Sean Payton

Patrick Sean Payton (born December 29, 1963) is an American football coach and former quarterback who is the head coach for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL).

Sean Payton lived in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, during his grade school and middle school years (1970–1978).

Sean attended Naperville Central High School in Naperville, Illinois, starting as quarterback his senior year before graduating in 1982.

Winning a football scholarship, Payton had a successful career playing quarterback at Eastern Illinois University, leading the Panthers to an 11–2 record and the quarter-finals of the Division I-AA Playoffs in 1986.

While attending EIU, he became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity and was later named a Significant Sig; one of Sigma Chi's highest honors.

Under coach Al Molde, Payton's Eastern Illinois teams were known as "Eastern Airlines" due to their prolific passing attack that frequently topped 300 yards per game (and had 509 passing yards in one game, still a school record).

Payton played college football for the Eastern Illinois Panthers and played professionally in 1987 with the Chicago Bears and 1988 overseas in Britain for the Leicester Panthers.

Although he was not drafted in the 1987 NFL Draft, Payton tried out for the Kansas City Chiefs for one day.

In 1987, he played quarterback for the Chicago Bruisers and Pittsburgh Gladiators during the inaugural season of the Arena Football League, before his rights were sold for $1,000 to the Ottawa Rough Riders of the Canadian Football League.

He was also a member of the Chicago Bears squad of strikebreaking replacement players, known as the "Spare Bears", during the 1987 NFL players strike.

In 3 games he completed 8 of 23 passes (34.8%), for 79 yards, no TDs, and 1 INT, a passer rating of 27.3.

He was also sacked 7 times for 47 yards and had one rush attempt for 28 yards.

His one interception came against the New Orleans Saints, the team he would later go on to coach to a Super Bowl victory.

In 1988, he played for the Leicester Panthers of the professional UK Budweiser National League.

Payton landed the starting quarterback role for the Panthers.

Payton led the Panthers to a touchdown on their first possession, and an 8-5 regular season record.

That same season saw the Panthers go to the Quarterfinals of the playoffs BAFA National Leagues, eventually losing to the London Olympians.

Afterwards Payton returned to the US to take up a coaching position.

Payton began his coaching career in 1988 as an offensive assistant at San Diego State University.

He coached Marshall Faulk from 1992 to 1993 while working at San Diego State.

As OC at Miami University, he helped RB Deland McCullough run for over 1,100 yards.

In 1995, the team scored the most points in a season (326) since 1986 and finished 8–2–1.

RB Deland McCullough ran for over 1,600 yards with 14 TD and QB Sam Ricketts also threw 14 TD.

At the University of Illinois in 1996, he coached QB Scott Weaver, who completed 56% of his passes for over 1,700 yards and 7 TD.

He made a series of assistant coaching positions at Indiana State University, Miami University (offensive coordinator), Illinois, and again at San Diego State (running backs coach), before landing a job as the quarterbacks coach with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1997.

From 1997 to 1998, Payton was quarterbacks coach for the Philadelphia Eagles and worked with offensive coordinator Jon Gruden and offensive line coach Bill Callahan.

In 1998, Gruden and Callahan left for the Oakland Raiders, and Eagles head coach Ray Rhodes and Payton were fired.

Payton had the second-longest NFL single-team tenure among active head coaches, behind New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, who coached the Patriots from 2000 to 2023.

Previously, he served as the head coach of the New Orleans Saints from 2006 to 2021, leading the franchise to its first Super Bowl victory during the 2009 season.

He began his coaching career as offensive assistant for San Diego State University and had several assistant coaching positions on college and NFL teams before being named as the tenth full-time coach in Saints history in 2006.

Payton has always been known for his offensive prowess, having scored more points (2,804) and gained more yards (40,158) than any other team in a coach's first 100 games in NFL history.

Under Payton's leadership, the Saints made the 2006 NFL playoffs after a 3–13 season in 2005 and advanced to their first NFC Championship appearance in franchise history.

Because of this effort, Payton won the AP NFL Coach of the Year Award.

In 16 seasons with the Saints as head coach, Payton helped guide the team to three NFC Championship games (2006, 2009, and 2018), a victory in Super Bowl XLIV, and nine total playoff berths with seven division titles, making him the most successful coach in Saints franchise history.

Following the 2009 season, the Saints won their first Super Bowl championship in franchise history.

Before the 2011 season began, an email sent by Michael Ornstein outlined a plan offering $5,000 to anyone who would injure Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers in the season opener, which Sean Payton initially denied knowing about but later admitted to having read.

In April 2012, Payton was suspended for the entire 2012 NFL season as a result of his involvement in the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal, under which "bounties" were paid for injuring players on opposing teams.

Payton filed an appeal, but was denied, and was reinstated in January 2013.

Payton was born in San Mateo, California, and raised in Naperville, Illinois, by parents Thomas and Jeanne Payton.

Payton's parents were originally from Scranton, Pennsylvania; Thomas worked in the insurance industry.