Glenn M. Pires (born 1958) 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.

Early life

Pires was born and raised in

New Bedford, Massachusetts New Bedford (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast (Massachusetts), South Coast region. Up throug ...

. He attended school locally, where he became a three-year letter winner in both football and track. He also played in the football team as an

offensive guard Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

and

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

and was selected for several postseason all-star teams. He later played football for

Springfield College Springfield College is a private college in Springfield, Massachusetts. It confers undergraduate and graduate degrees. It is known as the birthplace of basketball because the sport was invented there in 1891 by Canadian-American instructor J ...

, where he became a two-year NCAA Division II All-ECAC and All-New England selection. In the track and field teams at New Bedford High and Springfield College, Pires mostly competed in the field events. He was a Southeastern Massachusetts Conference champion in both the

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

and discus in addition to being a Class A and All State finalist in the discus. His throw of 170–9 remains a New Bedford record. In 1979, he was the Division 2 National Champion in the 35-pound weight

hammer throw The hammer throw is one of the four throwing events in regular track and field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and javelin. The "hammer" used in this sport is not like any of the tools also called by that name. It consis ...

. Based on these achievements, Pires (as a member of the class of 1976) was inducted into the New Bedford High School Hall of Fame on May 11, 2002.

Coaching career

Pires's first coaching role came as an assistant at Melrose High School. He then returned to his former high school at New Bedford, becoming an assistant to his former coach, Bruce MacPherson. Pires then gained collegiate positions at

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

and

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

. In 1996, he moved from

College football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

to 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) when he became an assistant linebackers coach with the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...

until 2000. He later praised the work he conducted with

Ronald McKinnon Ronald McKinnon (born September 20, 1973) is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League. He was originally signed as an undrafted free agent by the Arizona Cardinals out of the University of North Alabama where he won ...

, who was undrafted and unsigned, but Pires took pride in enabling the player to perform for ten years in the NFL. When he joined the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

immediately afterwards, Pires remained in the same position he had undertaken for the Cardinals. When he moved to work with the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

for five years, initially as an assistant defensive line coach for two seasons, then as a defensive quality control coach, before becoming the assistant linebacker coach in 2007. He then moved to work with the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

over the next seven years as the linebacker coach. In 2014, with the support of Pires, Paul Worrilow was ranked fifth in the NFL for tackles with 142. Pires joined 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 ...

in 2015, saying "The tradition of this team is always something that's been very appealing to any coach, especially me, the Midwest and the Chicago Bears, that's where it's at. The tradition of linebackers for the Chicago Bears, the tradition of what they've upheld in the history of the NFL, that's a great challenge I'm looking forward to aintaining" He was not retained by the Bears after the 2018 season as defensive coordinator

Vic Fangio Victor Mick Fangio (born August 22, 1958) is an American football coach who is the defensive consultant for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). Fangio most recently served as the head coach of the Denver Broncos of the ...

departed the team.

Personal life

Pires' family came from

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

, through his maternal grandmother.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pires, Glenn 1958 births Living people Atlanta Falcons coaches Arizona Cardinals coaches Chicago Bears coaches Detroit Lions coaches Miami Dolphins coaches Michigan State Spartans football coaches Springfield Pride football players Syracuse Orange football coaches High school football coaches in Massachusetts People from New Bedford, Massachusetts Players of American football from Massachusetts African-American coaches of American football American people of Cape Verdean descent 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople