Ben Kotwica (born, December 8, 1974) 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 wi ...

coach who is the

special teams coordinator In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

for 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 headquar ...

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).

Career

Kotwica was a linebacker and team captain for

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

from 1993-1996. Before his career in coaching, Kotwica served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

as a helicopter pilot, reaching the rank of Captain by 2004. In addition to missions in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

and

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

, he is a veteran of the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror , image ...

New York Jets

In 2007, Kotwica was hired by the New York Jets to be their defense/special teams quality control coach. In 2013, Kotwica was promoted to special teams coordinator.

Washington Redskins

On January 15, 2014, the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

announced Kotwica as their special teams coordinator, serving under newly appointed head coach,

Jay Gruden Jay Michael Gruden (born March 4, 1967) is an American football coach and former quarterback who is an offensive consultant for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the head coach of the Washington ...

. After coaching five seasons with the Redskins, Kotwica requested and was granted permission to interview with other teams.

Atlanta Falcons

The Atlanta Falcons announced that Kotwica was hired as their new special teams coordinator on January 9, 2019. Kotwica was fired on October 12, 2020.

Minnesota Vikings

On February 23, 2022, Kotwica was hired by 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 expansi ...

to serve as the team's assistant special teams coach for the 2022 season.

Denver Broncos

On February 25, 2023, Kotwica was hired by the

as their special teams coordinator under new head coach, Sean Payton.

References

External links

Denver Broncos bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kotwica, Ben Living people New York Jets coaches Washington Redskins coaches 1974 births Minnesota Vikings coaches