Joe Fagaofe Salave'a (; born March 23, 1975) 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 and former defensive tackle who is currently the

associate 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 ...

, run game coordinator and defensive line coach at the

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, i ...

. He previously served as the associate head coach, defensive line coach and co-defensive coordinator at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

from 2017 to 2021. Salave'a played college football at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

and was drafted by the

Tennessee Oilers Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to the ...

in the fourth round of the

1998 NFL Draft The 1998 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 18–19, 1998, at the Theater at M ...

. He played for nine seasons in the NFL with the

Titans In Greek mythology, the Titans ( grc, οἱ Τῑτᾶνες, ''hoi Tītânes'', , ''ho Tītân'') were the pre-Olympian gods. According to the ''Theogony'' of Hesiod, they were the twelve children of the primordial parents Uranus (Sky) and Gai ...

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays it ...

, San Diego Chargers and

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 ...

. Following the end of his playing career, Salave’a began coaching at

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sy ...

as a defensive line coach in 2008. Since then, he has coached at the

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant uni ...

and the University of Oregon.

Early life

Salave'a attended

Widefield High School Widefield High School is a high school in Security-Widefield, Colorado, United States. It opened its doors in 1958 and is the older of the two high schools in Widefield School District 3. Widefield's mascot is the Gladiator and its colors are nav ...

, located in

Security-Widefield, Colorado Security-Widefield is a census-designated place (CDP) comprising the unincorporated communities of Security and Widefield located in and governed by El Paso County, Colorado, United States. The CDP is a part of the Colorado Springs, CO Metropol ...

, 1990. He moved to Oceanside, California near

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

, in 1991, and graduated from

Oceanside High School Oceanside High School (California) is an American public secondary school located in Oceanside, California. It is part of the Oceanside Unified School District. History and Campus Oceanside High School is one of two high schools in the Oceanside ...

Playing career

College

Salave'a attended and played college football at the

. In football, he was a three-year starter and a two-time All- Pacific-10 Conference selection.

National Football League

Tennessee Oilers / Titans

Salave'a was drafted by the

in the

and would spend five seasons with Tennessee. In 1999, the Titans made it to

Super Bowl XXXIV Super Bowl XXXIV was an American football game played at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on January 30, 2000, to determine the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1999 season. The National Football Conference (NFC) champion St. Louis ...

in which Salave'a appeared as a substitute, however they lost to the

Kurt Warner Kurtis Eugene Warner (born June 22, 1971) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons, primarily with the St. Louis Rams and Arizona Cardinals. His career, which saw him ascend f ...

-led

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arr ...

Baltimore Ravens

In 2003, Salave'a was signed by the

San Diego Chargers

In 2003, Salave'a was signed by the San Diego Chargers and spent one season with the Chargers.

Washington Redskins

In 2004, Salave’a signed with the

. Playing primarily as a backup, Salave'a had a breakthrough year in 2004, registering 30 tackles and two sacks for the second-ranked Redskins defense. In 2005, he started 13 games and had 50 tackles, a half-sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery, helping to lead the Redskins to their first playoff appearance of the decade. Salave'a was released by the Redskins on August 28, 2007.

Coaching career

San Jose State

In April 2008, Salave'a began his coaching career at

as their defensive line coach by his under head coach

Dick Tomey Richard Hastings Tomey (June 20, 1938 – May 10, 2019) was an American football coach and player. Tomey served as the head football coach at the University of Hawaii at Manoa (1977–1986), University of Arizona (1987–2000), and San Jose State ...

Arizona

On December 16, 2010, Salave’a was named the defensive line coach at the

. When

Rich Rodriguez Richard Alan Rodriguez (; born May 24, 1963), also known as Rich Rod, is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head coach at Jacksonville State University. Rodriguez previously was the head football coach at Salem Un ...

was hired as head coach at Arizona for the 2012 season, Salave'a was not retained.

Washington State

In 2012, Salave'a joined

as their defensive line coach under head coach Mike Leach. Salave’a was later promoted to assistant head coach and defensive line coach.

Oregon

In January 2017, Salave'a was hired as the associate head coach, defensive line coach and co-defensive coordinator at the

under head coach

Mario Cristobal Mario Manuel Cristobal (born September 24, 1970) is head football coach of the Miami Hurricanes football team at the University of Miami. Cristobal previously was the head football coach at Florida International University (FIU) from 2007 to 20 ...

Miami

On January 7, 2022, Salave'a was hired as the associate head coach, run game coordinator and defensive line coach at the

following head coach

Personal life

Salave'a's older brother, Okland Salave'a, played football at Colorado from 1987–1989. Salave'a also has his own foundation—the Joe Salave'a foundation.

References

External links

Miami (FL) profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Salavea, Joe 1975 births Living people American football defensive tackles Arizona Wildcats football coaches Arizona Wildcats football players Miami Hurricanes football coaches San Diego Chargers players San Jose State Spartans football coaches Tennessee Oilers players Tennessee Titans players Washington Redskins players Washington State Cougars football coaches Oregon Ducks football coaches Coaches of American football from California Players of American football from American Samoa Players of American football from Oceanside, California American sportspeople of Samoan descent