton was born Dec. 29, 1963 in San Mateo, CA, and raised in Naperville, Ill. He and his wife, Beth, have a daughter, Meghan, and a son, Connor Thomas.





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