Former Titans assistant lands job as new Texans defensive coordinator
A former Tennessee Titans assistant is the Houston Texans' new defensive coordinator. According to multiple reports, the Texans are hiring Matt Burke to fill their defensive coordinator job. Burke most recently served as the Arizona Cardinals' defensive line coach. Burke spent five seasons in Nashville in the mid-2000s under Jeff Fisher. The Massachusetts native was […]
A former Tennessee Titans assistant is the Houston Texans' new defensive coordinator.
According to multiple reports, the Texans are hiring Matt Burke to fill their defensive coordinator job.
Burke most recently served as the Arizona Cardinals' defensive line coach.
Burke spent five seasons in Nashville in the mid-2000s under Jeff Fisher.
The Massachusetts native was an administrative assistant for the Titans in 2004 and 2005. He served as a defensive quality control coach from 2006 to 2008 before landing a job as the Detroit Lions linebackers coach, a job he held for five seasons (2009 to 2013).
Burke is one of the more interesting assistant coaches in the NFL. He has an Ivy League education (he was a walk-on at Dartmouth), he's a world traveler (he proposed to his wife while hiking with gorillas in Uganda), and his first job in the NFL (with the Titans) paid him only $30,000 a year (he didn't finish paying off his student loans until he received a playoff bonus with the Titans).
It's been quite a rise for a coach who started his NFL career by working out of a literal closet with a desk in it in Nashville nearly 20 years ago.
Featured image via Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports
