STAFF - COACHING Kevin Petry – Coaching Assistant Kevin Petry enters his second season as a coaching assistant. Responsible for assisting Head Coach Sean Payton in organizing football operations for the club, Petry coordinates the Saints’ meeting and practice schedules and football calendar and orchestrates team and staff events as well as providing administrative assistance to the coaching and operations staff. This will be Petry’s seventh year as a member of the
Saints organization. During the 2015 and 2016 seasons, he served as a video assistant. From 2012-14 Petry was a member of the team’s equipment department. The Covington native who prepped at St. Paul’s High School, graduated from Louisiana State University with a bachelor’s degree in sports administration in 2013. COACHING CAREER: New Orleans Saints, 2017-.
Dan Roushar – Offensive Line A 32-year coaching veteran, including two stints as an offensive coordinator, Dan Roushar enters his third season as offensive line coach in his sixth season with the Saints after tutoring running backs and tight ends from 2013-15. In 2017, New Orleans ranked second in the NFL in both fewest sacks allowed (20) and total net yards per game (391.2) and fifth in both rushing yards per game (129.4) and net passing yards per game (261.8). Roushar played a vital role in the development of rookie right tackle Ryan Ramczyk, one of the club’s first round picks, who ended up playing every offensive snap on the
line as a PFWA All-Rookie selection. Roushar came to New Orleans following a six-year stint at Michigan State, the final two as offensive coordinator/tight ends coach after serving as offensive line coach. He was a two-year letterman as a quarterback at Northern Illinois. PLAYING CAREER: Northern Illinois, 1982-83. COACHING CAREER: Northern Illinois, 1984; Butler, 1986-92; Rhode Island, 1993; Ball State, 1994; Illinois, 1995-96; Northern Illinois, 1997-2002; Illinois, 2003-04; Cincinnati, 2005-06; Michigan State, 2007-12; New Orleans Saints, 2013-.
Deuce Schwartz – Coaching Assistant Deuce Schwartz enters his second season as a coaching assistant with the New Orleans Saints. Assisting the Saints coaching staff, Schwartz specifically works with Bradford Banta, Kevin O’Dea and Mike Westhoff in all aspects of the kicking game. Schwartz came to New Orleans after serving in the same position with the Buffalo Bills from 2015-16, working with the defense.
The Suffern, New York native played quarterback at Union College in 2012, from where he received a bachelor’s degree in psychology, graduating with Magna Cum Laude honors. PLAYING CAREER: Union, 2012. COACHING CAREER: Buffalo Bills, 2015-2016; New Orleans Saints, 2017-.
Joel Thomas – Running Backs Joel Thomas enters his fourth season as the Saints running backs coach after 15 years of coaching in the college ranks. In 2017, Mark Ingram II and rookie Alvin Kamara produced standout seasons under Thomas’ guidance, with both being selected to the Pro Bowl. Ingram appeared in all 16 games for the second consecutive season and led the team with a career-high 1,124 yards rushing and 12 touchdowns on 230 carries. He added a career-high 58 receptions for 416 yards for a career-high 1,540 total yards from scrimmage. Kamara set a league record for rookie running backs with 826 receiving yards on 81 receptions and five touchdowns, while he led the NFL by averaging 6.1 yards per carry on 120 carries for 728 yards with eight touchdowns, as he led the club with 1,554 total yards from scrimmage and was selected by the Associated Press as the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and as a second-team All-
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Pro at the flex position. The 3,094 combined total yards from scrimmage from Ingram and Kamara was the second-most by an NFL running back duo since the start of a 16-game season in 1978. Thomas lettered at running back at Idaho from 1993-98, was a two-time, first-team All-Big West selection and conference Player of the Year as a senior and still holds Vandals career records with 3,929 rushing yards, 51 rushing touchdowns and 765 rush attempts. He was inducted into the University of Idaho Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008 and earned his bachelor’s degree in public communications in 1998. PLAYING CAREER: Idaho, 1993-98. COACHING CAREER: Purdue, 2000-01; Louisville, 2002-03; Idaho, 2004-05; Purdue, 2006-08; Washington, 2009-12; Arkansas, 201314; New Orleans Saints, 2015-.