Jack Del Rio

Jack Louis Del Rio Jr. (born April 4, 1963) is an American professional football coach and former linebacker who is the head coach of the Paris Musketeers of the European League of Football (ELF). He played college football for the USC Trojans from 1981 to 1984 and was selected by the New Orleans Saints in the third round of the 1985 NFL draft. Del Rio also played for the Kansas City Chiefs, Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings, and Miami Dolphins before retiring in 1996.

Del Rio began his coaching career as an assistant with the Saints in 1997. He then joined the Baltimore Ravens as a linebacker coach in 1999, where he was a part of their Super Bowl XXXV winning team that beat the New York Giants. Following a single-season stint as Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator, Del Rio became head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2003. He compiled a 68–71 record and two playoff appearances with them before being dismissed following the 2011 season.

Del Rio served as Denver Broncos defensive coordinator for the next three seasons before becoming head coach of the Oakland Raiders in 2015. He compiled a 25–23 record with the Raiders before being fired after the 2017 season. He spent the next two years working as an NFL analyst for ESPN and as the defensive coordinator of the Washington Commanders from 2020 until being dismissed midway through the 2023 season.

Jack Louis Del Rio Jr. was born in Castro Valley, California, to big bandleader Jack Del Rio Sr., who was of Spanish descent, and an Italian-American mother. Famed singer Peggy Lee was briefly Del Rio's stepmother after having married Jack Sr. Del Rio attended Hayward High School in Hayward, California, where he developed into a notable three-sport athlete, earning all-state honors in football, baseball, and basketball.

In football, Del Rio helped his team win a North Coast Section 2A Championship. In baseball, although he was the starting catcher, in one game Del Rio was used as a pitcher and struck out 16 in a playoff game against Mission San Jose-Fremont. Del Rio and future Seattle Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu were teammates in baseball and football.

Del Rio was selected out of high school by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 22nd round (550th overall) of the 1981 MLB Draft, but opted instead to accept a scholarship from the University of Southern California to play both football and baseball. In baseball, Del Rio was as a two-year starter at catcher on a team that also included future Major League Baseball players Mark McGwire and Randy Johnson, as well as future baseball executive Damon Oppenheimer.

Del Rio was a four-year starter in football. As a junior, he made the third-team 1983 All-American team. As a senior, Del Rio earned consensus All-American honors, was a runner-up for the Lombardi Award given to the nation's best lineman or linebacker and was named along with quarterback Tim Green co-MVP of the Rose Bowl. Del Rio finished his college career with 340 tackles, including 58 tackles for loss. He was named to the second-team All-Pac-10 in 1984, the first time in his college career where he did not make first-team.

In 2015, Del Rio was inducted into the USC Athletic Hall of Fame.