Sean Desai (born April 21, 1983) 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 a Senior defensive assistant for the

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

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). He is the first NFL coordinator of

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

descent. He previously served as the defensive coordinator for the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

, as well as an assistant 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 ...

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 ...

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

and

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

Early life

Desai grew up in

Shelton, Connecticut Shelton is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 40,869 at the 2020 United States Census. History Origins Shelton was settled by the English as part of the town of Stratford, Connecticut, in 1639. On May 15, ...

and attended Shelton High School, where he played defensive back on a state championship team with future NFL quarterback

Dan Orlovsky Daniel John Orlovsky (born August 18, 1983) is an American football analyst for ESPN and former American football quarterback who was active for twelve seasons in the NFL. He was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the fifth round of the 2005 NFL ...

. Desai did not play college football, instead attending

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

with the intention of becoming an orthopedist. He graduated in 3 years with a double-major in philosophy and political science and a minor in biology, and gained his first exposure to coaching by returning home some weekends to volunteer as an assistant coach for his younger brother’s freshman football team. Desai later switched his focus to education, receiving a Master’s degree in teaching from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, shadowing their football team’s coaching staff for one semester. When he was unable to obtain an entry-level position with any NFL teams, he decided to attend

to receive a doctorate in education.

Coaching career

Temple

Desai began his coaching career at

, where he was a graduate student, eventually obtaining a PhD in educational administration. Initially volunteering with Temple’s recruiting staff, Desai was later hired part-time as a graduate assistant by head coach Al Golden, initially helping players with their academics, and later working with the defense and special teams. He also worked as an adjunct professor in Temple’s education department for two years, and was prepared to leave coaching to become a full-time professor at

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

in 2009; however, Golden pled Desai to stay with the assurance of a full-time coaching position the following season. In 2010, he was promoted to outside linebackers coach and special teams coordinator for the Owls, making him the youngest Division 1 coordinator at 27 years old.

Miami

In 2011, Desai joined the

as their assistant director of football operations.

Boston College

In 2012, Desai joined as the running backs coach and special teams coordinator at

Chicago Bears

In 2013, Desai was hired by the

as a quality control assistant under head coach

Marc Trestman Marc Marlyn Trestman (born January 15, 1956) is an American football and Canadian football coach. He led the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL) to back-to-back Grey Cup victories in 2009 and 2010, and another as head coach ...

. As a quality control assistant, he worked with the Bears' defensive backs and linebackers while also assisting the special teams coaches. Desai was retained by head coach John Fox in 2015 and

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 ...

in 2018. On February 8, 2019, Desai was promoted to safeties coaches. The Bears went 8–8 in 2019 and missed the playoffs. Under his coaching, Eddie Jackson was named to the

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

. On January 22, 2021, Desai was promoted to defensive coordinator, replacing

Chuck Pagano Charles David Pagano (born October 2, 1960) is a former American football coach and player. Pagano spent six seasons in the National Football League (NFL) as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts from 2012 to 2017. He also served as the defensiv ...

, following his retirement. Desai became the first person of Indian descent to become a coordinator in the

. He was not retained by the team following the departure of head coach Matt Nagy after the 2021 season.

Seattle Seahawks

On February 11, 2022, Desai was hired by the

as an associate defensive head coach.

Philadelphia Eagles

On February 28, 2023, Desai was hired by the

as their defensive coordinator under head coach

Nick Sirianni Nicholas John Sirianni (born June 15, 1981) is an American football coach who is the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the offensive coordinator for the Indianapolis Colts from ...

, replacing

Jonathan Gannon Jonathan Gannon (born January 4, 1983) is an American football coach who is the defensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as an assistant coach for the Indianapolis Colts, Minn ...

, who departed to become the head coach of 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 ...

. Despite the Eagles being 10–3 on the season, head coach

announced on December 17, 2023, that senior defensive assistant

Matt Patricia Matthew Edward Patricia (born September 13, 1974) is an American football coach who is the senior football advisor and offensive line coach for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). He has served 15 non-consecutive sea ...

would be taking over defensive play calling from Desai. Desai was moved to a lesser position in the coaches' box, bolstered after the Eagles' defense let up 42 points and 33 points in back-to-back weeks, ranking as the worst third down defense in the NFL. ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

'' reported that Desai did not "carry himself with confidence... ndsome players started to feel that." ''Crossing Broad'' reported that, following the move, Desai was not part of the team's coaches meetings. In less than a year of holding his position, after losing 6 of their last 7 games, including a

Wild Card playoff The Wild Card Series (formerly known as Wild Card Game from 2012 to 2019 and in 2021) are games that serve as the opening round of the Major League Baseball (MLB) postseason. A single wild card game was first instituted in 2012; best-of-three ...

game, Sirianni fired Desai on January 21, 2024.

Los Angeles Rams

On February 25, 2024, Desai was hired by the Rams as a senior defensive assistant.

Personal life

Desai received his undergraduate degree in philosophy and political science, with a minor in biology, from

in 2004. Desai earned a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in higher and postsecondary education from

in 2005. Desai earned his doctorate in educational administration in 2008 at

, and was an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, however the genera ...

for two years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Desai, Sean 1983 births Living people American sportspeople of Indian descent Boston College Eagles football coaches Boston University alumni Chicago Bears coaches Miami Hurricanes football coaches National Football League defensive coordinators People from Shelton, Connecticut Philadelphia Eagles coaches Seattle Seahawks coaches Teachers College, Columbia University alumni Temple Owls football coaches Temple University alumni