The Jets have completed a virtual interview with Steve Spagnuolo for the Green & White's head coach vacancy.
In his sixth season as Chiefs defensive coordinator under Andy Reid, Spagnuolo is coordinating a unit that finished No. 4 in scoring (19.2 pts/g) and No. 9 in total defense (320.6 yds/g). He is the only coordinator in NFL history to win four Super Bowls (XLII, LIV, LVII, LVIII) and win a Super Bowl with two different franchises.
Spagnuolo was head coach of the St. Louis Rams from 2009-11 in-between defensive coordinator stops with the Giants (2007-08) and the Saints (2012). He put together a defensive game plan in Super Bowl LXII that helped keep the prolific Patriots at bay as Tom Coughlin's Giants pulled off one of football's biggest upsets with a 17-14 win.
"How fortunate am I to have worked with two Hall of Famers?" Spagnuolo said in a Giants.com article published in 2023. "They'll both be in the Hall of Fame – if they're not, something's wrong. It can't get any better for me. Who would've thought a short, white guy from Grafton, Massachusetts, would work for two Hall of Fame head coaches and go to a few Super Bowls and experience a couple of wins? I pinch myself a lot. I consider myself very, very fortunate."
He was a senior defensive assistant with the Ravens in 2013 and secondary coach in Baltimore in 2014 before rejoining the Giants as defensive coordinator from 2015-17. Spagnuolo served as the Giants interim head coach for the final four weeks of the 2017 season.
Spagnuolo also worked for Reid in Philadelphia, serving as a defensive assistant (1999-2000), defensive backs coach (2001-03) and linebackers coach (2004-06) with the Eagles. During that time, Spagnuolo was part of a team that won four consecutive NFC East titles, reached four straight conference title games, and made a Super Bowl appearance following the 2004 season.
Before joining the NFL coaching ranks, Spagnuolo was the defensive line coach & special teams coach for the Barcelona Dragons in NFL Europe (1992) and held several collegiate positions at Connecticut (defensive coordinator, 1989-91, defensive backs coach, 1987-91) and Lafayette (defensive line coach & special teams coach, 1984-86). A graduate assistant at Massachusetts in 1981-82, Spagnuolo was a player personnel intern with Washington in 1983.
A native of Whitinsville, MA, Spagnuolo attended Grafton High School and would go on to earn a bachelor's degree in physical education from Springfield College where he was a two-year starter at wide receiver. Spagnuolo also earned a master's degree in sports management from the University of Massachusetts.
For candidates who are coaching on a playoff team with a bye, like Spagnuolo, virtual interviews can be held between Wednesday and the end of wild-card weekend. They're limited to three hours in length. In-person interviews with assistants who are under contract with other teams can begin on Jan. 20, unless those teams are still alive for the conference title games.
Jets Chairman Woody Johnson is leading the searches for a head coach and general manager. He hired The 33rd Team in a support role to help identify and vet candidates in addition to coordinate interviews.
For a full list of the head coaching and general manager candidates the Jets have interviewed, click here.
