Sean Payton

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Sean Payton
Date of birth	December 29, 1963 (1963-12-29) (age 44)
Place of birth	San Mateo, California
Position(s)	Head Coach Quarterback
College	Eastern Illinois
Career Highlights
Honors	Eastern Illinois Hall of Fame (2000) NFL Coach of the Year (2006)
Regular Season	17-15-0
Postseason	1-1
Career Record	18-16-0
Stats
Playing Stats	DatabaseFootball
Coaching Stats	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 University (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)

Patrick 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 I-AA Playoffs in 1986; while at EIU, he became a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.

[edit] Professional career

[edit] 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 27.3. 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 and quickly gave evidence of his superb knowledge for the game; Payton led the Panthers to a touchdown on the first possession. That same season saw the Panthers go unbeaten to the semifinals of the British League, eventually losing to the Manchester Allstars.

[edit] Early coaching jobs

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.

In 2000, Sean Payton was promoted to the role of offensive coordinator for the New York Giants. 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. Ironically, in the previous two seasons where Fassel was the offensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens, Brian Billick, the head coach of the Ravens, stripped his (Fassel's) rights to call the plays as the offensive coordinator. 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.

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

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 led them to their first playoff appearance in six years. The team had one of the league’s most productive offenses, ranking first in passing,^[2] and fifth in points scored. ^[3] 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.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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