Big Cat Country
What makes Robert Saleh an attractive candidate?
For the third time in five years, the Jacksonville Jaguars are searching for a new head coach.
Big Cat Country’s Jaguars head coach hiring process tracker is constantly being updated — but to provide more information on the top candidates being interviewed, we’ll be releasing in-depth profiles throughout the search.
Next up: Robert Saleh, who interviewed with the Jaguars on January 14th.
Other head coach candidate profiles:
Saleh played tight end at Northern Michigan, where he graduated with a degree in finance in 2000. He took a well-paying desk job at Comerica Bank, but when his brother narrowly survived the awful events of Sept. 11, 2001, Saleh found the motivation to pursue his passion.
He began his coaching career as an assistant at Michigan State in 2002. He switched from tight ends coach to defensive line coach in 2003, then was hired for the latter position at Central Michigan at 2004, then was hired to coach linebackers at Georgia in 2005.
Saleh made it to the league in 2005 when the Texans hired him as a defensive intern. He became defensive quality control coach a year later, and became assistant linebackers coach three years after that.
Saleh’s career really took off when the Seahawks hired him as their defensive quality control coach in 2011. In Seattle, Saleh helped Pete Caroll build the “Legion of Boom” defense and win Super Bowl XLVIII. The Jaguars hired then-Seahawks defensive coordinator Gus Bradley as their new head coach in 2013 and Saleh followed him to be linebackers coach. Under his watch, Telvin Smith made a second-team All-Pro team and the “Sacksonville” defense led the Jaguars to an AFC Championship game appearance.
When he wasn’t retained by Doug Marrone in 2017, Saleh became 49ers defensive coordinator in 2017. The first two years were rough as he and Kyle Shanahan rebuilt the roster, but from 2019 to 2020, the Niners defense ranked first in total yards allowed.
Saleh then got his shot as an NFL head coach when he took over the Jets in 2021. Again, there was a slow start — but from 2022 to 2024, the Jets defense ranked first in total yards allowed.
New York fired Saleh after Week 5 of the 2024 season. Despite great defensive metrics, the Jets weren’t winning enough ball games because the offense was a total mess. From Zach Wilson to Aaron Rodgers and every NPC in between, no quarterback allowed the team to play complimentary.
Saleh served as an offensive consultant with the Packers for the remainder of the season.
2023 Jets defense
