American football player and coach (born 1952)
American football player
Carl Blake Hairston
(born December 15, 1952) is a former professional
American football
player and coach. Hairston has played in one
Super Bowl
and
coached
in another during his 30 seasons in the
National Football League
(NFL). Among his 15 years in the league since the end of his playing career, the daunting Hairston has spent 11 seasons as a
defensive line
coach. He joined the
Green Bay Packers
from
Kansas City
, where he spent seven years (1995?1996 and 2001?2005), after sandwiching a four-year term as
St. Louis Rams
defensive line coach (1997?2000) between his two stints with the Chiefs.
Professional career
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Originally a seventh-round selection (191st overall) by Vermeil's
Eagles
in 1976, Hairston preceded
Reggie White
on the Eagles' line (1976?1983), then spent six years in
Cleveland
(1984?1989) and one final campaign with the
Cardinals
(1990). In 224 games (184
starts
), he posted 94 sacks among 1,141 tackles. He started for the Eagles at defensive end in
Super Bowl XV
against the
Oakland Raiders
, one of his 15 postseason contests played.
Coaching career
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]
Originally a
pro scout
with the Chiefs in 1994, Hairston also spent three seasons (1991?1993) as a college scout with the
Phoenix Cardinals
, where he had finished his playing career.
Marty Schottenheimer
gave Hairston his first full-time coaching position at any level, Chiefs defensive line coach (1995?1996), a role in which he worked with then-quarterbacks coach McCarthy. Tutoring one of the most-feared defensive fronts, Hairston and his players helped the 13-3 Chiefs finish third in the NFL with 47 sacks. Again, his unit produced a pair of Pro Bowl performers,
Neil Smith
and
Dan Saleaumua
.
On the field as either a player or coach during all 240 games of
Dick Vermeil
's career, Hairston first joined the legendary coach for a memorable run with the Rams. In Hairston's first year with the Rams, 1997, he assisted
Leslie O'Neal
to a ten-sack performance. He also coached a pair of players,
Kevin Carter
and
Grant Wistrom
, to double digits in sacks in 2000. One year earlier, when the Rams won
Super Bowl XXXIV
, his unit provided most of St. Louis' 57 sacks, which tied for the league lead. Carter's NFL-leading 17 sacks that year powered him to the
Pro Bowl
, where he joined his neighbor on the Rams line,
D'Marco Farr
.
Under Hairston, Chiefs defensive end
Jared Allen
accumulated 20 sacks from 2004?2005, tied for tenth in the NFL during that period but first among players drafted in 2004, including 23 defensive linemen taken before him. Led by Allen's nine sacks as a rookie, the Chiefs finished 2004 with 41 sacks, seventh in the league.
He joined the Packers as a
defensive ends
coach in 2006, but was let go?along with the majority of the defensive coaching staff?after a disappointing 2008 season.
[1]
After spending time coaching in the
United Football League
, Hairston was hired as the defensive line coach for the
BC Lions
of the
Canadian Football League
.
[2]
[3]
He was let go before the start of the 2015 CFL season.
[4]
References
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External links
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]