Darren Rizzi said the Saints will bring in Marwan Maalouf, who was most recently the Vikings ST coordinator. He said it will be a quality control type of role to take some things off his plate. They have worked together in Miami and at Rutgers.
— Katherine Terrell (@Kat_Terrell) November 5, 2024
New Orleans Saints interim head coach Darren Rizzi announced the team is bringing in a new assistant coach. Marwan Maalouf will assist Phil Galiano in their special teams operations. Rizzi spoke on WWL Radio Monday afternoon to announce the hiring, which came mere hours after his promotion.
Galiano will likely take on many of the duties on special teams coordinating for the Saints, as he has been the assistant coach for them since 2019. However, adding in an additional coach to help out and let Rizzi build out his own staff a little bit is not a bad idea. Rizzi and Maalouf worked together in multiple instances including from 2013 to 2018 with the Miami Dolphins, and 2002 to 2003 at Rutgers.
They are now reunited after a few years away with Rizzi moving on to New Orleans, while Maalouf went on to be the special teams coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings from 2019 to 2020.
Ultimately, who knows if the Saints keep Rizzi or not after the season, but letting him make additions of his own and give himself a chance to prove himself is definitely a good choice. We will see how the special teams units look with Rizzi taking on a much larger role now at interim head coach.
