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After a season as Saints interim head coach, Joe Vitt enjoys being just an assistant again

After extenuating circumstances turned him into a mere football coach last season, grizzled defensive assistant Joe Vitt finally is back to coaching football again for the New Orleans Saints.

There’s a huge difference in the two.

Saints defensive line coach Bill Johnson explains.

“You cut Joe Vitt up, all you’re going to find is a 1,000 little football coaches coming out,’’ Johnson said between minicamp practices Tuesday. “He loves to teach, He loves to motivate and inspire. He’s not clerical.

“He did a great job with all those things last season. But when you cut him up, he loves to be on the grass, he loves to be in the classroom, he loves to be with his players. Joe Vitt is a classic football coach, a real classic.’’

Truth be told, Vitt did not really coach a down of defensive football last season, sandwiching a season-opening six-game suspension for his role in the bounty scandal around his preseason and in-season duties as interim head coach in the absence of coach Sean Payton.

Those who know Vitt best say he is finished talking about last season, that he no longer wants to be the team’s spin doctor, that he crammed a lifetime of addressing the media into nine forgettable months as “the voice’’ for a troubled organization.

Vitt declined to be interviewed for this story for all the aforementioned reasons.

“After you get back all the people we missed last year, it feels like we were walking one-legged last year,’’ Johnson said. “It was like we were missing pieces to a 1,000-piece puzzle last season. Football is football, but there’s more to it than X’s and O’s. It’s energy, it’s motivation, it’s a culture. It’s all those things that we missed without our good people doing what they do best.’’

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Crusader

Great read. I think its kind of refreshing that all assistan coaches do not want to be head coaches.

iceshack149

Me too. Do your job, Joe. Make something out of these LB's.

dizzle88

Probably the most talented group of LB's weve had for a while

Everybody in the saints organisation touts joe vitt as this "incredible coach"

time to prove it!

QBREES9

Joe Vitt is a classic football coach, a real classic.’’

Brandon428

Perhaps the BS... I mean BG situation from last year made our assistant coaches realize how thankful they should be to have the job they have and the head coach they have. Not that they didn't have major respect for SP, but rather that being a HC isn't for everyone. A lot of times teams lose great assistant coaches who move on to a HC position and they end up crumbling under the pressure and the team they left looses it's continuity and sometimes never recovers. SP, JV, and PC as a team work amazing together, but individually SP is the only one who could really succeed IMHO. I don't mean that to be an insult to JV or PC but I think the positions they're in are a perfect fit for them as well as our whole team.

P.S. Sorry for all the acronyms. lol <-Last one I swear!

Crusader

Well he got a whole lot out of Vilma, Shanle and Fujita with only Vilma in that Group being a great talent.

hagan714

I i know i bust RR all day long but with him and Vitt running the LB corp I really can not wait to see what the next two or three years brings us. They both are among the best at coaching the position.

watching Vitt on the side lines is pretty funny at times. great job Joe

Rugby Saint II

Between Vitt and Mcgruff the defense has an opportunity to improve.
I've read very good things about our new secondary coach and hope like hell that he can teach tackling.

homerj07

It makes sense. Like a teacher who just wants to teach & not be the principal