11th Year in NFL/3rd year with Bills
Sanders enters his third season with the Buffalo Bills in 2011 and will continue to coach the outside linebackers for the second consecutive season. The 2010 season highlights included …
11th Year in NFL/3rd year with Bills
COACHING EXPERIENCE
Sanders enters his third season with the Buffalo Bills in 2011 and will continue to coach the outside linebackers for the second consecutive season. The 2010 season highlights included …
The transition of OLB Chris Kelsay from defensive end; Kelsay produced 72 tackles and ranked second on the team with 3.5 sacks
The emergence of rookie OLB Arthur Moats who led team rookies with 2.5 sacks
In 2010, Sanders was retained by Head Coach Chan Gailey. He originally joined the Bills’ coaching staff as the defensive line coach in late January of 2009, bringing 33 years of coaching experience with him.
Prior to arriving in Buffalo, Sanders served on the Green Bay Packers staff for four seasons (2005-08), the last three as the team’s defensive coordinator while coaching defensive ends in 2005.
In 2009, the Packers led the NFL with six interceptions returned for touchdowns and tied for the NFC lead with 22 picks
Green Bay finished third in the NFL in third-down defense in 2007
The Packers’ defense ranked first in the NFC with 46 sacks while earning a fifth-best overall defensive ranking in the NFC in 2006. Upon taking the coordinator position, Sanders brought continuity to a defense that ranked seventh overall and first against the pass in 2005, up from 25th in both categories the previous season.
In his first year in Green Bay in 2005, Packers DE Aaron Kampman recorded a then-career-best 6.5 sacks and at the time the second-most tackles (105) by a Green Bay defensive lineman ever recorded. On the other side, Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila posted a career-high 81 tackles in 2005.
Sanders served as the Miami Dolphins’ linebackers coach for four seasons (2001-04).His individual tutoring helped Zach Thomas to three straight Pro Bowl selections (2001-2003) and, at the time, four of his top five single-season tackle totals.
Before joining the professional ranks, Sanders coached 22 years in the college game, including 15 seasons tutoring defensive linemen in some capacity. Seven of those campaigns were at the University of Florida, where three of his pupils, Jevon Kearse, Kevin Carter and Huey Richardson, became first-round selections in the NFL Draft.
The Gators led the SEC in sacks four straight seasons (1996-99) in Sanders’ 11 years with Florida (1990-2000). He coached multiple defensive positions as the Gators captured five conference titles and the 1995 National Championship.
Prior to his time at Florida, Sanders spent five years at Duke. In his last season with the Blue Devils, 1989, the squad went 8-4 and won the school’s first ACC Championship since 1965.
Previously, Sanders had served at Richmond (1983-84), East Carolina (1980-82) and Georgia Tech (part-time coach, 1978)…he also coached three years (1976-77, 1979) in the high school ranks.
PERSONAL
A former defensive player at Davidson College (1973-75), Sanders graduated from the school in 1976 with a B.S. degree in political science… born in Jacksonville, N.C., he and his wife, Kathie, have two daughters, Lindsay and Sarah, and a son, Robby…in his spare time he enjoys fishing and playing golf.
