Chris Rumph (born December 21, 1971) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

coach who is currently the defensive line coach for the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansio ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

. He most recently served as the defensive line coach for the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine ...

of the

. He previously coached at the collegiate level for over 15 years.

Playing career

At the University of South Carolina, Rumph played on the defensive side at linebacker for South Carolina under head coaches

Sparky Woods Phillip Perry "Sparky" Woods (born December 20, 1953) is an American football coach. He is a senior adviser for football team at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Woods served as the head football coach at Appalachian State Univer ...

and Brad Scott.

Coaching career

Early coaching career

After a spring as a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research resp ...

at his college alma mater, Rumph, would go on to be the head coach at his former high school for five years, After a one-year stint with South Carolina State coaching defensive backs and three years coaching outside linebackers at Memphis, Rumph joined Clemson’s staff and remained there for five seasons.

Alabama

From there, Rumph moved to Alabama to replace Bo Davis. There, he won back-to-back BCS national championships as the team’s defensive line coach.

Texas

Rumph spent the

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

season at Texas as the team’s assistant head coach for defense/defensive line.

Florida

Rumph joined the Gators’ staff as a defensive line coach in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

and was promoted to co-defensive coordinator prior to the

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

season. He served as Florida's full-time defensive coordinator for the final four games of the season after

Randy Shannon Randy Leonard Shannon (born February 24, 1966) is an American football coach and former player who is currently the linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator for the Florida State Seminoles football program. Shannon was the head coach at th ...

was promoted to interim head coach when

Jim McElwain James Frank McElwain (born March 1, 1962) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach at Central Michigan University. He previously served as the head coach at Florida from 2015 to 2017, and Colorado State from 2012 to 2014, w ...

was fired.

Tennessee

Rumph worked as the defensive coordinator for Tennessee in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

and

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Houston Texans

Rumph then made the jump to the NFL and worked as the team’s outside linebackers coach for the

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in ...

season.

Chicago Bears

In 2021, Rumph became the defensive line coach for the Chicago Bears. He was not retained by the team following the firing of head coach

Matt Nagy Matthew Nagy ( or ; born April 24, 1978) is an American football coach, and former arena football quarterback, who is the senior assistant and quarterbacks coach for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He was the head ...

after the conclusion of the 2021 season.

Minnesota Vikings

In 2022, Rumph became the defensive line coach for the

under head coach Kevin O'Connell.

Personal life

Rumph and his wife, Kila, are parents of two sons. He also has a daughter from before marriage. One son, Chris Rumph II played college football at

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, t ...

and was drafted by the

Los Angeles Chargers The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Chargers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division, and ...

with the 13th pick in Round 4 (118th overall) of the 2021 draft.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rumph, Chris Living people 1971 births African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football Alabama Crimson Tide football coaches Chicago Bears coaches Clemson Tigers football coaches Florida Gators football coaches High school football coaches in South Carolina Houston Texans coaches Memphis Tigers football coaches South Carolina Gamecocks football players South Carolina Gamecocks football coaches South Carolina State Bulldogs football coaches Sportspeople from South Carolina Tennessee Volunteers football coaches Texas Longhorns football coaches 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople Minnesota Vikings coaches