Tuesday, Jan 25, 2022. 2:02 PM
NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton is planning to retire.
At 58, Payton is leaving his first and only job as an NFL head coach with a 152-89 record and nine playoff appearances in 15 seasons. The Saints won the Super Bowl in 2009.
“Finding myself outside in the cold and feeling a little uncomfortable on a professional level, it was good,” he said in his press briefing.
“We have these images of retirement from investment companies and we see the golf courses, but I still have a vision of living something with football. It might be as a coach at some point, but I don’t think this year. Maybe in the future, but right now that’s not where my heart is,” he added.
The Saints made Payton their head coach in 2006, when he orchestrated a surprising turnaround in the team returning to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The Saints had been moved from town for the entire 2005 season, going 3-13.
The Louisiana squad claimed a 10-6 record and reached the National Conference Finals in Payton’s first season as head coach.
The Saints just missed the playoffs this season, going 9-8 in the first season following the retirement of star quarterback Drew Brees. Payton lured him to New Orleans as a free agent in 2006, and Brees set several team records during his career.
Under Payton’s tutelage, the Saints became regular title contenders and they beat Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 to win their only Super Bowl. They also lost in the Nationals Finals to the Los Angeles Rams in 2018 after umpires rolled their eyes on an obstruction penalty.
Payton was a member of the league’s most powerful competition committee from 2017 until last November, when he stepped down.
A popular offensive assistant for the Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys, Payton eventually landed a head coaching job. Payton played in the NFL as a substitute player with the Chicago Bears during the 1987 strike.
Payton missed the 2012 NFL season – along with assistant Joe Vitt, general manager Mickey Loomis and four players – after an investigation found the Saints were offering cash rewards for key plays, including tackles . The players’ suspension was overturned by former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue, and Payton was able to return to the league in early 2013.
