Robert Saleh (born January 31, 1979) 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 the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

for 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 ...

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 ...

(NFL). A defensive coach for much of his 20-year coaching career, Saleh has served as an assistant coach for the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home ga ...

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

, Jacksonville Jaguars, and

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

from 2005 to 2020, holding his first

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

position with the Niners from 2017 to 2020. Saleh has appeared in two Super Bowls, one each with the Seahawks and 49ers, winning one in

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with the Seahawks. Following the 2020 season, he left the 49ers to become the Jets' head coach.

Early years

Born in

Dearborn, Michigan Dearborn is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 109,976. Dearborn is the seventh most-populated city in Michigan and is home to the largest Muslim population in the United States pe ...

, Saleh is a 1997 graduate of

Fordson High School Fordson High School is a secondary school located in Dearborn, Michigan, United States in Greater Detroit. It was completed in 1928 on a parcel of land which was then the village of Fordson, named for Henry Ford and his son Edsel Ford. It is a p ...

He attended Northern Michigan University in Marquette from 1997 to 2001, where he earned a degree in finance and was a four-year starter for the

Wildcats The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while the ...

, earning all-

conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

honors as a

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

. Saleh's brother David was in the South Tower during the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

in 2001 and saw the fireball from the initial plane's impact on the North Tower from the building's 61st floor. After ignoring calls by the public intercom within Tower 2 to return to their offices, he'd made it down to the 24th floor before the second plane hit, this time around 50 floors above in his tower. He safely made it to the lobby and was able to escape to safety. Saleh credits this in providing the spark for him to pursue his dreams of coaching football. Robert Saleh is also related to Detroit "

Socialite A socialite is a person from a wealthy and (possibly) aristocratic background, who is prominent in high society. A socialite generally spends a significant amount of time attending various fashionable social gatherings, instead of having traditio ...

" Tarick Salmaci from NBC

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sports reality show.

Coaching career

College

Saleh began his coaching career at the collegiate level in 2002. He spent four years working as a defensive assistant with

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 ...

(2002–03),

Central Michigan University Central Michigan University (CMU) is a public research university in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Established in 1892 as the Central Michigan Normal School and Business Institute, the private normal school became a state institution and renamed Cen ...

(2004) and the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

(2005).

Houston Texans

In 2005, Saleh was hired as an intern with the

, working with the defensive unit. In February 2006, he was retained in Gary Kubiak's staff as a defensive quality control coach under defensive coordinator Richard Smith. In January 2009, he was promoted to assistant linebackers coach.

Seattle Seahawks

In February 2011, Saleh was hired as the defensive quality control coach for the

under Pete Carroll. He spent three seasons with the Seahawks, including their 2013 championship season when they defeated the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

in Super Bowl XLVIII. During this span the defense was known as the Legion of Boom.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Following the Seahawks' 2013 championship, Saleh was named linebackers coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars under head coach

Gus Bradley Paul Casey "Gus" Bradley (born July 5, 1966) is an American football coach who is the defensive coordinator for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He came to prominence as the defensive coordinator for the Seattle Seah ...

. Saleh would not be retained under new head coach

Doug Marrone Douglas Charles Marrone (born July 25, 1964) is an American football coach and former offensive lineman who is the offensive line coach for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He came to prominence as the head coach at ...

San Francisco 49ers

On February 13, 2017, Saleh was named defensive coordinator for the

under new head coach Kyle Shanahan. Shanahan and Saleh previously served as assistant coaches for the

from 2006–2009. During the 2019 season, the 49ers defense was sixth in the league in forced turnovers (27), second in total defense (281.8 yards per game), first in passing defense (169.2 yards per game), and fourth in sacks (48). This was the first time since

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that the 49ers finished in the top 10 in both scoring and yards per game. Saleh helped lead the team to a 13–3 record and a Super Bowl LIV berth, where they lost to the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

New York Jets

On January 14, 2021, Saleh signed a five-year contract to become the head coach of the

. On September 12, 2021, Saleh lost in his head coaching debut against the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...

by a score of 19–14. Saleh went on to win his first game as a head coach on October 3 in a 27–24 win against the Tennessee Titans in overtime. On December 22, it was reported that Saleh tested positive for COVID-19; he did not coach the Jets in their week 16 game against the Jaguars. In his first season as head coach, the Jets finished 4–13, missing the playoffs for the eleventh consecutive year.

Head coaching record

Personal life

Saleh and his wife, Sanaa, have four sons and two daughters. Saleh is of Egyptian and Lebanese descent. Upon his hiring by the Jets, he became the first

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

head coach in NFL history. He is also the fourth Arab-American head coach of the NFL, after Ed Khayat (Philadelphia Eagles 1971–72), Rich Kotite (Philadelphia Eagles 1991–94), and Abe Gibron (Chicago Bears 1972–1974), who are all of Lebanese descent as well. Saleh and his wife both speak Arabic. Saleh was the best man at

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

' head coach Matt LaFleur's wedding, as the two became close while working as graduate assistants at Central Michigan in 2004 and as assistant coaches for the

from 2008–2009.

References

External links

New York Jets bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saleh, Robert 1979 births Living people American people of Lebanese descent American Muslims Northern Michigan Wildcats football players Michigan State Spartans football coaches Central Michigan Chippewas football coaches Georgia Bulldogs football coaches Houston Texans coaches Seattle Seahawks coaches Jacksonville Jaguars coaches San Francisco 49ers coaches National Football League defensive coordinators Coaches of American football from Michigan Players of American football from Michigan New York Jets head coaches Sportspeople from Dearborn, Michigan Sportspeople of Lebanese descent