Tutoring a unit that since 2006 has annually ranked among the Saints’ most productive position groups, assistant head coach/linebackers Joe Vitt enters his sixth season in New Orleans.
In both 2009 and 2010, Jonathan Vilma and Scott Shanle have been two of the club’s top tacklers on defense. Under Vitt’s supervision, Vilma has led the Saints in tackles for three consecutive seasons. In 2010, he finished with 131 tackles, a career-high four sacks, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery and was selected to his second consecutive Pro Bowl. Shanle was the club’s third-leading tackler with 98 stops in 2010. With 562 tackles since joining the club in 2006, Shanle has more stops than any other Saints defender during this period.
Tutoring a unit that since 2006 has annually ranked among the Saints’ most productive position groups, assistant head coach/linebackers Joe Vitt enters his sixth season in New Orleans.
In both 2009 and 2010, Jonathan Vilma and Scott Shanle have been two of the club’s top tacklers on defense. Under Vitt’s supervision, Vilma has led the Saints in tackles for three consecutive seasons. In 2010, he finished with 131 tackles, a career-high four sacks, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery and was selected to his second consecutive Pro Bowl. Shanle was the club’s third-leading tackler with 98 stops in 2010. With 562 tackles since joining the club in 2006, Shanle has more stops than any other Saints defender during this period.
Vitt came to the Saints after serving as interim head coach for the final 11 games in St. Louis in 2005. He held the Rams together during a difficult period after previously holding the title of assistant head coach/linebackers. It was part of a two-year stint with the Rams where he also turned a handful of young defenders into a unit that paced the team in tackles each season.
He joined St. Louis after working as linebackers coach in Kansas City from 2000-03. It was with the Chiefs where he first worked with former Saint Scott Fujita, a fifth-round pick who developed into one of Kansas City’s top defenders and led them in tackles twice. In New Orleans, under Vitt’s tutelage, he enjoyed three consecutive seasons with over 100 stops.
Vitt took over the linebacker corps in Kansas City after tutoring the Green Bay defensive backs in 1999, molding a legion of rookies and young players into a formidable unit that doubled the Packers’ previous-year total by picking off 26 passes. One of his understudies was safety Darren Sharper, who led the Packers with 113 tackles.
From 1995-98, Vitt was linebackers coach for Philadelphia, where he first worked with Saints head coach Sean Payton. In 1998, his group helped the Eagles lead the NFL in pass defense, allowing 170 yards per game. Vitt was assistant head coach and defensive backs coach with the Rams under Chuck Knox from 1992-94 for the franchise’s final three seasons in Los Angeles.
Vitt spent 10 seasons with the Seattle Seahawks (1982-91), holding several titles during that stretch. In 1982 he was defensive quality control coach/assistant strength & conditioning coach. From 1983-87 Vitt was quality control/assistant linebackers coach, and from 1988-91 he tutored the safeties.
Born in Syracuse, N.Y., Vitt grew up in Blackwood, N.J., and played four years at linebacker for Towson State, where he was part of a squad that went undefeated in 1974. Vitt was later inducted into the Towson State Hall of Fame. He entered the NFL coaching ranks with the Baltimore Colts as strength/quality control coach from 1979-81.
Vitt and his wife Linda have one son, Joe Jr., one daughter Jennifer and granddaughter McKenzie.
