Chris Rumph (born December 21, 1971) 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 with ...

coach who is currently the defensive line coach for 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 expansion ...

of 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 ...

. He most recently served as the defensive line coach for the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

of the

. He previously coached at the collegiate level for over 15 years.

Playing career

At the University of South Carolina, Rumph played on the defensive side at linebacker for South Carolina under head coaches

Sparky Woods Phillip Perry "Sparky" Woods (born December 20, 1953) is an American football coach. He is a senior adviser for football team at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Woods served as the head football coach at Appalachian State Univer ...

and Brad Scott.

Coaching career

Early coaching career

After a spring as a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research respons ...

at his college alma mater, Rumph, would go on to be the head coach at his former high school for five years, After a one-year stint with

South Carolina State South Carolina State University (SCSU or SC State) is a public, historically black, land-grant university in Orangeburg, South Carolina, United States. It is the only public, historically black land-grant institution in South Carolina, is a memb ...

coaching defensive backs and three years coaching outside linebackers at

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

, Rumph joined Clemson’s staff and remained there for five seasons.

Alabama

From there, Rumph moved to Alabama to replace

Bo Davis Bo Davis (born May 17, 1970) is an American football coach and former defensive lineman who is currently the defensive line coach for Texas. Coaching career LSU Davis began his coaching career at his alma mater when he earned second team all SE ...

. There, he won back-to-back BCS national championships as the team’s defensive line coach.

Texas

Rumph spent the

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season at Texas as the team’s assistant head coach for defense/defensive line.

Florida

Rumph joined the Gators’ staff as a defensive line coach in

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and was promoted to co-defensive coordinator prior to the

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season. He served as Florida's full-time defensive coordinator for the final four games of the season after

Randy Shannon Randy Leonard Shannon (born February 24, 1966) is an American football coach and former player who is currently the linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator for the Florida State Seminoles football program. Shannon was the head coach at th ...

was promoted to interim head coach when

Jim McElwain James Frank McElwain (born March 1, 1962) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach at Central Michigan University. He previously served as the head coach at Florida from 2015 to 2017, and Colorado State from 2012 to 2014, ...

was fired.

Tennessee

Rumph worked as the defensive coordinator for Tennessee in

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and

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Houston Texans

Rumph then made the jump to the NFL and worked as the team’s outside linebackers coach for the

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

season.

Chicago Bears

In 2021, Rumph became the defensive line coach for the Chicago Bears. He was not retained by the team following the firing of head coach

Matt Nagy Matthew Nagy ( or ; born April 24, 1978) is an American football coach, and former arena football quarterback, who is the senior assistant and quarterbacks coach for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He was the head ...

after the conclusion of the 2021 season.

Minnesota Vikings

In 2022, Rumph became the defensive line coach for the

under head coach Kevin O'Connell.

Personal life

Rumph and his wife, Kila, are parents of two sons. He also has a daughter from before marriage. One son,

Chris Rumph II Chris Rumph II (born October 19, 1998) is an American football outside linebacker for the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Duke and was drafted by the Chargers in the fourth round of the ...

played college football at

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

and was drafted by the

Los Angeles Chargers The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Chargers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division, and ...

with the 13th pick in Round 4 (118th overall) of the 2021 draft.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rumph, Chris Living people 1971 births African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football Alabama Crimson Tide football coaches Chicago Bears coaches Clemson Tigers football coaches Florida Gators football coaches High school football coaches in South Carolina Houston Texans coaches Memphis Tigers football coaches South Carolina Gamecocks football players South Carolina Gamecocks football coaches South Carolina State Bulldogs football coaches Sportspeople from South Carolina Tennessee Volunteers football coaches Texas Longhorns football coaches 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople Minnesota Vikings coaches