Saints promote assistant Tony Oden to secondary coach
 

INDIANAPOLIS -- New Orleans Saints assistant Tony Oden has been promoted to replace departed secondary coach Dennis Allen, head coach Sean Payton confirmed to NewOrleans.Com on Sunday.

A Cleveland, Ohio native, the 36-year old Oden has served on Payton's staff for the past 5 seasons as the assistant secondary coach.

"Oden has been a tireless worker and is a very talented staff member. Whenever we can promote from within, we feel it pays big dividends," explained Payton via phone on Sunday.

Allen left the Saints last month to become the defensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos on the new staff assembled by John Fox.

A two-time all-conference selection at linebacker at Baldwin-Wallace (Ohio), Oden was the Yellow Jackets captain as a senior, earning All-America recognition and Co-Defensive MVP honors.

Oden and his wife, Amanda, have a son, Jaylen and a daughter, Ryan.

ODEN'S COACHING TIMELINE:
1996: Assistant Secondary and Special Teams Coach at Millersville (Pa.);
1997: Graduate Assistant Coach at Boston College;
1998-99: Assistant Secondary Coach at Army (West Point, N.Y.);
2000: Outside Linebackers Coach at East Carolina;
2001: Secondary Coach at East Carolina;
2002: Safeties Coach at East Carolina;
2003 Defensive Backs Coach at Eastern Michigan;
2004-2005: Defensive Assistant/Assistant Secondary Coach for the NFL's Houston Texans;
2006-2011: Assistant Secondary Coach for the New Orleans Saints
2011-Present: Secondary Coach for the New Orleans Saints

Saints promote assistant Tony Oden to secondary coach

not a bad call, promoting from within

I hope he can teach them how to tackle.