Antonio Dontral Banks (born March 12, 1973) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

coach and former

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover Wide receiver, receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such Play from scrimmage, offensive running plays as sweep ...

who is the current secondary coach for the

New Jersey Generals The New Jersey Generals were a franchise of the United States Football League (USFL) established in 1982 to begin play in the spring and summer of 1983. The team played three seasons from 1983 to 1985, winning 31 regular season games and losing ...

of the

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

(USFL). He played college football at

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also has educational facilities in six re ...

before playing in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) with the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

Playing career

Banks played college football at

where he was a letterman for all four years between 1993 and 1996 and was MVP of the 1993 Independence Bowl. He was drafted in the fourth round of the

1997 NFL Draft The 1997 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 19–20, 1997, at the Paramount T ...

with the 113th overall pick by the

where he played for four seasons. Banks also had several stints with multiple teams in NFL Europe and the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

in his professional career.

Coaching career

In 2006, Banks was the head coach of the Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands based

Alphen Eagles Alphen may refer to: Places Netherlands *Alphen, Gelderland, a village in the municipality West Maas en Waal (province of Gelderland) *Alphen, North Brabant, a village in the municipality Alphen-Chaam (province of North Brabant) * Alphen, South Ho ...

of the European Football League. Later, he was hired as head coach of the Cairo Bears of the Egyptian Federation of American football in 2016. He joined

IMG Academy IMG Academy is a preparatory boarding school and sports training destination in Bradenton, Florida, United States. IMG Academy is set across over 600 acres and features programs consisting of sport camps for youth athletes, adult camps, a board ...

in 2017 as the Defensive Back coach for their

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

program.

References

1973 births Living people American football defensive backs American players of Canadian football Canadian football defensive backs Amsterdam Admirals players Frankfurt Galaxy players Minnesota Vikings players Montreal Alouettes players Virginia Tech Hokies football players Winnipeg Blue Bombers players High school football coaches in Florida People from Southampton County, Virginia Players of American football from Virginia African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople American expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands American expatriate players of American football American expatriate sportspeople in Germany American expatriate sportspeople in Egypt Coaches of American football from Virginia New Jersey Generals (2022) coaches {{defensiveback-1970s-stub