First National Football League Muslim Head Coach

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The New York Jets made history Thursday when they agreed to a five-year contract with San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh to be the team’s new head coach.

According to the Associated Press, the 41-year-old Saleh is believed to be the first Muslim head coach in NFL history. The Washington Post reports Saleh was the first Arab American coordinator in league history.

Saleh grew up in Dearborn, Mich., which has one of the largest Muslim populations in the U.S., and is the son of Lebanese parents. Before Super Bowl LIV last year, the Washington Post reports Saleh traced his family’s history back to his grandfather, who first immigrated from Lebanon.

That generation worked in factories, unable to advance beyond manual labor because of a language barrier. The money they made enabled their children to attend better schools, and they became doctors and lawyers and other establishment professions. “For me to have the opportunity to coach, and kind of create another trail, has been good,” Saleh said. “That is pretty cool.”


Saleh is the the second minority coach to be hired by the Jets in the last six years and first since Todd Bowles, who is Black, in 2015. He’s the fourth active minority coach in the NFL, joining Miami’s Brian Flores, Washington’s Ron Rivera and Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin.
Saleh, recognized as an energetic leader who is well liked by his players, 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.

The 49ers ranked fifth in overall defense this season despite season-ending injuries to pass rushers Nick Bosa — the 2019 AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year — and Dee Ford, as well as defensive linemen Solomon Thomas and Ezekiel Ansah. While San Francisco missed the playoffs, Saleh’s work with a banged-up and short-handed defense made him a popular candidate among the teams looking for a coach.

“The @nyjets got a great one!” 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman tweeted. “Congrats to them!”