Family, faith & football: Robert Saleh's journey to the Jets

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• New York Jets Fire Adam Gase, Say New Direction Is ‘Best Decision' for Team
• Jets Select Florida State QB Jordan Travis in 5th Round
• SportsNFLNew York Jets
• CB Qwan'tez Stiggers Football Career in Photos
• Joel Embiid ‘pissed off’ after Knicks fans take over 76ers home court
• Latest Jets News
• New York Jets hire 49ers DC Robert Saleh as new head coach

He taught all the coaches in Houston how to use Visio, too. Freiberg, who lives in Wisconsin, went to a University of Wisconsin-Michigan State game in 2002 wearing a Badgers sweatshirt and a Spartans hat. Saleh made seven different stops in college and the NFL before ascending to Jets coach, and his group of friends has supported him every step of the way. They were all from different regions of the Midwest — Wisconsin, lower Michigan, Chicago.

New York Jets Fire Adam Gase, Say New Direction Is ‘Best Decision' for Team

LaFleur is the brother of Packers coach Matt LaFleur, who was the best man at Saleh’s wedding and whose team is playing in the NFC championship game Sunday. Saleh has been recognized as an energetic leader who is well liked by his players and fellow coaches. He had been the 49ers’ defensive coordinator under Kyle Shanahan since 2017, overseeing San Francisco’s defense that ranked No. 2 overall on the way to the Super Bowl last season.

Jets Select Florida State QB Jordan Travis in 5th Round

The team officially announced Tuesday they hired the former San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator as their head coach after agreeing to terms last Thursday. But still, he had to take a leap of faith to secure the San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator job that would elevate his profile and status to being a head coaching candidate years later. This past season (2022), Saleh oversaw a team that increased their total by three wins, the sixth largest in the league. Despite using three different starting quarterbacks, they improved in nearly every offensive category. After finishing last in the League in total defense in 2021, Saleh led a defensive unit that finished fourth overall in the NFL.

Robert Saleh's evolution: College friends, pranks and his path to Jets coach - The Athletic

Robert Saleh's evolution: College friends, pranks and his path to Jets coach.

Posted: Sat, 10 Sep 2022 07:00:00 GMT [source]

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In an interview with the New York Post in 2021, Robert credited his family with giving him motivation for his high-pressure career. Saleh will look to mimic what he’s seen the past four years in the harmonious relationship between coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch, both of whom received contract extensions prior to this year. “It felt like I was talking to the people of my community. There’s a sense that everyone has each other’s back and there’s a sense of family, which is very, very important to me. The Jets stressed they wanted to find a “partner” with their next coach, someone who can collaborate with the front office and ownership. That theme was repeated again during Saleh’s official introduction.

CB Qwan'tez Stiggers Football Career in Photos

That’s where he met Oden, who was at CMU for only a couple of months before getting hired away by the Texans. He was still on the quieter side at that point, but Saleh taught himself how to use Microsoft Visio, a diagramming application that became a go-to playbook tool for NFL and college teams. Saleh was a good football player, too, an all-conference tight end — but he didn’t envision an NFL future. Most Division II athletes don’t make it that far, and Saleh, majoring in finance, planned for a future outside of football. At that point, Saleh didn’t really carry himself like someone who would get into coaching, either. When he got to campus, Saleh said he “finagled” his way to his own room at Gant Hall, where the football players lived for two years.

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The Falcons, Lions, Jaguars, Eagles and Chargers all had reported interest in Saleh as the answer to their own head coach vacancies. The Texans were the only team to not request an interview with the 41-year-old coach. NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported, per informed sources, that Saleh's deal is for five years. 49ers passing game coordinator Mike LaFleur is expected to be the first member of Saleh's first staff and serve as offensive coordinator, Rapoport added. Conklin mentioned how Saleh jogs the stadium steps a few hours before every game — home or away — and how the coach works out regularly.

Joel Embiid ‘pissed off’ after Knicks fans take over 76ers home court

The 49ers played at the Vikings in the preseason one year while Saleh was on staff. Freiberg made the drive with his father, a retired CPA, to see Saleh, and they met at the team hotel the night before the game. Saleh “spent most of the time talking to my dad about taxes,” Freiberg said. When Harris hit free agency this offseason, he had interest from other teams but was waiting for the Jets to come calling.

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Hairpieces come in various styles, colors, and materials, allowing individuals to find a piece that matches their natural hair or experiment with different looks. It’s important to select a high-quality hair system that fits properly and provides a natural appearance. As Saleh continued to progress in his coaching career, he also decided to experiment with his appearance. He began growing out his beard, which added a touch of ruggedness to his overall look. This bearded look complemented his intense coaching style and often drew attention on the sidelines. The 49ers defense remains ranked among the league’s elite, despite injuries robbing them this season of stars including Bosa, Dee Ford and, for most of the season, cornerback Richard Sherman.

New York Jets hire 49ers DC Robert Saleh as new head coach

During the Jets’ appearance on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” during the summer, the cameras were largely focused on Rodgers and his interactions with teammates and coaches. Some viewers thought Rodgers was portrayed as more of the team leader than the coach himself, with some wondering if Saleh was really fully in charge. Saleh, believed to be the first Muslim Arab American head coach in the N.F.L., will take over the franchise with the league’s longest current postseason drought. At Central Michigan in 2004, on the staff of Brian Kelly, now Notre Dame’s head coach, Saleh worked with a fellow grad assistant named Matt LaFleur. Saleh’s parents are now retired from running a furniture store in Dearborn, but Saleh says his father regretted not getting into coaching as a career when his playing days were done, also. “I remember being reluctant at first because that is a big undertaking,” he said.

In 2021, he became the first Muslim-American head coach in the NFL when he was hired by the New York Jets. These are the sort of things Saleh talks about when he’s speaking to the team, before practice, before games, at halftime, in the postgame locker room. Saleh’s hiring came several months after the league updated the Rooney Rule, which aims to increase diversity in candidacies for head coaching jobs and certain front office roles. The rule was changed in May to bump up its interviewing requirement from at least one external minority candidate for each head coaching position to at least two. Starting in 2011, the N.F.L. featured eight nonwhite head coaches at the same time, its peak for diversity, but the decline since then forced the changes in the Rooney Rule.

In more advanced cases, hair transplant surgeries can be considered, where hair follicles from donor areas are transplanted to the balding areas for permanent hair regrowth. Sam was born in Michigan after civil war in Lebanon forced his family to flee to this country in the late 1940s. Sam was a standout linebacker and noseguard at Fordson HS in Dearborn, MI, in the Sixties. On September 11, 2001, David Saleh was working at Morgan Stanley on the 61st floor of the South Tower at the World Trade Center.

His defenses have now ranked in the top five in three of the last four seasons, including becoming one of just five since 2000 to finish in the top five, a season after ranking 32nd. 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 2003 that the 49ers finished in the top 10 in both scoring and yards per game.[17] Saleh helped lead the team to a 13–3 record and a Super Bowl LIV berth, where they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs.