New Orleans Saints All-Time Coaching Staff
By Darral Nail
New Orleans Saints All-Time Coaching Staff
Quarterbacks Coach: Carl Smith (1986-1996)
Carl Smith was a bit of a curious choice to lead the Saints offense while coaching the team’s quarterbacks under Jim Mora. Smith had joined Mora’s Philadelphia Stars in 1983 as special teams coach before moving to the offensive side of the ball.
Smith’s resumé as an offense play caller and quarterback tutor to that point consisted of a three season stretch at the 1-AA (now known as FCS) level and a largely forgettable season on the staff of future Saints defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin at North Carolina State.
Lack of top-level experience notwithstanding, Smith began to repay Mora’s confidence immediately in New Orleans.
After coaxing an adroit performance from veteran quarterback Dave Wilson in his first season on the job, the Saints offense finished second in the NFL in points scored during Bobby Hebert’s first season as the team’s full time starting quarterback.
Hebert went on to become a perennial 3,000-plus yard passer in New Orleans and Jim Everett led the Saints to a top ten offensive ranking, with passing yardage totals nearing the 4,000 yard mark, in the latter part of Smith’s tenure overseeing the signal callers.
Honorable Mention: Joe Lombardi (2009-2013, 2016-2020), Mike Sheppard (2002-2004)
New Orleans Saints All-Time Coaching Staff
Wide Receivers Coach: Curtis Johnson (2006-2011)
A part of Sean Payton’s original Saints staff in 2006, Curtis Johnson arrived in New Orleans with an impressive book of business in terms of player development, having served as preceptor for the likes of Reggie Wayne, Andre Johnson, Santana Moss and Roscoe Parrish during his nine seasons as wide receiver coach at Miami.
The trend of Johnson cultivating top performances from the receivers in his charge continued in the Big Easy, with perhaps no finer example than that of Marques Colston. A seventh-round draft pick out of FCS member Hofstra, Colston supplanted aging star Joe Horn and the previous season’s WR1 Donte Stallworth to emerge as the team’s leading receiver in his rookie season.
While Colston finished with over 1,000 receiving yards in five of his six seasons under Johnson, pacing the team in the category for four such seasons, his is but one of many careers that the man known as “CJ” helped to boost during his time on the Saints’ staff.
It was his honing of a Saints receiver group that included an undersized practice squad signee (Lance Moore), an underwhelming first-round pick (Robert Meacham) and a speedster with suspect hands (Devery Henderson) that came to signify his first stint in New Orleans.
After accepting the head coaching position at Tulane for the 2012 season, and a subsequent year spent coaching receivers for the Chicago Bears, Johnson rejoined the Saints in 2017 as a senior offensive assistant.
Honorable Mention: Lamar McHan (1974-1975, 1978-1984), Steve Walters (1986-1996)