Athletes - Ray Rhodes

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	Athletes - Ray Rhodes

Raymond Earl Rhodes (born October 20, 1950, in Mexia, Texas) is the former head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles and the Green Bay Packers. He is the current defensive coordinator of the Seattle Seahawks. He is a graduate of the University of Tulsa.

Playing years

Rhodes joined the NFL after being selected by the New York Giants in the 10th round of the NFL Draft. He spent his first three years of the NFL as a wide receiver, leading the NFC in catches before being switched to defensive back in 1977 and immediately won a starting job. In 1979, he was traded to the San Francisco 49ers for another future head coach, Tony Dungy. After two years with the 49ers, he retired.

Assistant Coach Pt. 1

After retiring as a player, Rhodes decided to become a coach. He stayed with the 49ers as an assistant secondary coach, before moving up to defensive backs coach. He won two Super Bowls with a group that included Ronnie Lott, Eric Wright, and Dwight Hicks. After serving that position for many years, he was hired by former colleague Mike Holmgren to be the new defensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers. However, Rhodes and his family had trouble assimilating to a community that had very few African-Americans, and after two years Rhodes returned to San Francisco as the defensive coordinator of their 1994 Super Bowl Winning team. After that year he was hired by the Philadelphia Eagles as head coach.

Head Coach

Rhodes went 10-6 his first season as head coach and garned the Coach of the Year honors. He repeated the performance the following season and made the playoffs both times. The next year, however, he fell to 6-9-1. The year after that, he fell to 3-13 and was fired. However, the Packers were looking for a new head coach, and GM Ron Wolf remembered Rhodes for his no-nonsense, butt-busting coaching style. Rhodes was the only candidate Wolf interviewed and subsequently hired. However, the team stopped responding, and the decrease in production was imminent, and the team fell to 8-8. Despite smashing the Arizona Cardinals in the final regular-season game and barely missing the playoffs, Rhodes was fired.

Assistant Coach Pt. 2

Following his dismissal from Green Bay, Rhodes took over as the defensive coordinator for the Washington Redskins and then the Denver Broncos. After the 2002 season, Rhodes was reunited with Holmgren when he became the defensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks, where he has remained ever since.

In September 2005, Rhodes was hospitalized for dizziness and tests later revealed that he had suffered from a mild stroke.

Sources

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Ray Rhodes ]

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