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Saints Hire Terry Joseph To Their Defensive Staff

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Bob Rose | Last updated Feb 24, 2025 11:23 AM ET

The New Orleans Saints have added a new defensive passing game coordinator to their coaching staff. Per reports, Terry Joseph will be hired for the role.

On Monday, Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network was the first to report that the Texas Longhorns assistant is leaving the program to become the defensive passing game coordinator for the Saints.

Terry Joseph is the first defensive assistant to be hired on new defensive coordinator Brandon Staley's staff under new Saints head coach Kellen Moore. This will be Joseph's first NFL coaching job.

Joseph, 51, has been the defensive passing game coordinator and secondary coach for the Texas Longhorns since 2021. The Longhorns have advanced to the College Football in each of the last two seasons. During the 2024 campaign, Texas allowed an average of just 173.8 passing yards per game defensively.

Prior to joining Texas, Joseph was the defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator for Notre Dame from 2018 to 2020. Between 2010 and 2017, Joseph coached defensive backs at Tennessee, Nebraska, Texas A&M, and North Carolina.

Joseph was actually a three-time All-Conference selection as a baseball player at Northwestern State University in Louisiana. He began his football coaching career in 1999 at his alma mater, Archbishop Shaw High School in Louisiana. He'd move on from there in 2003 to become the defensive coordinator at Destrehan (LA) High School.

In 2006, Joseph moved from the high school ranks as a graduate assistant with LSU. Louisiana Tech hired Joseph as their defensive backs coach in 2007, a position he'd hold until after the 2009 season when hired by Tennessee.

New Orleans ranked 30th in total defense last season. The Saints were 27th against the pass. Both were far drops from where the defense had ranked for the last several seasons.

During his time at Texas and Notre Dame, Joseph coached several blue-chip defensive backs that went on to NFL success.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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