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Four more assistants join Payton's staff
Three spots still open for additional hires
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
By Jimmy Smith
Staff writer

With a dozen assistants already in place and three more vacancies to fill Saints coach Sean Payton has nearly completed his first major task since taking over the job three weeks ago.
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On Tuesday, the Saints announced that the club had hired quarterbacks coach Pete Carmichael Jr., defensive backs coach Tom Hayes, wide receivers coach Curtis Johnson and tight ends coach Terry Malone.

That leaves openings for a running backs coach, a defensive line coach and a defensive quality control coach that would bring Payton's final staff to 15.

The four hires announced Tuesday include two, Carmichael and Hayes, who have NFL experience, while the other two have collegiate backgrounds.

"We've worked hard to fill our coaching staff with assistants who know the game and have excelled at educating players on doing the little things that make a difference," Payton said in a statement released by the club.

"All fit the mold of what I've been looking for since the start of this process: experienced professionals with a history of success, are demanding, and know the methods of getting the most out of their group of players because they approach the game as teachers first."

Hayes, who comes to the Saints from Stanford, worked with recently hired defensive coordinator Gary Gibbs at the University of Oklahoma. Two weeks ago, Hayes denied any interest in taking a position with the Saints.

He has 30 years of coaching experience, including six years as the defensive secondary coach of the Washington Redskins, where he tutored Darrell Green, Cris Dishman and Champ Bailey.

During his college career, Hayes coached 26 defensive backs who made NFL rosters, including five who were selected in the first round of the draft. At Stanford, Hayes was defensive coordinator and secondary coach.

At Oklahoma, Hayes was defensive coordinator when Gibbs was the head coach. He has also worked at UCLA, Texas A&M and Kansas.

Carmichael will work closely with Payton, who may take the responsibility of calling the Saints' offensive plays this season. Carmichael spent the past four years with the San Diego Chargers as an assistant wide receivers/quality control coach. He held a similar position with the Redskins in 2001 before joining the Chargers and in 2000 worked with the Cleveland Browns as the tight ends coach/offensive assistant.

For five seasons, from 1995-99, Carmichael was the quarterbacks coach at Louisiana Tech.

A New Orleans native, Johnson has been with the University of Miami for a decade, working with noted NFL receivers Andre Johnson, Reggie Wayne and Santana Moss, among others. In each of his 10 seasons at Miami, Johnson has coached at least one all-conference player.

He coached with Payton at San Diego State, and has also coached at SMU and California.

Malone has been at the University of Michigan the past nine years, most recently as offensive coordinator/tight ends coach for four seasons after spending five season as the Wolverines' offensive line coach. Malone has also coached at Boston College, Bowling Green and Holy Cross.

Payton has already hired Gibbs, assistant head coach/linebackers Joe Vitt, defensive line coach Dennis Allen, offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Doug Marrone, offensive assistant/passing game coach John Morton, special teams coordinator John Bonamego, head strength and conditioning coach Dan Dalrymple and assistant strength and conditioning coach Adam Bailey.

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