After 50 years working as a football coach, Falcons defensive coordinator Dean Pees announced his retirement Monday.
During that span, 12 past and present defensive coordinators worked under Pees in the NFL, plus eight more college defensive coordinators.
“You appreciate all the work and the sacrifice,” Falcons coach Arthur Smith said in a press release from the team. “We all get paid to do this and we’re lucky as hell, but there are sacrifices you have to make. Dean’s a guy who has coached at every level and had success. He has impacted a lot of lives and he has impacted the game.”
Pees, 73, spent the past two seasons in Atlanta, but his career stretches back to the 1970s, when he began coaching at the high school level. His collegiate coaching career began in 1979 at the Division II level in Ohio. He eventually made his way to bigger programs, such as Notre Dame and Michigan State, before becoming the head coach at Kent State from 1998–2003.
That work led him to be hired by the Patriots in ’04, first as a linebackers coach and then as the defensive coordinator from 2006–09. He worked under Bill Belichick and won a Super Bowl title with New England after the 2004 season.
Pees then joined the Ravens—first as linebackers coach and then defensive coordinator. He helped the team win Super Bowl XLVII in the 2012 season.
In 2018, Pees joined the Titans as defensive coordinator. He worked in Tennessee for two seasons before retiring from coaching. But the Falcons convinced him to come out of retirement to join the Atlanta coaching staff in 2021.
