Perry Fewell life and biography

Perry Fewell is an American football coach who currently serves as the Defensive Coordinator of the New York Giants. Before that he served as the interim head coach and defensive coordinator of the National Football League's Buffalo Bills. He was named interim head coach after serving as the team's defensive coordinator from 2006 to 2009 under head coach Dick Jauron. Perry Fewell was fired as head coach of the Buffalo Bills on January 4, 2010.

Tom Coughlin reached into his past for a coach to lead his defense into the future when he hired Perry Fewell as the Giants' defensive coordinator on Jan. 14, 2010. Fewell once spent five seasons as Coughlin's secondary coach in Jacksonville. He is a 25-year coaching veteran who is in his 13th season as an NFL coach.

Prior to joining the Giants, Fewell spent four seasons as the Buffalo Bills' defensive coordinator and was the team's interim head coach for the final seven games of the 2009 season. The Bills were 3-4 under his direction. Fewell was brought to Buffalo by Dick Jauron, who was Coughlin's defensive coordinator in Jacksonville for four seasons. Fewell and Jauron spent the 1998 season together with the Jaguars.

"I expect Perry to bring the same qualities that I expect from myself," said Coughlin. "I want him to be firm, fair, honest and demanding. My expectation is that he will solidify and unify our defense and be an outstanding teacher. I want energy, enthusiasm, toughness and to make the necessary corrections and game adjustments. Perry is a teacher and a leader and I thought he did an outstanding job of displaying great leadership as the interim head coach of Buffalo this season."

Buffalo's defense under Fewell allowed only 14 touchdown passes in each of the last two seasons. In 2009, that tied for the second-best total in the NFL and was eight below the league average. The Bills were tied for fifth in the NFL with 33 takeaways. Their 28 interceptions were exceeded only by Green Bay's 30. The Giants had 24 takeaways and 13 interceptions in 2009. Buffalo's turnover differential improved from minus-eight in 2008 to plus-three in 2009. Bills rookie safety Jairus Byrd tied for the NFL lead with nine interceptions in only 14 games. The nine interceptions were five more than any other rookie had. Byrd was placed on injured reserve with a groin injury and missed the final two games but became the first Bills rookie to be selected to the Pro Bowl since Greg Bell in 1984.

In his four years as the coordinator in Buffalo, the Bills' defense ranked 18th, 31st, 14th and 19th in the NFL. In 2009, Buffalo allowed 340.6 yards and 20.4 points a game. The Giants' gave up 324.9 yards and 26.7 points a game .

In 2008, the Bills were fourth in the NFL in red zone defense, allowing a touchdown on only 41.8 percent of the opposition possessions inside the 20-yard line (23 of 55). They were second in the AFC in negative yardage plays and held their opponents to less than 100 rushing yards seven times.

Fewell coached Chicago defensive backs in 2005, when the Bears led the NFC with 24 interceptions and cornerback Nathan Vasher and safety Mike Brown were selected to the Pro Bowl.

"His defenses have consistently done a good job taking the ball away," Coughlin said.

In 2003 and 2004, Fewell was the secondary coach of the St. Louis Rams.

Fewell entered the NFL as the defensive backs coach for Coughlin and the Jaguars in 1998, a position he held through the 2002 season. Jacksonville's pass defense ranked third in the NFL in 1999 and two years later the Jaguars gave up only 13 touchdown passes.

"We brought Perry into the league in Jacksonville," said Coughlin, "and I was impressed with his thoroughness, his ability to work with the players and his absolute intent on learning all he could about his profession. He was hired as the secondary coach and he has had great experiences in St. Louis and Chicago with Lovie Smith and that system and in Buffalo with Dick Jauron, who was my original defensive coordinator in Jacksonville."

Fewell was a collegiate coach for 13 years prior to entering the NFL. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at the University of North Carolina in 1985 and '86. Fewell was the defensive backs coach at Army in 1987. The following year, he began a four-year stint as the wide receivers coach at Kent State. In 1992, he returned to West Point, where he spent three seasons as the defensive line coach. Fewell's final college job was at Vanderbilt, where he coached the secondary from 1995-97 and was also assistant head coach in his final season there.

Fewell was born on Sept. 7, 1962 in Gastonia, N.C. He was on the football and track teams at South Point High School in Belmont, N.C. and was inducted into the Belmont Sports Hall of Fame in 2001. Fewell lettered as a defensive back for four years at Lenoir-Rhyne College and was named the team's most improved player in 1983. He graduated with a degree in business administration in 1985.

Fewell and his wife, Kathleen, have two sons.

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