Nathaniel Donnell Abraham (born October 8, 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 with ...

coach and former

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

who is the current Defensive Coordinator for St. Louis Battlehawks. In his career, he played for the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

(1996–2001) and the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

(2002–2004).

Life after football

After considering retirement since the 2004 season ended, he finally decided to do so on July 15, 2005. Although he had two restaurant businesses going in South Carolina, Abrahams was searching for a post-playing occupation, and during his playing years he swore to himself that he would never become a coach. However, while on the sidelines of his oldest son’s youth football practice, a local high school coach, whose son played on the same team as Abraham’s, approached him about helping out his team. Before long, Abraham became the head coach at Gibbs High School in St. Petersburg. Abraham guided Gibbs to its first district title in 2009 but resigned after a 3–7 season in 2010. He was defensive backs coordinator (2011–2012) at

Tampa Bay Storm The Tampa Bay Storm were a professional arena football team based in Tampa, Florida, US. It played in the Arena Football League (AFL). Originally the team was located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and operated as the Pittsburgh Gladiators. The f ...

and later (2012) at

East Lake High School East Lake High School is a public high school serving students from grades 9–12 located in Tarpon Springs, Florida, and is part of the Pinellas County Schools. It has a 99% graduation rate which ranks it among the most graduating schools in the ...

. In 2013, he was the head coach of the

Clearwater High School Clearwater High School (CHS) is a four-year public high school located in Clearwater, Florida, United States. It is part of the Pinellas County School System. The school's athletic teams are known as the ''Tornadoes''. Their colors are crimson a ...

football team and resigned in 2015. He was (2015–2017) the defensive coordinator at

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

Bradenton Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698. History Late 18th and early 19th centuries A settlement established by Maroons or escaped sl ...

, Florida. On February 15, 2017, he was named defensive assistant coach for the

Illinois Fighting Illini football The Illinois Fighting Illini football program represents the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) level. The Fighting Illini are a founding member of ...

, joining Head Coach

Lovie Smith Lovie Lee Smith (born May 8, 1958) is an American football coach who is the head coach of the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). From 2004 to 2016, he served as the head coach of the Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a ...

's coaching team. Abraham left the Illinois program in the summer of 2018. In November 2018, Abraham joined

Steve Spurrier Stephen Orr Spurrier (born April 20, 1945) is an American former American football, football quarterback and coach who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons before coaching for 38 years, primarily in college. He is often ...

Orlando Apollos The Orlando Apollos were a professional American football franchise based in Orlando, Florida, and one of the eight members of the Alliance of American Football (AAF), which began play in February 2019. The team played its home games at Spectru ...

coaching staff as defensive backs coach. In June 2022, Abraham joined

Anthony Becht Anthony G. Becht (born August 8, 1977) is a former American football tight end who played in the National Football League (NFL). He is currently the head coach of the St. Louis BattleHawks of the XFL. He was drafted by the New York Jets 27th o ...

's coaching staff as the Defensive Coordinator of St. Louis.

References

1973 births Living people People from Orangeburg, South Carolina American football cornerbacks Players of American football from South Carolina East Tennessee State Buccaneers football players National Conference Pro Bowl players New York Jets players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Tampa Bay Storm coaches Illinois Fighting Illini football coaches Orlando Apollos coaches Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School alumni {{defensiveback-1970s-stub